Introduction - How planned was this?

Just about September 2011 was about to appear, I had an idea of a 2-months trip after my contract work was over. Finally, I could do the trip that everyone goes to after university; mine happened to be a bit later, about a year after graduation. Though admittedly I had been to Cuba and Mexico in the midst and towards the end of my undergrad (my life stages are a bit mixed up and seemingly privileged at times but those who know me saw some other stuff I went through to finish that period of my life).

Whose plan was this?

Going for a trip across Canada, was not entirely planned for nor really desired, but some circumstances led me to do it. Besides the fact that many of my people go to trips after graduation from university (and some after highschool), I delayed this desire until I had some significant amount of cash  (not cashews). But did I plan the entire trip? Of course not, well, not to the point that some people do:

You see, for me, my dad always resembles the man behind our family's successful survival and flourishing plans. With an appetite for and an attitude so firm in having plans, systems and sticking to what works, anyone may find him extremely reliable and respectful....and yet, I try to oppose that exact character for some reason. Oddly or naturally the more I become older and feeling that I am getting off the hook, the more my experimental and improvisational self sticks out. I know deep down it is not so bad for the Family-Dom.

At the same time, I am coming to sense that no matter how much you think you planned, it would not be enough and sometimes you just got to let go and get sick of planning. I don't honestly think my dad's plans all work either, in fact, I think he just comes off as strict guy to me - like the time he planned the exact location of a motel near Montreal to find that my mom had this last-minute feeling of residing in a hotel in the heart of downtown without any planning what-so-ever to which we all abided. So I felt I had to do a semi-planned improvised long trip across Canada or USA or both, to get out of the full planning rut.

......All sounded cool and normal, but there came one strange problem after another unexpected problems upon the execution of the plan throughout the trip. I am not intending to instruct or tell you how I solved or succeeded in the challenges; in fact, in some cases I think I never actually succeeded- but that's besides the point. I am getting used to letting go of the common notion of failing and succeeding - it is losing its outwardly crisp definition day by day as life on this planet is turning more to an individual journey rather than a constant Facebook status update- the one life that is becoming more and more about solitude and different and distant from abject compliance with society's whims and wishes for you, trends and fashions some call "thinking/being realistic", "modern", "traditional", "going about responsibilities", "being dutiful" or "doing chores to be fed and have a roof above your head" or "dealing correctly with existential anxieties" or even maliciously calling it "being a human in a civilized society" dropping the phrase *you're a robot workaholic like us* on purpose. Hopefully, by end of this blog, you appreciate the power of your God-given freedom that is in you and care less about what others say or how they define you - unless of course they have got something useful to exchange for it.

Anyways, after 8 months of work and seeing colleagues and bosses going on vacations every 2 weeks, it was time for me to chillax. The bad thing about being an contractor is that sometimes you get no health or vacation benefits and also won't know whether the employer hires you if you wanted to work there after the contract. The upside was that you finish with the company anyways at a known time and if you are the type (like me by the end of 8 months) who really did not want to stick around, you will end up with the exact amount of cash and motivation to set out for an Ibn-Khaldun type of journey.

Now that the motivation and cash was there, all I had to do was combine it with an attitude for change to discover more about the world and myself - the latter believe me is far more scarier and rewarding if done properly in my opinion (not that I discovered much lol).


Am I happy at the end of all this?

Overall, I am glad I took another leap of faith to Trust The Creator (TTC) instead of Family Friendly Advice (FFA) of getting a magic FT job of sticking around and sitting down - the one job that also let's you be adventurous with office/home gossip and politics. So yeah....I actually ended up travelling all across Canada, staying in 10 unique places and passing through bunch of others in this really wide country- and most of this 3500-km trip was in the (back-breaker) Greyhound bus ... The best news is that the story of this journey is filled with rough patches and many joyous moments and I really hope you enjoy, get inspired and pursuit a dynamic life emanating from your core!

Stay tuned for more to come....