The beginning...[Entry #1: June 15, 2011]

[Above: Probably the most iconic and stylish sneaker ever produced, these are mine.]

Entry #1: Wednesday June 15, 2011:

        This is the beginning of the trip which I hope will help me define exactly who I am to become and shed some clarity on my life's purpose. I am flying out of LAX (Los Angeles International airport) in route to Thailand with a short delay of a layover within China. I am not exactly sure what I will find in my journey, more of the same things I have seen everyday within my own life with just different names and places attached or perhaps find some more significant and worthy goal. It is not that the journey I will set out upon is goal, rather that I have the unique opportunity to travel and work abroad before perhaps settling down and having a family of my own. The following are my hopes and expectations for my journey to come:

• To leave each country, town or home that I visit in some small way better to show a great respect for all of these places.
• To experience new ways of life, new cultures and open my own perspectives to the world that I come into contact with.
• It is my hope that within my own travels to be able to be diligent and take photos at each step as well as continue this log or some additional form of writing.
• I also hope to be able at least within Thailand to better refine my use of the language both written and spoken and not to leave without some greater mastery of the language.
• Wherever I travel to make new friends along the way whom I can learn to rely upon and learn from. Although in anthropology we would call the subjects of our study informants or something of the like, it is my intention to build lasting and hopefully meaningful relationships as yet I have not decided on a path for writing an ethnography but rather to simply travel and document my own experiences.
• Additionally to forward the pictures, and travel logs onto my friends and family or perhaps make my experiences publicly accessible so others can share in the experiences that I am fortunate enough to have.
• Be generous to others and share meaningful and positive experiences.
• Seek to view monuments and important historical grounds as much as naturally beautiful sites.
• Keep record of the hotels, restaurants as well as food and drink that I experience within my travels.
• Perhaps collecting coins for smaller denominations is a possibility (also sending these back home to share in the experience would be a worthy goal as they are easily shipped and stored at home). It is not my goal to become burdened by worldly possessions.
• Work hard in every endeavor, as not only am I a representative for myself but my family and country as well.

        It is my hope that this list will be improved and refined in clear succinct goals as that later I can look back upon the weeks and months to be able to reference my own progress in my travels as well as how my own personality has changed and grown. Not only for my own reflection, but hopefully these logs will be of some interest to the next generation or other travelers and not merely an ego trip.