So my life is changing whether I want it to or not so I decided it was a great excuse to begin my EPIC journey and see where it leads.  When I wrote about the crazy $399 transatlantic cruise to Barcelona from Miami on the Norwegian EPIC cruise ship, I sent my friend “country mouse” an email about it.  She replied “let’s go!” and with that I quickly began formulating a journey to Europe via cruise ship to attend the TBEX conference and then see what happens.  The kitchen table, normally a mess with papers, was now hard to find under all of the research I was doing until 2 a.m. each night.  My first two weeks unemployed, I was busier than ever working on the basic outline of a trip and then flying by the seat of my pants (points) literally.

For many folks who have quit their jobs to travel the world, they made deliberate decisions and it seems they had set up goals to save and travel. I’m not sure how many did it in two weeks like I have. Once in motion my insane plan using award miles, hotel points, gift cards from my birthday, airbnb reservations, my water bottle of coins, quick train bookings and with a bit of help from some friends I was off.

The past ten days at sea without internet (ok, there was a bit of connection but that’s a long expensive story yet to come) have been like adult sleep away camp with unlimited alcohol (i.e. – more fun than I imagined but exhausting).  I brought three books (not opened), planned to write a gazillion posts to update the blog (I managed two when I escaped the martini tasting event because my friends were a little tipsy and didn’t notice my absence) and was going to sit on deck in the sun to relax (yep, that didn’t happen either).  All goes to show that best laid plans….

So I arrived in Barcleona, did a whirlwind walk in the city before boarding a bus with my “country mouse” to the Costa Brava beach to the TBEX conference (unfortunately I lost my voice so can’t quite network like I wanted).  Now that “country mouse” has left to begin her long journey back to Seattle (how lucky am I that she said “let’s go” and do what you need to do), I’m left to figure out where to go next, what to write about (yes, my resume is on that list) and how to live my life.  Do I stay in Europe or catch the next plane home?  Do I go somewhere else?  Where would you go if you could escape your life?

Follow the adventures on instagram and twitter to see what happens next.