My day leading up to my future...

I worked from home today. I wanted to run in the morning and then in the afternoon casually surf some airfare sites between projects and emails but, instead "there was a fire I had to put out". (Corporate speak for quickly solve a problem).

Although I didn't get to look at more airfare sites, I did look around yesterday. The one site that I kept going back to came as a recommendation from an ESL classmate of mine; he also gave me a contact's phone number as well. The site is cheaper than most but most importantly it came as a recommendation from someone who circled the world 3 times. So, yesterday (Monday) I started a conversation with Kyle at justfares.com. Kyle sent me an itinerary last night and attached was a reasonable price.

One-way? Round-trip?
I'm making this move with the intention of staying. Nothing is permanent, but I don't want to leave here with a date in mind that I'll be coming home. Besides, it's difficult to find a full one year round trip. The most you can purchase is 10 months. I have money in savings and I won't be spending it, so I'll be ok to buy a ticket home later. One way it is.

When do I want to leave, when will I give notice at work, when will I give notice to my landlord?
Monday next week, October 13th, I give 5 weeks notice to my manager. He is a wonderful manager so I want to give him more notice than the common 2 weeks. I'd like my last day of work to be on Thursday November 20th. I plan on moving out of my apartment the Saturday before, on November 15th. I'll live at home for 5 days and work in the office closest to home for the remaining week.

So, back to today. Around 4:30 I was able to stop working, "the fire was put out". I then went on a 40 min run/walk for some fresh air. I returned home with a mission...not to buy the ticket but to start taking pictures of some of my stuff and putting it up on craigslist. I knew I wanted to buy the ticket but kept telling myself, take photos first, put them up on craigslist first, do the dishes first. Not sure why I was putting it off. Nerves maybe?

I got three positive signs, almost in a row. 1. A couple days back I sent a message about language schools to an expat already in BA. She wrote back and at the end of her message she wrote "Get excited for your travels!". I needed to hear that; for reassurance. 2. I was also emailing Federico from the Spanish school I'll attend once I arrive. He responded to my questions and added "go ahead and book your flight". 3. Since Kyle didn't hear back from me since last night he emailed to see if the itinerary was ok.

At 6:05pm tonight I called Kyle. The first itinerary that he put together had a couple of long layovers. I asked him if it was possible to adjust it. Luckily he was able to cut it down. He was friendly to work with and it was feeling right. So, I did it!

After opening a bottle of Argentine wine, that I bought after my run, I quietly celebrated. A little later I called home. My uncle answered. I told him what I did. He sounded surprised but said "well, if anyone can do this, you can".