Unsure Footing

How to kick off a travel blog in style?

You do what any mediocre writer does . . . you steal from someone more talented than you.

There are plenty of voices I can pull out my hat for this occasion.
Whitman’s probably the go-to guy for naturalist prose:

“Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I
myself am good-fortune.
Henceforth I whimper no more,
postpone no more, need nothing.”
Walt Whitman - Song of the Open Road

Thoreau is no slouch either. You have to admire a man who can squeeze a manual for transcendental living out of one winter alone in a log cabin with a few acres of beans:

“Rise free from care before the dawn, and seek adventure.
Let the moon find thee by other lakes, and the night overtake thee everywhere at home.
There are no larger fields than these, no worthier games than may here be played.”
Henry David Thoreau – Walden

Nah, I’m not doing anything earth-shattering here so let’s not lapse into romanticism. The last word goes to Vonnegut, a personal favorite of mine who passed away last year:

“Listen: we are here on earth to fart around. Don’t let anybody tell you any different!”
Kurt Vonnegut - Timequake

Amen.

Here are the facts:

I quit my job, rented out my apartment, bought a one way plane ticket to Cusco, Peru and once I land I will enroll in a crash Spanish language course. When I am able to roll my Rs like a snare drum I will head off to fart around the Southern Cone.

At a surface glance this may appear to be many things:

• a much-needed mental health sabbatical
• an ill-conceived vision quest
• a desperate grab for fading youth
• a long way to go to pick up a mail order bride

Perhaps it’s a witch’s brew of all of the above.

The one thing it is not, however, is impulsive. This notion has been marinating in the back of my brain for a long while and the months of preparation leading up to it have only strengthened my conviction that I have made the right decision. I’ve concluded that the benefits of the corporate hamster wheel are no longer worth the price of admission. I’m stepping off for now.

My instant ambitions are three-fold: to read, to write, to sleep in the shade. Ahh, the holy trinity. Wherever I find a place that suits me I will stay for a spell. Whenever I get restless of the sedentary life I will lace up my slippers and move on. I’m not sure when I will return to New York, but it’s my home, and I know that sooner or later it will draw me back.

In the meantime, there are only so many bottles of wine a man can drink by himself (I intend to find out what that exact number is, btw) so to anyone reading this: if you ever wanted to visit Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, etc., etc., etc., my schedule has just become wide open. Please feel free to look me up. Ever thought of hiking to Machu Picchu, skiing in Patagonia, or paddling around the Galapagos? Give me some advanced notice of when your plane arrives and I will meet you there. For anyone who just wants to drop in and spend a low key vacation in another country, you are welcome to hang your hat alongside my own - my companionship is yours for as long as you can stomach it.

I will endeavor to update this blog as often as I can to share my experiences. With any luck the entries will not just be a sad recounting of the times I stick my foot in my mouth, shoot myself in the foot, or accomplish both simultaneously.

I wish everyone the best in their chosen direction and hope that whatever you throw your energies at - professionally and personally - yields rewarding dividends.

So, how to kick off a travel blog in style?

It begins like this:

Listen.
Jeremy Kaye has come unstuck in time.

It ends like this:

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