New manifesto

I have found myself planning another road trip while recovering from the flu this cold January. My desire to travel alone has done nothing but increase since my April 2017 trip to Scotland. Certainly this trip was a boost to my confidence and capacity to successfully navigate away from home. Those days spent without a tour group or guide allowed me to realize that I can cope with different customs, countries and transportation without much trouble and I actually enjoyed taking the time to wander through these challenges. Truly, my most horrific travel situations occurred in the US, returning from Scotland, where several of my flights were rescheduled then canceled causing me to sleep on an airport cot overnight, before returning home.

My road trip to Devil's Tower, WY with the associated camping bolstered my enthusiasm for solo travel as well, reaffirming I still possessed useful skills for successfully "roughing it" without a hotel room. I have found I am now actively looking forward to another road trip/camping exploration. I believe this desire to get out and explore is colloquially known as "itchy feet" (see here for the Urban Dictionary definition https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=itchy%20feet.)

My recent trip to Florida had me realizing how few material items I needed to care for myself, and how valuable the time I have to see the world has become. While age hasn't been uppermost in my mind, I realize that I have much less lifetime remaining than I did in my youth, consequently I had better start using it to my benefit.

No longer am I going to worry about job-hunting, obviously, I can carefully manage my lifestyle without giving forty hours of life time away each week to an employer. No longer am I going to feel like a failure because I am unhired. No longer am I going to put my interests on a back burner because I think they are less important than something else, nope, this year I am going to finally explore my interests. So begins a year of adventure...