Welcome to my personal life
Most people reading this will already know what happened, but for those that don’t – here’s the deal:
T and I started dating in 2013 and spent the next 5 years moving all around Southern California together. We quit our jobs in the summer of 2018 and spent the next 10 months traveling throughout the US and 15 other countries, most of which was documented on this blog. After our big trip was over, we decided to plant roots in her hometown of San Jose, California. By mid-May 2019, we were working new jobs and had moved in a nice condo. By September, I was looking for a place of my own.
And such is life.
I spent the next several months learning a lot about myself. I read a ton about relationship psychology and secular Buddhism. I meditated regularly and started seeing a therapist. I filled my time with quite a bit: playing lots of basketball, working out, volunteering, transitioning to a plant-based diet, training for an Ironman 70.3 triathlon, and taking care of this little surprise:
His name is Max, though I’ve taken to mostly calling him Mamba. It’s a bit clunky, but he came into the picture almost by accident just as T and I were parting ways. He couldn’t stay with her for a while, so he came with me when I moved out, and it eventually just became permanent.
I still live and work in San Jose, but who knows what the future holds. Anyways, that’s the haps with me in a nutshell. Life can be a trip in more ways than one. 🙂
Uhh, ok thanks, but is this still a “real” travel blog?
Sure it is. But it’s also going to be more about me from now on. I still want to be a travel resource, but there are tons of blogs out there whose business it is to be just that, and I realized I don’t want to try to make this blog a business. I figure I’ll just write about my experiences, thoughts, and perspectives and hope that there’s a person or two out there who might find them helpful, interesting, and/or inspiring.
Last August, I took advantage of a great business class fare and flew to South Korea via China, which was my first ever solo vacation. Later, I decided to spend Thanksgiving in Japan, and for many reasons I came back feeling like a new person. Then Mamba and I flew to the east coast for Christmas and used a fun tip to fly in first class both ways. I’ll definitely be writing about all those adventures. As for the rest of the big trip, I have yet to figure out what to do with that. I have a bunch of half-written posts sitting in my drafts folder, but for obvious reasons it just feels odd to write in-depth about trips taken with a former significant other. Tough because there are so many fun stories and travel tips to be shared, but TBD I guess.
You got any trips coming up?
Well, given that I’m writing this during the coronavirus pandemic, nothing is set in stone. I have nothing booked yet, but I hope to be able to visit family on the east coast by the end of summer, and I’m crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to take an international trip by the end of the year. I have a good chunk of points and miles burning a hole in my pocket, so it’d be nice to start planning a trip or two again.
Anyways, welcome back…to me, I guess?