a kush life falling behind me
a sideways spiral of thoughts going through me laughing
an angel by myside
a devil deep inside
ive got to let my soul shine
who knows what im about to find
As i sit here in the guest bedroom of my sister stacie's house in Michigan, Im awaiting my departure tomorrow which will take me from Detroit-Chicago-London-Malaga, Spain, and then by bus to Gibraltar and onward by boat to Tangier, Morocco. Before I can anticipate the journey im about to embark on, i want to look back and retrace how ive gotten to this point since my last adventure.
Three years ago in August i came back from my one year trip through Asia, Central and South America. After a long and exciting and chaotic journey, i flew from Bogota Colombia and ended up in St petersburg Fl, to visit my friends Eric and Kristen Riger. I then made my way back to Waterford, Michigan, without a dollar left in my bank account, and moved in with my dad and stepmom Gail. My sister had a baby girl named Sydney one day after i got home, I had made it back just in time. First thing i did was buy a car (acura rsx 02) and started valet parking once again. It was extremely hard getting back to work again, since I hadnt worked for a year at that point.
Thanskgiving rolled around and i had saved enough money to move out of my Dad's place. After visiting St petersburg on my way back home, I decided with myself and my friend from Western Michigan, Chris, to move down there. So we packed up and headed to St pete. Since we had no jobs, noone would rent an apartment to us, so we found one on craigslist, for $600 a month. it was a dump and my bedroom didnt even have a door, only a curtain. But we were happy and were glad to be in Florida, because the weather was awesome and it was great to be away from Michigan. I had thoughts of using my degree for the first time and maybe start a career. i looked for jobs and didnt find anything so i got a job at The Vinoy hotel in downtown St pete, valet parking once again. I had a lot of fun doing that for 4 months, and found a job at Hertz rental car. So for the first time in my life i had a somewhat real job, which i had to use my degree for. i had go to work at 7am everday wearing a shirt and tie, and they worked me until after 6pm, on most days. I stayed at Hertz for over a year, however about half way through i finally convinced them to move me to the beach location, which was a huge improvement, but the job still really sucked, cuz I had a really hard time taking all of it seriously. I could go on for ever on how crappy this job was and how it wasnt for me, but im gonna keep this positive...so as i was renting cars I started getting to know some of the employees at the Don Cesar Hotel on St Pete Beach.
Chris and I were still living together, and we decided to move to a better place. We found an amazing place right on the water, called the Big Bayou right off of Tampa Bay, we had found paradise, and were living a great florida lifestyle.
In February of 2008, i took a trip to Russia for 10 days, i went to Moscow and St Petersburg. When i got back, I found myself in charge of the beach location at Hertz. Two months of this and i had enough, I asked if i could get a job at the Don Cesar, and I quit my job at Hertz. A week later i got the job and started as a Bellman/Valet in April 2008. My shift was thurs/fri/sat -4pm-1am and sun/mon-graveyard shift, which was 11pm-7am. My sleep schedule was all out of whack, i barely knew when to sleep and it was really confusing, but i was making great money, so it didnt really matter. Life was so simple/stress free and comfortable. I couldnt have imagined an easier way of life, I was really grateful for everything I had. I made some great friends, two of my best friends from michigan were down in Florida with me. Over the three years we went to some great music festivals and tried to have as much fun as possible, living in paradise.
I worked at the Don Cesar up until november 27, 2009, 19 months of working in the Pink Palace, i had a wonderful experience, and I was treated exceptionally there. I was able to save up enough money so I decided I wanted to take a trip all throughout Africa. Ive been planning on going at least since november of 2008 when i knew i was going to sign a year lease on our condo, and take off when that was up. Fastforward to the beginning of December, i drove my car back to Farmington hills and stayed two weeks with my sister, really getting to know my two nieces Sydney (3 years old) and Lizzy(15 months old) and had a really fun time playing with them. A bunch of goodbyes later and countless be carefuls and warnings it brings me to the eve of my departure and i couldnt be more ready to hit the road.
As i have been telling people about my trip, ive gotten so many different responses, from, that sounds awesome and amazing to they are gonna cook you up in a pot and eat you (jim nock) Whatever the responses ive gotten, ive gotten the general feeling that its gonna be a wild adventure either way. Ive received so much advice and warnings that i cant remember most of it, but ill try to take it all into consideration.
So that is how i got to this point. Enough looking back, now all i can do is anticipate and wonder what could possibly be in store for me. The outline of my journey is to start in Morocco, mozy around whichever countries the road takes me to, and eventually end my trip in South Africa for the World Cup next summer. The only thing i have planned so far is to meet my friend Eric Riger in Mali on January 2nd and to go to The Festival Au Desert Music Festival which is in the middle of The Sahara Desert. After that it is up in the air. My plan is to stay in hostels, and to stay with locals through the Hospitality club and couchsurfing websites. I am taking a large backpack and a daypack. I have Malaria pills and have a bunch of immunizations in me... but how could you possibly prepare for everything. I also have
-portable hammock
-camel back
-headlamp
-first aid kit
-waterproof hiking shoes
-Garden of Eden Raw Ones vegan vitamins...enough to last most of the trip
-shorts and a few shirts
-sandals
-an Archos 160gig media player with 17,000 songs 40 movies and the entire series of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia
-travel speakers
-a jumprope
-samsung 10 megapixel camera
-1 fleece
-1 pair of pants
-2 books to start (The Road by Cormac Mccarthy and Say you're One of Them by Umem Akpan
-Africa lonely planet guidebook
- toiletries
-a large bottle of extra strenth Gold Bond
-grapefruit see extract pills
-a shamwow type towel
-5 juggling balls
-rechargeable batteries and a charger
-a brand new passport
-a temporarily sane mind, that wont last long
The great wide open awaits me, ive been living a life of comfort and im ready to leave it behind for a hard but exciting life on the road.
Please join me and take this journey
-
Go ahead flip the coin so the game can start
Monday, December 14, 2009
Farmington Hills, Michigan, United States
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Comments

2025-02-17
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Sharon
2009-12-14
Awesome entry! I loved it. It was comforting to see it tonight.
chris termeer
2010-01-03
great post. very good.
the past is just foot prints and smiles. the future is open for new foot prints and new smiles.
dont ever let the smile fade and keep the great stories coming