At my last job, I prayed every day that they’d lay me off and hand me a big fat severance check I could use to travel. That never happened, so my co-worker and I just spent our afternoons playing Golden Tee ’99 at a local bar. Fast forward 10 years and here I am – in a different job, but still with that dream nagging at me like your great aunt trying to get you to use a drink coaster.

These days my job involves a lot of travel, especially to Asia. I thought perhaps that would cause my travel bug to scamper back under the refrigerator, but it’s had the opposite effect. There’s far too much of the world left to see and I’m only getting little slices of it at a time in between having my soul chipped away by the corporate artisans.

After a few weeks in Singapore last year, I settled on getting out into the world for an extended journey. Not that I recommend spending a lot of time in Singapore, or as I call it, “the Asia flavored dietary substitute.” But there’s a lot more to the world than that.

How I’m doing it:

• Twelve countries in 12 months – wherein I don’t just travel, but I LIVE in various areas around the world. I would love to extend that to 24 countries in 24 months or 36 countries in 36 months, but 12 is where I’m starting.
• Focusing first on Europe. Ultimately, my travel list is comprised of anywhere that has a cheese named after it.
• Get a rented room for a month in each region. Avoid the expense of hotels and take advantage of hostels only in between stops or on side trips.
• Use that room as a base of operations, a place to keep my stuff while I ride off into the surrounding areas to explore. A place to shower and rest my head at night after a long day of visiting nearby towns.
• Cycle around the area. With bike/train combos and a few overnight stays, I can hit a radius of about 200 miles without killing myself.

What I want:

• A deep dive into the countries I’m visiting. Absorb the language, the culture and even the food. Believe me, I am more afraid of snails than they are of me, but I vow to eat something other than crepes.
• Spend meaningful time in my adopted “home town” – frequenting particular cafes, shops and restaurants that I find appealing.
• Meet new people. One of the regular features here is the “person of the week” where I will find one person each week to talk to, get to know and write up a short profile of him or her.

What I’m avoiding:

• Going rustic. After a camping trip through Washington and some disturbing encounters with public restrooms, I realized I need a space to call my own.
• “Seeing” things. I want to experience them. I want to be part of other cultures.
• Sitting on the outside looking in. I want to be squirming through to be “inside-ish” looking in. Walking through town on cobblestones, shopping for groceries, saying hello to the lady with all the cats.
• Constantly “passing through.” I plan to ride to other towns 3 or 4 days a week, leaving me with time to get to know my adopted town fairly well the rest of the week.

Will the plans change? Oh yeah, I have no doubts that no matter what kind of detailed thought I put into this, it’ll never turn out like I imagine. And that’s just how I like it – planned to the furthest extent possible, then wing it when the time comes.

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