INTRO: Summer and Planning my Trip

After graduating from Loras College in May of 2014, I, along with many other new college grads, struggled to find a job/activity that A) financially supports the basic needs/wants that I desire and B) I am deeply passionate about. Having graduated with an accounting degree, I wanted to do anything BUT that after graduation. Being an Eagle Scout and having gone on dozens of camping and backpacking trips throughout my life, I happily found a 2-month AmeriCorps program with Northwest Youth Corps, based out of Eugene, OR. Camping and being generally filthy for 9 weeks in the beautiful William O' Douglas Wilderness in Washington and the lush Willamette National Forest of Oregon, my four crew members and I build and repaired trail and conducted forest thinning projects via chainsaw.

Returning home in mid-August, I returned to my job at the stunningly beautiful Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, IL, which I have been a caddie for a decade. When I started caddying again, I reluctantly told myself that I would look for jobs while making fast cash on the golf course. I quickly found out that I would not settle for an entry-level accounting job, rather looking for opportunities to teach English abroad and other travel opportunities. I eventually began narrowing my sights to two websites; workaway.info and helpx.net, for these websites allow one to travel cheaply long term by volunteering for weeks/months at different places all over the world, while also giving the traveler the freedom to meander from volunteer opportunity to opportunity. (Shout out to my good friend and fellow workaway participant Anna Farber for showing me workaway.info!)

With the money I made this summer being a mountain man in OR and WA, as well as caddying, I decided to take a "Gap Year" to try and figure out what the hell I want to do with my life. Keeping in tradition with my extremist personality (just check out my hair and running history), I decided that I wanted to travel to Southeast Asia. And I did not want to take a typical 2-week vacation, but rather a slow 6+ month vagabonding journey through the many amazing countries Southeast Asia has to offer.

Many people ask WHY I picked Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam to travel to. Here are some reasons:

1. SE Asia is EXTREMELY cheap. (You can find hostels throughout the region for $2-$7 a night and food for usually $1 a meal.)
2. The weather will be HOT. Looking forward to taking an Off-year from Chicago winters.(Bangkok's weather is 90+ this week.)
3. Throughout most of SE Asia, English is spoken pretty regularly, making it at least manageable to make it through the area without too much of a language barrier.
4. SE Asia is a very well traveled area, with lots of people from Australia and Europe visiting. This made it easy for me to research everything, as there is a lot of info on the area.
5. As I mentioned before, I tend to take the things I am passionate about to the extreme. Traveling to SE Asia for 6+ months seemed to satisfy my extremist urges.

As my November 24th flight to Bangkok draws nearer, my excitement and nervousness grows more intense. Leaving Chicago with nothing more than one backpack, I hope to write text and post both video and pictures from my GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition.

Thanks for reading!


Jerry

                                       

Chainsaw crew in Willamette NF   




                                                                     
On a 17-mile hike to work on the Pacific Crest Trail in WA














 







Some video of Chicago Golf Club I took