Maybe not that dramatic but I nearly started packing my bags. Instead I slept on it (usually a smart move). The next morning I woke up with that same strong urge to move, to broaden my horizons, to shake things up, do something exciting, HAVE AN ADVENTURE. The same feeling I had two years ago when I quit my job and took off for Europe. I think I left little notes on every form of social media I’m involved in saying how I was longing for adventure (most of which were replied to with a “come to santa barbara!” note from Tabitha and/or her husband ). All day it bubbled away in my cauldron, thoughts rolling over themselves as I thought of places I could go, what I should do. If moving was an option or did I just want long-term travel again.

By the time I got home last night around 9:30 after a busy day of moving furniture around the store and selling as much as I could, my cauldron wasn’t bubbling anymore. I had zeroed in on one location. A location I have no idea how I’m going to save up enough to get to but there it was. And suddenly I felt inspired. I felt passion pouring into my blood stream, that passion that had been missing lately. I felt like I could move mountains and paint paintings and sing songs (even though I know very well I absolutely cannot–I will leave that to Chelsea) and write freaking novels. All because I found a place that I want to go to?

Then it got me thinking. HELLO, Ashley. How come travel can get me so passionate and yet I’m not in the travel industry? I mean, I can talk for hours and hours about my adventures, give tips on travel, I FREAKING LOVE TRAVEL. But would working in the travel industry ruin travel for me? We all saw what has happened to my love of Interior Design. Ok maybe no one but me has seen what has happened there but still. My passion has seriously fizzled in that department. I’m afraid that would just happen to this.

YET.

I feel that travel really is my true calling. Just what I would do for a career in travel is uncertain. I’ve felt this for a while but my brain throws things at it like “you went to school for seven and a half fucking YEARS for Interior Design, you need to stick with that.” Then I look at what happens when I set my sights on traveling to a new country, or what happens when I get in a conversation with someone about traveling, and I say, well hey, I know a lot about this stuff and I LOVE IT. But what can I do?

All I know is that I’ve been feeling a little lost lately. A little uninspired. And this is the first time probably this year that I feel energized, like I could take on the world. What my next steps will be, I don’t know. All I know is that I’ve got a destination in mind, I have a goal and somehow, I will figure out all the rest. This is the first step and I can guarantee you all will be hearing a lot more about this. The destination is a secret now but all will be revealed once I solidify things.

Oh, and VEDA starts tomorrow. You know, that month where I vlog every single day? Get excited. Or get scared. Either way it’s going to be a BLAST.

At any given hour, of any given day, you can find me perusing flight and travel deals online. I receive email alerts from Orbitz, Travelocity, Kayak, Delta, United, Continental…the list could go on. I itch to plan my next major vacation; to me it is almost as exciting as going on the trip itself. (Except for that whole spending lots of money on plane tickets bit.)

When I found out my brother was going to Fiji in May, the first thing I did was find the biggest airport there and search for flights to it from Denver. I was a little sticker shocked by the price of tickets ($3,000? For a 36 hour plane ride? Ummm…) but that didn’t sway me from wanting to go. From needing to go. There is no question in my mind about whether I will go or not, I’ve had to pass up opportunities to go where he has lived because of school or finances, but this time I am determined. I’m determined in the same way I was to quit my job and travel through Europe by myself for three months. Granted, it’ll cost me the same amount I spent in Europe just on plane fare alone, but it’s worth it.

It’s fucking Fiji.

Over the past few days my travel brain has been ticking, thinking of this vacation, thinking about travel and how I can make it more dominant in my life and dreaming about how I want to be a travel writer. You will definitely see travel more featured here on Ashalah, since it’s the one thing I do really love to write about. Mainly, my brain is focusing on the travel bit.  It’s rolling over all the possibilities (which are really quite endless) and I’ve come upon a plan that excites me, terrifies me and makes me want to shout it from the rooftops. (And makes me want to go on that trip RIGHTNOW).

The problem is this plan cannot be implemented for another year and a half–possibly longer. It requires a couple months of free time, a surplus of cash and the freedom to do so. It requires time to get to that point and if you know me, you know I’m impatient. I want to go and I want to go now.

When you go on three month tours of countries, you kind of get spoiled. You no longer think of vacations in days, but many weeks and even months. While ten days seemed luxurious last year, this year it seems short and oppressive. When I did a search on google maps to see where exactly Fiji was located, I discovered it was so close to New Zealand that it would be ridiculously stupid of me not to visit both. And what about Australia? That’s pretty close too.

So this plan essentially involves New Zealand, Australia and finally, beautifully, Fiji. It involves a lot of money, which if I’m going to be spending the equivalent of two months rent in NYC on a plane ticket (or more!), means that I need to be spending some quality time in these places. What I learned most from Europe is that I don’t want to rush. I want to take my time and really get to know the places I’m visiting. Find that local coffee shop you can sit in for four hours at a time, read your book and rack up enough drinks to earn a free coffee. (Which I never ended up using…just means I have to return to Barcelona one day!) Embrace that community and make it my home, if only for a week or two.

I have never been to this part of the world and all three of these countries have been sitting on top of a very hefty list of places I must visit. My brother lived in New Zealand my second to last year in college and I wanted to go visit him so badly but the eight weeks I had off between semesters meant I had to spend them making money and the plane ticket alone would have drained my meager savings account. So I had to say no and missed that opportunity.

I’m not letting that opportunity pass me by again.I have two years to get my ass to Fiji, plenty of time to get myself there.

To start early, I started researching flights. My favorite site is Kayak, especially since they send me daily updates on flights to Vegas that I can look and sniffle at since I can’t go. Anyway, getting off topic here.

The combination I found to be the best was Denver to Auckland, New Zealand to Fiji to Denver over a two month period of time. Now those are definitely not the dates since those are only 6 months away, not a year and a half but at least I know what I can expect. If I do a multi-flight, multi-destination trip, I can easily afford it. Easily being relative, of course. but it’s about half the price of what it costs to fly directly to Fiji from Denver.

All I know is this trip is going to be EPIC.

And I’m BEYOND excited.

Of course that doesn’t mean I’m not searching for flights to Europe for this fall because heaven forbid I go more than a year without leaving the country. I’m dying to go back to Italy and I think that may be my destination, despite already having been there three years ago. I’ve been dreaming of the food, the culture and the art for a while now so a return trip is a must.

If you could choose anywhere to go right now, where would it be? Where do you think I should go (and do you want to come with me?!)

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