Welcome to my blog. In case you don’t already know me, I’m Christina, a serial traveler intent on making as many stories as possible. I’ve recently decided that my next adventure is going to be sailing. More specifically, I plan to sail down the coast from Los Angeles with the goal of making it to Panama. “But you don’t know how to sail,” you say? Are you always going to take my mom’s side? (Just kidding. I love you, Mom. Thanks for watching out for me.) I’ve left myself a whole four weeks to learn, between returning from a cruise to Alaska with the family and when the marina where my boat lives is kicking us out for renovations. Seems like plenty of time to me. (Update: The marina where my boat is currently living is no longer kicking everyone out for renovations, so I now have at least a few months to get ready to sail out.)
Here is what I imagine the trip is going to be like (with approximately this amount of detail):
But, I think this might end up being more accurate:
So I guess when I think about it, I can understand why my mom would be worried. I just quit my stable job as an engineer to, in theory, sail thousands of miles on a tiny sailboat that I’ve owned for years, but never (yet) taken out of the docks. But I was burned out at my job, and while three weeks per year of vacation was generous for a 9-5 job (well, realistically 9-7, but who’s counting), the travel I was able to do has always felt a bit tame. Don’t get me wrong, I feel incredibly fortunate to have spent the last 6 years at an amazing company, and I will certainly miss my team there. I’m also going to have to work very hard to feel the same sense of accomplishment on my own that I regularly felt as part of my job. I think I’m up for the challenge, though. Wish me luck, and I’ll keep you posted.
-Christina
PS. Any words of wisdom for me? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.