It’s March 17th today (2009) – St. Patricks Day. A day to celebrate a patron saint of Ireland (Saint Patrick himself), to drink green beer and be grateful that we are a nation which welcomes the traditions and celebrations of those from far away shores! Last night I had a great lesson with a young woman at the Apple store in downtown Naples, Florida. She told me that I was ready to start my blog. I hope she’s right. I leave on my journey in 19 days – I guess it’s time to get started.

I’ve made some significant decisions over the past year. I’ve thought long and hard before making them and they weren’t all easy. Okay – some of them were – like giving away the home fitness gym and the treadmill that together took up 50% of my living room. But other decisions were not that simple. After being in my hometown of Erie and at the same company – WQLN – for the past 10 years – deciding to leave them both – and friends and family – was anything but easy. But sometimes I get itchy feet and my feet had begun to itch about 12 months ago. I recognized that it was time for me to move on to my next adventure. I’ve always wanted to travel more – to be a traveler – not just a vacationer.

This would require a commitment of both time and resources.

So I’ve taken the appropriate steps to become unemployed (time) and homeless (resources).  Besides being a little nerve-wracking at times – it has also been very liberating. I don’t have any worldly possessions but neither do I have debt or monthly bills. I have a little money in my pocket thanks to a pre-recession home sale and while I know that I need to keep my next career move in the back of my mind – that’s exactly where it’s going to stay for a while – because I’m going to be a traveler!

I’m writing a blog because I want to remember everything – the tastes and smells and sounds of the places I’ll visit and the conversations I’ll have with the people I meet. For those of you looking for a quick and dirty – short and sweet – tightly edited script – this may not be your thing. My friend Tom New believes that if you’ve written 200 words to describe an event or a place – it’s 150 too many. Tom may just look at the pictures 🙂

My journey begins on Saturday, April 4, 2009. Until that time, I will rejoice in spending time with my family and friends in beautiful Naples, Florida and learning how to blog.