Now What?

I went, I saw, I conquered. Now what? My Thailand trip was happily all consuming for 2 months and now it’s over. Now what do I do? I find myself thinking of Thailand more often than not. It was such a wonderful experience and what I’ve taken from it (among a lot of other things) is how much I want to do more. At the time I booked the trip, a month seemed like it was almost too long. Now I kick myself everyday for not staying longer and doing more. I met people everyday of my trip who were traveling for months… 18 months plus some of them. When I booked this trip one of my thoughts was that people travel all the time… why can’t I? Now my thoughts are people (and by ‘people’ I mean non-American people) leave to travel for months on end all the time… why can’t I?

For some reason I thought I’d come back from my trip clear-headed with everything figured out. Hehe, it almost makes me laugh now to think of how foolish I was. I’ve come home more confused now than ever before.

What do I want to do? I want to travel the world. I want to go to India and study yoga and Buddhism. I want to go to Argentina and visit my friends. I want to travel to Israel and visit my friend and learn more about what that part of the world is all about. I want to travel to Africa and go an a safari. I want to go to Egypt and see the pyramids…  Just to name a few. I want to just go and see where life takes me. If 1 month in Thailand had such an impact on my life and who I am at the core, imagine what a year would do.

But to be honest that seems so unrealistic, irresponsible, and unpractical. Kind of how I felt about spending a month in Thailand before I made the leap. You can see my confusion.

So here’s what I’m doing now in between travel fantasies… 

I’ve started the 2nd class in the Project Management series at Bellevue College. The PM skill set is an invaluable skill set to have regardless of position. I believe this and I think most employers do as well… but is sure is boring!

I’ve signed up for my first triathlon and am really enjoying training for it. The event is not until August but training now helps keep me focused on a positive goal, helps me schedule my weeks, and helps me keep the 10 pounds off that I lost somewhere in Thailand. I’m loving fitting into my size 2 and 4 pants again.

I’m applying for jobs. I found one at REI Corporate that I would love and do believe I am perfect for (Adventure Travel Specialist). I had a phone interview with the hiring manager and things couldn’t have gone better but it’s still a long shot considering how much competition there is to get into REI Corp.

I’m toying with the idea of getting a contract Recruiter position for then next 6-8 months and then go off traveling again. But ‘getting a contract gig’ is easier said than done. But I do think that would be ideal. I could spend the summer here, which is always wonderful, then off to my next adventure. I’ll keep you posted on that.

I’m also considering going back to Thailand, Chiang Mai to be exact, to teach English. I’m pretty sure their school year starts in October so I could still spend the summer here and that would be about the time unemployment runs out.  What an experience that would be. I  had almost completely decided against it until I ran it by my career counselor. Her advice was that we are living in a global economy more and more so if I’m interested in a global career (which at this point I am) any experience living and working abroad is valuable. So that’s seriously back on the table.

So, what it comes down to is that I could follow my heart and figure out a way to travel the world or I could settle my ass down and  live the ‘American Dream’ (insert sarcasm here_____).

I guess it’s pretty clear but I’m still confused.