(and it don't feel so good.)
I've had a very long, pretty disheartening weekend. While it was lovely to spend it all inside while the Storm of the Century (tm every local weather station) raged outside, it was NOT refreshing to spend so much time with nitpicky foreign transportation logistics.
I don't know if it is a result of growing up in car culture, some result of privilege, or my own preference for urban environments over remote, but the concept of not being able to get from place a to place be is just...foreign to me. But it comes up A LOT when you are trying to navigate the fine points of place to place travel.
I spent hours and hours Saturday night online, trying to find reasonable flights to and from Egypt for my tour there. I went to every single budget carrier in Europe (note: there are many, many, many budget carriers in Europe) to get to and from at reasonable time and price, and essentially came up empty. The only one that had a good fare left at 2am from Cairo, when my tour ends at approximately 6pm in Dahab, on the Sinai peninsula. So, assuming nothing went awry, I could totally make the bus-flight-flight that it would take to get back to Europe, but I don't really feel like basing my entire schedule on the assumption that nothing could possibly go wrong crossing from Jordan to Egypt earlier that day. That is a recipe for a world of hurt. And all other flights either didn't leave for several days, or were upwards of US$400.
I gave up on Sunday, but was not in that much a better place trying to figure out where I want to go in Australia. The country is so damned big that it's a huge pain in the ass to go anywhere, and everything I do will involve some contortionist combinations of planes, buses, and a river of tears. I ended up completely scrapping my earlier plan of either Great Keppel Island or Whitsundays, and now I am going someplace totally different. But how did I arrive at that choice? Yup. Hours in front of my computer at every airline site I could come up with.
It was even more disheartening that I started the weekend with a dawning horror that I am going to go way over budget. I am terrible at spending money and I am a saver at heart, so this is really hard for me, to just be in spend-spend-spend mode with nothing coming in, but it's also next to impossible to accurately budget for 6 months on the road in such varying economies as Cambodia and Denmark. I will just have to have faith that all of my buffers will come through, and that everything will not cost as much as I fear.
One thing came of the weekend, and yes, this is me trying to silver lining a tiring weekend of planning:
I got so tired of planning where I may want to go and what I may want to do that I keep reverting to "Maybe I will just stay here that whole week..." instead of going other places. If I get this exhausted reading about these places, I can't imagine what it will be like to be going to them all. I will probably be very, very thankful for the "stay here a week" mentality come a few months in. So getting tired prepping could save my ass later.
Also, I am quite sure that when I do return home, I will never, ever, ever want to figure out how to get from where I am to where I want to be again.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
January 07, 2008
November 10, 2007
rollin' in it
i sat down tonight to do all my dull financial stuff (because that's how i roll on a saturday evening, y'all), and i calculated my savings account. i make direct withdrawls to my ING account with every paycheck, and have for the past year. i also try to put as much of my paycheck from second job into ING as well, plus any extra i have from being a good girl and not going to lush (or mervyn's, apparently).
assuming i stay on schedule and make the deposits as planned for the rest of the year (and there's only three; really no reason why i won't), i will have totally hit my savings goal for my trip. it's a big number, and i am actually really proud of myself. i have no intention of spending the whole wad in the course of the trip, because i get jittery without savings and i would like a solid nest egg to use as re-entry money, but it's a good enough bundle that i don't think i need to panic on the road. i should do just fine, and still have plenty to go see priscilla in sydney like my mom wants me to.
assuming i stay on schedule and make the deposits as planned for the rest of the year (and there's only three; really no reason why i won't), i will have totally hit my savings goal for my trip. it's a big number, and i am actually really proud of myself. i have no intention of spending the whole wad in the course of the trip, because i get jittery without savings and i would like a solid nest egg to use as re-entry money, but it's a good enough bundle that i don't think i need to panic on the road. i should do just fine, and still have plenty to go see priscilla in sydney like my mom wants me to.
November 03, 2007
binging & purging
I went shopping today, which as I have mentioned I...don't do. It felt a little weird, to go out without no intention of buying anything (when not going to REI. It seems I always buy something at REI. For the trip!)
It started slow: first stop, farmer's market with mom. I bought nothing myself, though my have heavily influenced the purchase of some persimmons and some of the last raspberries of the season. I am unrepentant on either count.
Next, we hit up the flea market, with the sister in tow. Despite the name, there is little used crap at this flea market; it's much more a craft/staple market, but that does not sound as cool, and it does not at all detract from the awesomeness of the place. I didn't buy much, and nothing pricey, and it was all gifts for friends, but it felt so foreign to buy things that have not been on several lists for months.
But apparently, I opened some flood gates, because our next stop – at MERVYN'S of all places – I went a bit nuts. All staples, all things I need and will wear constantly, all on sale, but man did it feel like gorging myself on three guilty pleasures at once.
So to balance it out, I came home tonight and listed things for sale on eBay. I've been meaning to for a while, and it seems like a good time to offset my new possessions & the money I spent on them. I'm not selling a lot, and nothing particularly exotic (and, note to self, much of it was stuff I originally BOUGHT on eBay; the auction system does not fare will with my impulsive nature), just stuff that I do not need and will probably not move with me when I relocate (again) once I am back from traveling. So if I don't need them now, might as well get the money.
Now I just have to hope someone is as impulsive as I am and bids on these things!
I also went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes and shoes and bags and books for the next charity pick up. I have started doing it for every pick up time, so I sometimes don't have a lot to give away, but the purging has gotten pretty addictive. It feels refreshing to get rid of things that I don't need and don't want and don't fit and have worn out, and pare it down to only the stuff I love and use. Don't get me wrong, I still have outrageous amounts of "stuff," but it gets more managable each month.
It's no Vow of Non-Consumerism, but moving from a one-bedroom apartment and back in with the 'rents, curbing all purchases in order to save money, planning to spend the better part of next year traveling with very few material possessions, and the idea that I will move again when I come back has been very, very good about ridding me of some unnecessary clutter.
It started slow: first stop, farmer's market with mom. I bought nothing myself, though my have heavily influenced the purchase of some persimmons and some of the last raspberries of the season. I am unrepentant on either count.
Next, we hit up the flea market, with the sister in tow. Despite the name, there is little used crap at this flea market; it's much more a craft/staple market, but that does not sound as cool, and it does not at all detract from the awesomeness of the place. I didn't buy much, and nothing pricey, and it was all gifts for friends, but it felt so foreign to buy things that have not been on several lists for months.
But apparently, I opened some flood gates, because our next stop – at MERVYN'S of all places – I went a bit nuts. All staples, all things I need and will wear constantly, all on sale, but man did it feel like gorging myself on three guilty pleasures at once.
So to balance it out, I came home tonight and listed things for sale on eBay. I've been meaning to for a while, and it seems like a good time to offset my new possessions & the money I spent on them. I'm not selling a lot, and nothing particularly exotic (and, note to self, much of it was stuff I originally BOUGHT on eBay; the auction system does not fare will with my impulsive nature), just stuff that I do not need and will probably not move with me when I relocate (again) once I am back from traveling. So if I don't need them now, might as well get the money.
Now I just have to hope someone is as impulsive as I am and bids on these things!
I also went through my closet and pulled out a bunch of clothes and shoes and bags and books for the next charity pick up. I have started doing it for every pick up time, so I sometimes don't have a lot to give away, but the purging has gotten pretty addictive. It feels refreshing to get rid of things that I don't need and don't want and don't fit and have worn out, and pare it down to only the stuff I love and use. Don't get me wrong, I still have outrageous amounts of "stuff," but it gets more managable each month.
It's no Vow of Non-Consumerism, but moving from a one-bedroom apartment and back in with the 'rents, curbing all purchases in order to save money, planning to spend the better part of next year traveling with very few material possessions, and the idea that I will move again when I come back has been very, very good about ridding me of some unnecessary clutter.
October 24, 2007
In defense of product
Under the best of circumstances, I am an absolute sucker for new beauty products--good smells, cute packaging, grandiose claims, whatever, I'm sold, give me the new face masque. Or lotion. Or scrub. Or all three.
So combine that with the fact that I have been under a spending embargo for pretty much a year. I have been trying my very best to save, and while success has been dubious at times, I have gotten better as my departure date draws nearer and the costs of all I want to do become more real.
Pretty much the only thing left that I can buy guilt free? Items "for the trip." OK, so maybe I played a little fast and loose with the definition of "for the trip" a time or two, but when I don't buy ANYthing but gas and asiago bagels from Panera, I go a little mad sometimes. So what if I justify a heady dash through the world of product as "for the trip?" I need to make an educated decision as to what toiletries I am taking with, don't I? I can't wind up in Patagonia with an oily face and stringy hair, can I?
I know that every RTW book, blog and forum tells chicks doing long-term travel to give up vanity and embrace the low maintenance/inner hag look. To that, I say: Pshaw and whatever, book, blog and forum clearly written by men (And yes, I regret it on the road or in hindsight, I will absolutely and publicly eat my words.). In my day-to-day life homeside, I am not very high maintenance, but what I need, I need. My hair is about 1.5 inches long at its longest. I don't need to wash it every day, I don't ever condition it, I don't need to comb it, but I also do not have the luxury of the ponytail option. So I am sorry, I need some product. I am not talking about a barrage of serums and gels and lotions and a fistful of straightening/curling/flattening ionic whatever irons, just my one beloved bottle of Bumble & Bumble. Otherwise, quite frankly, my hair will feather itself into a gigantic butt on my head. That is not a look I need to take on the road.
I've been deep in love with Lush because it really does complete me. Not only is everything so very soft and smell so very good, but they sell most things like meat at the deli -- you want a thin slice of 3 soaps, they price 'em by the pound and wrap them up. It's a dabbling shopper's dream: I get to appease my evil consumerist tendencies without getting tons of different stuff, just a bit of this and some of that. Plus, Lush has mastered the genius of solid shampoo. How great is that for travel? No liquids! Just rub a little on your scalp, and you are good to go; 8 of a pound lasts months! I was so set.
So, yeah. All of this really is my justification for going to Lush today and buying, buying, buying. But, see, they are discontinuing the shampoo I had already chosen! It's been tried and tested, does not give me butt head, does not let my hair get greasy or dry or flaky or flyaway or lifeless (when you have short hair, which I love, it sort of magnifies any of your hair's negative characteristics, which I do not), plus it even gives a little red hue. I mean, I won't be devastated if I can't buy more of it when I get back, but it had already made the cut and was on my list! In pen! And now it's a limited-time purchase? That huge chunk I bought is totally justified. It's for the trip.
So combine that with the fact that I have been under a spending embargo for pretty much a year. I have been trying my very best to save, and while success has been dubious at times, I have gotten better as my departure date draws nearer and the costs of all I want to do become more real.
Pretty much the only thing left that I can buy guilt free? Items "for the trip." OK, so maybe I played a little fast and loose with the definition of "for the trip" a time or two, but when I don't buy ANYthing but gas and asiago bagels from Panera, I go a little mad sometimes. So what if I justify a heady dash through the world of product as "for the trip?" I need to make an educated decision as to what toiletries I am taking with, don't I? I can't wind up in Patagonia with an oily face and stringy hair, can I?
I know that every RTW book, blog and forum tells chicks doing long-term travel to give up vanity and embrace the low maintenance/inner hag look. To that, I say: Pshaw and whatever, book, blog and forum clearly written by men (And yes, I regret it on the road or in hindsight, I will absolutely and publicly eat my words.). In my day-to-day life homeside, I am not very high maintenance, but what I need, I need. My hair is about 1.5 inches long at its longest. I don't need to wash it every day, I don't ever condition it, I don't need to comb it, but I also do not have the luxury of the ponytail option. So I am sorry, I need some product. I am not talking about a barrage of serums and gels and lotions and a fistful of straightening/curling/flattening ionic whatever irons, just my one beloved bottle of Bumble & Bumble. Otherwise, quite frankly, my hair will feather itself into a gigantic butt on my head. That is not a look I need to take on the road.
I've been deep in love with Lush because it really does complete me. Not only is everything so very soft and smell so very good, but they sell most things like meat at the deli -- you want a thin slice of 3 soaps, they price 'em by the pound and wrap them up. It's a dabbling shopper's dream: I get to appease my evil consumerist tendencies without getting tons of different stuff, just a bit of this and some of that. Plus, Lush has mastered the genius of solid shampoo. How great is that for travel? No liquids! Just rub a little on your scalp, and you are good to go; 8 of a pound lasts months! I was so set.
So, yeah. All of this really is my justification for going to Lush today and buying, buying, buying. But, see, they are discontinuing the shampoo I had already chosen! It's been tried and tested, does not give me butt head, does not let my hair get greasy or dry or flaky or flyaway or lifeless (when you have short hair, which I love, it sort of magnifies any of your hair's negative characteristics, which I do not), plus it even gives a little red hue. I mean, I won't be devastated if I can't buy more of it when I get back, but it had already made the cut and was on my list! In pen! And now it's a limited-time purchase? That huge chunk I bought is totally justified. It's for the trip.
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