I've decided to drop everything - donating my car, leaving my home, quitting my job, and leaving the USA.
Alongside this leap into the unknown, I've transitioned full-time into building my business, and I'm taking it on the road with me. Our flagship product, Syzlix Socials, is a web application designed to centralize and synchronze social media scheduling, editing, and posting across platforms. I'll be putting the software to the test in real-time throughout this journey, using it to keep the world updated while managing operations from abroad.
Of course, preparing for this change of lifestyle brings its own set of logistical challenges. I've had to limit all of my gear to fit in a single backpack. This task made significantly harder by the additional capturing and recording equipment required to document the trip. Despite my best efforts, I've still only landed on what is probably too many articles of clothing, a few accessories, and a scattering of toiletry items (including a preferred hair product painstakingly transferred into a tiny, travel-sized jam jar). Perhaps this is fitting, given how jam-packed my bag is.
Booking stays and travel has been an entirely different battle. For the initial leg of the trip, I'll be staying in hostels and moving between them via a mix of planes, others by buses, and ideally trains where possible. And yet the critical question arises: how flexible should the itinerary be? There are endless reasons to shake up a plan on a moment's notice, but not all bookings are adjusted easily.
I settled on a compromise. For the solo legs of the journey I'm prioritizing total flexibility, booking no longer than a week in advance. Part of the beauty of solo travel is the freedom to pivot on the fly without worrying about how a sudden change affects the feelings of others when plans inevitably go awry. Conversely, any portions of the trip spent meeting up with others are booked well ahead of time to asuage any concerns they may otherwise have. The goal is to remain entirely reliable when people are counting on me, while fully embracing the unexpected when I am on my own.
I fly out of Boston imminently. If you want to follow along for the adventure, I'll be logging the journey across multiple platforms. You can find all my social links on the homepage of this site.