Nomadic Negatives

Ok, well, I have to be honest. Being a nomad isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. So, here I’m going to talk about the different things that I haven’t really enjoyed as a nomad.

1) Memories are better when shared – It feels great to be able to go and do stuff every day, but, it gets lonely just wandering around by yourself. I’ve realized that a lot of activites are only fun because of the people that surround us when doing an activity. A lot of times the activity itself isn’t necessarily that exciting.

2) Not “having” to be anywhere is unfulfilling – One of the things I was excited about was the fact that I would have no strings attached and I could go anywhere at anytime. However, I also found that to be kkind of bothersome. I mean, maybe it’s because I was in Phoenix, and I’ve been there plenty of times, but I didn’t really have anything i really “had” to do each day. There wasn’t anything noteworthy that I had heard of that I wanted to see in Phoenix. Also, because it was a holiday, there weren’t too many people working. So, I kind of wandered around restlessly during the day. I felt kind of useless and unambitious because I didn’t have enough to do.

3) Planned spontaneity isn’t spontaneous – One of my opinions is that vacations should never be planned. You should only plan the destination. This makes way for more spontaneity, and so the events are more fun, just because of the fact that they were unplanned. Well, when spontaneity is a way of life, it takes a lot of the fun out of it. When you don’t know where you are going to sleep every night, it is no longer spontaneous trying to find a place to sleep, it’s how you live.

4) I feel like a mooch – This question came up from people about whether I thought I’d feel like a mooch. I didn’t really think so. My thought was that it would be like sales. Yes, my ability to live would be dependent on others, but that’s the same for a salesman. YOu just have to learn to gain people’s trust, and your success is based upon your ability to do so. Well, I felt like a mooch. I felt like people offerent me things out of sympathy, not because they genuinely wanted to enjoy the journey with me. I hate feeling like a burden to people.

5) I felt gross – I thought that if I brought normal clothes, had enough to wear clean shirts every day, and if I showered and shaved every day, that I would feel normal. Nope. I still felt kind of dirty. I had to wear the same pair of jeans every day, and they were getting dirty by the end of the week. I also was a little gross after walking around all day.

6) Hitchhiking harder outside UT – I know, everybody told me it would be, and I knew it would be as well, but I was kind of surprised. People won’t even roll down their windows or acknowledge you when trying to ask for rides. Of course these were all rides I was trying to get around town, so, there are a lot of variables to look at, but, the people of Phoenix seemed very frightened of a hitchhiker.

Ok, these are the main things that I haven’t liked about being a nomad so far. I think the main thing I didn’t like was feeling like I was a mooch and that I was unambitious with anything I needed be doing. It made me want to have a more normal existence where I can provide for myself and do my own thing. I’ve always been very independent, and I felt the strains of my dependence on others. I didn’t like that feeling.

There are some things I really enjoy and that I’ve learned so far as well. I’m going to put those in the next post. I’ve just been analyzing lately the things I haven’t liked as much as I thought.

Different Than I Thought

Ok, yesterday was my first official day as a nomad. I stayed in a hotel with my parents on Wednesday night, but I didn’t have any place to stay last night. So, it was pretty eventful.

To start out the day, I just went over to the Fiesta Mall in Mesa to sit and chill. I had a phone interview with the Associated Press at 10 AM, and then I also had a live radio interview with KSL News Radio around noon. I was very happy to see that the Air Force vs Houston game was being played on a TV in the mall, so I kept myself occupied between interviews watching that game.

One thing I was suprised with was that I just didn’t really feel like I had anything to do. I mean, I’ve lived in the Phoenix area before, so, I don’t have the desire to walk around and explore that I normally will have when visiting a place for the first time. I just planned on being here so that I could have a fun New Years Eve. So, I did feel kind of bored during the day.

Well, I have a friend from college that said I could stay with her family, so, she texted me her address and I decided to head on over to her place. I decided to try and test out my hitchhiking skills. I definitely had some problems, but it was mostly because of my frame of mind. It just feels a lot different here. Anyway, I finally went up to a car and tried to get a girl to roll down her window so I could ask for a ride. She gave me this death stare and then shook her head. haha, it was pretty funny. But, then I decided that maybe that approach won’t work too well here, and that I’ll need to talk to people before they get in their cars.

So, my next approach was to a guy at a gas station. I walked up to him and asked him how he was doing, and he said, “I don’t have any money dude”. Haha, wow, do I really look like one of those guys? After talking to him, we we’re joking about how I don’t really look like a drug addict, but anytime anybody approaches him at a gas station, it’s normally because of money. Well, he wasn’t going my direction, but, I think I’ll probably approach people outside their cars from now on.

Now, I didn’t really ask for more rides after that, but, I didn’t really NEED to be anywhere. So, I was totally fine just walking. It was fun to be able to walk outside in the awesome weather. Without a time constraint or anywhere to be, it was hard for me to motivate myself enough to get a ride. That’s something that I had when I was in Provo because I had to get to work in good time.

Anyway, my flip flops aren’t broken into well enough yet, so my feet were getting sore where the strap was rubbing. So, I kept taking them off to walk barefoot down the street. That’s why my calves are nice and sore today.

I ended up walking to a restaurant where I met up with some friends for dinner. I hung out with them most of the night. However, I never knew where I was going to sleep since I hadn’t met up with the girl who was going to let me stay at her house. I didn’t want to stay at her house unless I hung out with her, since I was going to be out pretty late. Well, it wasn’t until late, like 2 am, when I was at a New Year’s afterparty, that I found a place to stay. I was just talking to some girls that I had met before, and they offered me a place to stay. I ended up staying with one of their friends, who I hadn’t met until just then. An interesting turn of events.

So, my first day was quite an interesting one. I had a great time for New Years, and I really enjoyed hanging out with my friends. I was able to find a place to stay, even though I didn’t know where I was going to be for the majority of the night. I think if I’m fine sleeping on the grass, then it’s easier for me to remain calm about finding a place. I just have to be positive that things will work out, and, well, they did.

Car or No Car?

Now, a lot of people have asked me whether or not I will bring my car on this expedition. Up until now, that answer has always been a strong “no”. However, now that I have some nomadic experience under my belt, I have started to consider the option of bringing my car.

I just moved out of Provo and into my parent’s house in W. Jordan. So, my two weeks of nomadic beta-testing have successfully finished, and now it’s crunch time. I’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like to have to hitchhike everywhere and always still some place else. Now I can use that experience to determine whether I should make any changes to the game plan.

As far as a car is concerned, there are certain reasons why a car would be helpful. I think the question really comes down to what my main purpose of the trip is. Well, one of the things that I am looking forward to on the trip is freedom. You know, I have all of my possessions in a backpack, so I can get up and go whenever I feel like it. However, my freedom is actually limited to my ability to get assistance from others.

One of the things I was thinking about is how when I stay with people, I feel obligated to spend time with my hosts. I mean, most of the time when people invite me to stay at their house, they probably are doing it for the experience of having me there, and use becoming acquainted. I’ll have many great stories to tell, and if they are up for taking me out on the town, then we could do that. However, some nights, I may just want to go exploring on my own. If I’m staying with somebody, I wouldn’t feel comfortable coming back at 1 in the morning. But, if I have my own car, I could always just crash in my car, so I could plan on staying out later certain nights.

I also see a car being very handy if I want to go on dates or what not. Obviously, people will understand my lack of transportation when I’ve explained my trip idea. But, trying to take girls out on dates without a car is just much more difficult.

The thing I like about not having a car is that I’m never tied down. I mean, if I want to fly from California to Florida, I then have to worry about where to put my car and how to get it back. So, having a car will limit my options as far as that is concerned.

Another thought is that I will still probably do a lot of the same things if I have a car. I’ll still try to hitchhike as much as possible because it’s cheaper, and it’s fun to meet people every day. I’ll still want to stay at people’s houses, because sleeping in a car every night just can’t be that comfortable. I’ll still want to go to work with different people and learn about occupations and locations.

I guess the question just comes down to what my purpose for this trip is. To me, the idea of hitchhiking around the country just sounds way cooler and is way fun to tell people. But, will it be easier for me to achieve my objectives with or without a car? One of my thoughts is that if I want to stay and live in a place for a month or two, I could easily do that with a car. Once I find what I want to do, I can just park and stay there. Whereas, if I don’t have  a car, I would have to arrange how to get my car eventually.

If my purpose is genuinely to find something else to do in my life, then it seems like taking a car would be a better option. It would give me a lot more flexibility to stop and live in a place if I feel like it’s a good fit. However, if my purpose is really to have an adventure, then going without my car is probably a better fit. Having a car definitely takes out some of the fear and anxiety which I was excited about, but it might be a more practical way to accomplish what I’m actually looking to get out of this trip.

Will Strangers Help Me?

I just decided this morning to quit my wholesalematch.com job. I just wasn’t feeling it, and I thought it would be hard for me to be mentally into my work. I would have liked to make some more money this week from my job, but it looks like I definitely will be going on this trip without any money. I think I’m just getting excited to go on my trip, and I didn’t think the money was worth the extra week at a job I don’t enjoy that much.

Now, as far as my beta-testing period has been going; I’ve been really enjoying it. Getting a ride around Provo is actually really easy. I think it will be even easier when I’m in a place where I don’t know that many people. I’ve only had two people say no to me so far, and I’ve been asking for rides every single day. I’m not extremely confident asking for rides because I’m just “practicing” at this point. I mean, I don’t like to tell people that it’s just practice, and that I really could be driving around in my own car. I’ll prefer it much better when I have to hitch hike out of actual necessity. I don’t really like asking for rides at night, so I’ll have to do my best to get rides during the day on my trip, because it just feels kind of weird asking people at night.

As I’ve been spending nights at different places, I’m realized that trying to stay at a different place every night is kind of unrealistic. I mean, I could probably do it, but I feel like I’m using somebody just for a place to stay when I only stay for a night. I prefer to stay for a few days because then I get to know people better and share more experiences with them. I think I’d like to stay with people for 2-3 days because after about 3 days I just feel like I’m overstaying my welcome. So, with every person I stay with, I should have a discussion with them about how long they will let me stay, and then I can make plans around that. I’m pretty sure the hardest thing on my trip is going to find different places to stay on a regular basis. So, I’ll try to schedule places to stay in advance, because that would be pretty nerve-racking if I don’t have a place to stay at night on a certain day.

One of the things I keep telling people about my trip is how I’m sure that when I meet people, tell them about my story, and become friends with them, that they will want to help me out. Even as I’ve been getting ready for this trip, I’ve seen how people are anxious to help me out. A lot of people don’t understand exactly why I’m doing what I’m doing, but it’s mostly kids my age that don’t quite understand. Suprisingly, most of the older generation seem to be more excited and understanding of the trip.

Anyway, there is this guy that I talked to on the phone a while ago from my phone sales job. I talked to him a month or two ago when I was really trying to figure out what I should do, and when I was analyzing whether I should go on this trip or not. Even though the initial purpose of the call was to sell him, he ended up giving me some good advice about my situation. Well, I sent him an email today to let him know what I was up to. He was very excited about the trip, and he gave me a generous donation, which I was very surprised about. It’s interesting to me because we’ve never met, and we had a thirty minute conversation a month ago. Despite that, he is so willing to help me out, and I feel like I could call him up if I ever get to his state. In reality, I anticipate lots of different things happening like that. I know that as I interact with many different people every day, I’ll often be surprised at the help that people will offer me after knowing them for only a short time.

Lots of people wonder how I’ll find places to stay when I don’t know anybody in a certain city. I explain how I expect people to offer help by just talking to them and telling them what I’m doing. From my own experience by knocking doors for two summers, and through my other experiences of meeting people at random events, I’m confident that people are much more willing to help strangers than most people think.

Internet – A necessity?

I went to the mall today between my different jobs. I just kind of walked around and watched people. That’s always a fun pastime for me. Anyway, while I was there I decided to go to the AT&T store and explore my different options for the trip. My friend David Schmidt, who went from California to Rome, Italy without money, told me that having internet on my trip would be a great help. So, I’ve been trying to decide whether or not it’s a necessity. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’m leaning towards having it on the trip. For example, while I was in the mall today, there were things that I could have been doing if I would have had internet on my phone. Without internet, I couldn’t really be productive.

The nice thing about not having a home is that I’ll just go wherever I want. If I have internet with me, I’ll be able to be productive no matter where I am. I can go to the mall or to a park and get things done. However, if I don’t have internet, I’ll always be looking for places where I can get access. Some of the things I’m going to want to do are to find places to stay(couchsurfing), know where I’m at and where I’m going with maps, update my blog and other social media sites, etc.

So, I guess I’ve now convinced myself that I need to get internet. Now, the question remains as to whether or not I should get a new phone. I have a Blackberry Pearl, and I got it around 2 years ago. The guy was telling me that the hardware will just be a lot slower than the newer phones, so I guess I should just try out the internet on this phone and see how much I like it.

The funny part about this is that on my trip I’m trying to have as little as possible. I’m minimizing the amount of clothes I bring and other accessories. But, among all of that, having the internet and  a cell phone seem to be necessities. It’s so funny how our world is so connected with the internet these days. Even without a guarantee of a place to stay or enough food for money, I’m going to have my cell phone and internet. Anything wrong with this picture?

I’m a Nomad – Day #1

Well, I guess we could say that today is my first official day of nomadondom (new word, I just invented it). I no longer have a place I can call my own, I have to get rides any where I go, and I’m bringing a backpack around with me everywhere I go. As my first day, I gotta say that it sure is a lot of fun. I’m sure it will be even more fun when I actually am in a place where I don’t know anybody.

As far as getting rides from hitchhiking, I successfully got around Provo by getting 6 different rides today. My first two rides were just down the road and I waved the cars down to get the rides. I’ve decided that I don’t like getting rides from people for such short distances. You don’t get to talk to them at all and I just feel like I’m using them. But, I did have fun when I got a ride into Orem and back for my two different jobs. It was super fun to meet new people like that.

I also don’t feel like I can really ask people to let me stay at their house while I’m in Provo either. I think it would be fun to stay with random people, but really, I have plenty of friends I can stay with, so, it feels weird to ask others to help me out, when I really don’t need it.

It looks like I’m going to be able to get both a backpack and sleeping bag for a really good price. I’m going to get the sleeping bag through an account that Runner’s Corner has with Mountain Hardwear, and Kory from OutNBack is hooking me up with a good deal on my backpack. I love how people are so helpful.

New Blog

Well, I finally got this blog up and running. I’ve been looking around for a good theme for a while. Although I don’t entirely love this theme, I think it’ll do just fine for now. Maybe once I learn a little better how Wordpress works I can find a theme that fits my needs a little better.

I also just bought a new camera yesterday. I bought the Canon SD780 IS. So, pretty soon I’ll be able to post videos and pictures. I’m going to need that on my trip.

I also submitted some different couchsurfing requests for this next week, since I’m moving out of my house tomorrow. I haven’t heard back from anybody yet, but, maybe that’s because they can tell I’m from Utah. Well, it won’t be hard for me to find places to stay, I’d just like to stay with some random people.

Making the Plans

Well, while I was at my sales job today I just wasn’t feeling it. I already want to quit and just get ready for my trip. So, I think I’ve decided that I’m going to quit in two weeks so that I don’t have to pay for rent for the month of December. Then, I think I’ll live in Provo for another week and just couchsurf for that week. That will help me learn better how to use the couchsurfing website, as well as get some positive reviews for my couchsurfing profile. I’m excited, but I better work hard these next two weeks so I don’t have to worry about money.

The more I think about it, the more I’d like to try and get sponsors. I mean, even if I don’t get them, I’ll learn from the experience of trying to get them. I was wondering who the people are that I’m going to want to talk to and what not, when I realized that I could probably just talk to Brogg and ask him about it. Brogg started BBSC Endurance sports and I know that he’ll have experience contacting companies for sponsorships. The sponsorship amounts that I’ll be asking for will be so small that I’m sure companies will go for it. Either that, or they’ll wonder if I’m for real. That’s the bigger concern, that they don’t take me seriously. Oh well, somebody will I’m sure. If not, I’ll forge ahead anyway.

I’ve made some more definite plans about what I’d like to do on the trip. I’d like to make my trip a combination of two successful projects I’ve seen: LetMeStayForADay.com and OneWeekJob.com. I want to stay with a different person every night and go to work with a different person every day. I’m not going to set any restrictions on when I’d like to finish or not, because I’m genuinely going on a journey looking for occupations that I could enjoy or cities I might like to live in. Once I find what I’m looking for, I can stop my journey at anytime. However, I don’t want to make any decision until I’ve seen a majority of the U.S. and most of the major cities. Well, tomorrow I’m going to start calling companies for sponsorships. I guess we’ll see how it goes.

Explore the lives of others

I’m kind of feeling sick right now and so I don’t feel like writing in this blog too much. I’m not too sure how long this will be, but I’ll do my best.

I was having some doubts about the trip this morning, but now I’m feeling pretty good about it. I think that I should have two main purposes of this trip. First, I want to use it as career exploration. That means, I want to talk to as many different people as I can about what they do and the skills that are useful in their occupation. I was actually thinking about requiring myself to write in my blog every night about a different occupation. So, that could mean that I need to either jobshadow or interview somebody every day about their occupation. Second, I want to see more places, and decide on where I would like to move to next. I think if I have those as my main purposes, it will be a lot easier for me to focus on and get something out of the trip.

That means, I don’t want to have to worry about money so much on my trip. I’d like to be able to make enough from my job in the next few weeks, or be able to work during my trip doing sales. At least I want enough to start out my trip so that I don’t have to worry about money for the first little bit. Maybe once I’m out on the road I’ll see different opportunities for jobs and what not, and it might not be so bad to run out. But, in the beginning, I’d like to have enough to not have to worry about it.

I think one reason I’m feeling really good about it right now is because I was surfing around on the CouchSurfing website. All of the experiences that people share help me to see how it would be a great experience because I’ll be able to meet lots of different people. I could stay with a different person every night and get a glimpse into their life and their lifestyle. That will help me explore occupations and how people live even more.

Work or not to Work?

I’ve been thinking some more about my trip, and analyzing the different options that I have and what would be the best. I’ve been thinking more about how to make money on the trip. By going on the trip without money, I’m making the trip a very entrepreneurial venture. I’m forcing myself to be creative, scrappy, and to find ways to make money along the way. Those are things that I really like about that option. But, is that too much to worry about every day? Even if I have enough money in the bank for food every day, that still leaves me plenty of things to worry about. How am I going to get to my next location? Where am I going to stay? etc.

So, the other option, which I’m really liking right now, is trying to do my sales job while I travel. Right now, I’m working 4 hours a day doing phone sales. Everything I use to sell the service, I have access to online. Even the phone calls I make are on a business Skype account. It would be very easy for me to bring my laptop around with me, and to sell remotely. Well, it might still be a struggle because I’d have to find good Wi-Fi in a location where I could talk out loud on my phone. I also don’t even know if this would be a possibility for me. I’m not going to talk to the company about this possibility until I’ve been there for a while, and once I really start doing well with the sales. Once I’m really good, I’m sure they’d be willing to work something out with me.

Anyway, that option appeals to me because money would be something I wouldn’t have to worry about. It would be easier for me to travel more frequently and to see more sites, because I wouldn’t be dependent on my ability to make money. Also, if I have no money on the trip, I might end up getting really crappy jobs that kind of suck to have. I mean, since I graduated, I have kind of been scraping by and doing some random jobs that really haven’t been that great. Although having to use my imagination to find jobs would give me lots of experiences I wouldn’t have otherwise, I’m not sure those are the experiences I want to have. For example, let’s say I get to Cali and I want to go to Hawaii. Although it would interesting to try and find out ways to make enough money to get to Hawaii. What if it takes me a month to get enough money for a plane ticket? Then, I’m in California for a month, and I might get sick of it. Whereas, if I’m working daily, and I have money to travel when I want, it might be more interesting and fun.

I’m not sure which option I would like better. In reality, I’m not even sure doing phone sales remotely is an option. But, there are good and bad things about both options. It really just boils down to what reasons are the most important to me for this trip. If my main reason is to get out of Utah, see and experience as many new places as possible, then it would be better to have a job and money. But, if my main reason is to face all of my fears, learn as much as possible from my experience, then going penniless is the best option.

Another thing I just thought about is how me having to worry about making money every day might actually not be the most entrepreneurial way to go. On this trip, I plan on creating a blog and trying to get as many people to follow it as possible. I can learn a ton from the whole process of creating and maintaining a blog. I’ll want to write good content every day, continue to adapt the blog to meet the wants of my growing number of readers, learn better ways of monetizing it, figure out new ideas to market the blog, etc. If I have to worry about money every day, then I might not be able to spend as much time figuring out how to make my blog a success. Some of the travel blogs I have found have turned into full-time jobs for the writers.

As I was thinking of any new ideas I could use for my blog today, I gained some inspiration from a blog I was visiting called WhereTheHeckIsMatt? The guy does a little jig at all of the different places that he visits. I mean, it’s kind of funny, but the cool thing is how his little jig became viral, and people started telling others to watch the goofy guy dancing. Well, somehow, Stride gum ended up getting a copy of one of his dance videos. So, they paid for him to travel around the world and do dance videos, twice. Anyway, as I was thinking about something unique I could do, I thought of doing music videos. I don’t know exactly what I could do, but I was thinking of just making music videos about different portions of my trip. The would be parodies on existing songs, and then I would just post them on my blog and online. My first idea is to make a parody of the song by Miley Cyrus, Party in the USA:

Instead of Party in the USA, I would make the song be “Couchsurfing in the USA”. And let’s admit it, Miley Cyrus songs and music videos are perfect to do parodies of. So, I’m not exactly sure how my music videos would turn out, but I think it would be fun to do parody music videos about certain aspects of my trip. If I do a somewhat decent job, that might be something that could go viral. So, I might have to learn some video editing skills before I go.