Making Plans

Making Plans

The initial sheen of travel has started to wear off, and I’m thinking more about how I want to spend the next year. I landed in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia on Tuesday and decided to stay until Sunday, not because Jogja is a particularly interesting city (though it is, and the people here are genuinely nice. Indonesian hospitality reminds me a lot of the Philippines), but because I’m craving some sort of… routine? A desire to do more than just romp around the world without an actual mission? Or perhaps I’ve realized how quickly my bank account is draining each time I move from one place to the next.

I’m currently staying at BHUMI Hostel, located in the quiet Kotagede neighborhood of Yogyakarta away from the tourist areas. Travel season is a bit slow, so there have only been a small handful of backpackers who’ve came and went in the past few days. BHUMI is right across the street from a park of food vendors that cater to the locals living in the area, and there’s a large market five minutes away, making it really easy to get good Indonesian food for less than $1 USD. So in a way, I’m strategically pinching pennies before embarking on the adventure of hiking Mt. Bromo/Ijen and the craziness of Bali next week.

I signed up for an account on Workaway yesterday to see if I can pick up some work in Bali or later on when I get to Vietnam. Turns out it’s really easy to pick up temp gigs teaching English or creating digital content for small businesses catering to tourists. There was even a commercial film company looking for crewmembers in Palawan, hah!

I’ll be flying out to Bangkok on the 18th to meet up with my friend Allison, who’s getting into Thailand on the 20th, then we’ll be booking it across Thailand for the week she’s there. I’ll probably hang out in Thailand through the first week of June for diving classes and to see another friend in Bangkok before heading to Cambodia for a week. Then 2-3 weeks in Vietnam and 2 weeks in northern Laos, placing me squarely in July at that point.

After that, I’m not really sure what’s next. I still want to go to Borneo, and if I do that, I may as well fly out of Manila to go back home. And if I go to Manila, I may as well see a few people in that part of the Philippines, which could possibly keep me here until the end of August. Oh the joys of having zero commitments.

Here’s a list of things I want to do when I get back home:

  • Get TEFL certified
  • Start building a base of clients for consulting gigs (more on this later…)
  • Find contract work as a project manager
  • Become an aerial silks performer
  • Reconnect with friends in theater/film/music and go to shows

There are days I feel homesick, but overall this trip has been great. No stress, very peaceful. It’s been fun hearing updates from everyone about mundane life things, concerts, album premieres, shows. Keep emailing, keep texting; it always brings a smile to my face.

I’m so grateful for the people I have in my life—family and friends. The support I feel from everyone makes it hard to ever feel lonely.



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