Hello my friends!
Welcome to this wonderful space of free-thinking and possibility.
My plan is this: to buy a roundtrip ticket to China. I will only bring a small amount of money with me, so I will be more motivated to get out and find odd jobs (like tutoring, helping at schools, etc) while I'm there. To cut costs on spending, I have recently joined a global network of couch surfers. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, couch surfing is sleeping on someone's couch for a length of time while visiting somewhere. You may or may not have known the person previously, and this is part of the excitement/experience. The network, CouchSurfers.com, is a way for people with couches and wanting couches to connect with each other. I have found more than 20 different places near the area of Beijing where I would like to begin. I do, also, have contacts in different parts of China, just in case anything unexpected comes about.
My goal is to make enough, or network enough, while I'm there to be able to explore the country. Because this is not a study abroad or special 'vacation' trip or anything like that, I will be able to move about and go wherever the wind takes me. I do promise to be smart about it, as I hope you would expect from myself, but if there are any special concerns, please send them my way. I will be the first to admit that I relatively know very little compared to all that there is to be known, so comments and suggestions are always awesome in my opinion.
I will be updating this blog as my trip plans and savings progress, but that is partly where you come in =D
I am doing what I can to save my money, but I don't know if I'll have enough by this summer to go on my trip. As of right now, I need $1500 for a roundtrip ticket to Beijing from Portland, Oregon. Most of my earnings right now are going toward rent and food, which I'm trying not to skimp out on too much, since people tell me it's kind of important to eat.
Anyway! I've set up a paypal donation for anyone who would like to help with the cause. I'm planning on documenting everything about my experience while working up to the trip, and of course while I am in China, along with a follow up. I'll probably be writing a journal every day while I'm there. I have no idea about internet access, but I know I'll have paper, so I'm just working around that.
Here's my paypal donation button! Even like $5, $1, 50 cents, whatever. It will all add up in the end. I'm not amazing with html, but I'll see what I can do about getting some kind of fund counter for how close I am to my goal.
Thanks so much everyone! Be sure to leave comments!
-Nick
