Vagabonding begins at home

Tonight I’m sitting at the dining room table in the home of some friends whom we are house-sitting for a week. Earlier today, we handed the keys to our home off to three folks from New Orleans who needed a place to stay in the Bay Area for a few months, found through our posting on Craigslist. They are getting a break in rent in exchange for taking care of our three cats, which has enabled us to leave on our 3-month tour of Southeast Asia.

Of course, timing is such that they arrived a full month before we leave, so we are now vagabonding in our own back yard. A week here, a week at Burning Man, a week completely unplanned, and a week couch surfing with some other local friends before getting on a flight to Bangkok, where we also have no set plans until returning home for Christmas.

It’s been an interesting exercise during the last week, simultaneously packing for four time periods; a month of living out of our car, Burning Man which is dry and very hot during the day and cold at night with multiple costume changes, backpacking across Southeast Asia, and Christmas in New York where there will be cold icy snow. We’ve rented a small storage locker to throw enough of our remaining clothes and valuables to make space for our subletters, and we found a permanent home for the stray cat that we’d fostered for six months. We finally finished cleaning the last corner of the kitchen 15 minutes before they arrived.

While we are only 5 miles from home, the mental, physical, and emotional components of the longer journey have already begun setting in. The sense of leaving the comfort of home and the uncertainty of the future is both anxious and exciting. Pairing down our daily items to what can fit in our car, and soon on our backs, gives us a sense of freedom, while at the same time revealing just how much stuff we left behind. We will miss our cats, and yet know that they are in good hands. The sleep deprivation of the last week will hopefully turn into anticipation of the roads ahead. In a month, the real adventure begins. Until then, we have the opportunity to ease into a vagabonding life close to home.

Posted by | Comments Off on Vagabonding begins at home  | August 19, 2010
Category: Vagabonding Life

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