Hola Emily!

Not really.  I rarely have a plan.  I sometimes have a couple of milemarkers, but never a plan-plan.  For instance, I knew my buddy Bill would be in Mendoza, Argentina at Christmas, so I knew I had one place I should try to be on one certain date.  For the most part, though,  I usually only think of goals.  What do I want to do?  There were a few goals for my trip to Argentina:

-to continue working on my book

-to do some climbing

-to learn Spanish

-to dance to techno music at crazy clubs

-to go to at least one soccer - I mean futball - game

-to work on farms

- to live in a few places (instead of being a traveler)

-to surround myself with community everywhere I go. I have a habit of being too independent.  A loner almost. So far this trip has been the opposite of Summer Tour 2009, where I slept all by myself in my truck in parking lots every single night.    So far, I’ve been in a room or a tent or a trailer with someone else every single night here in Argentina and it’s maddening…but wonderful.

Those were my goals in terns of plans, but I still have no idea in what order, where I’ll do any of it, where I’ll go or how long I’ll stay.  I usually find out most of my information once I get to the place and talk to people.  Other travelers are a wealth of knowledge. I found out, for instance, that southern Argentina is REALLY expensive and not worth it if you don’t have much money, so I’m not going.  I also found out it’s on fire!  In general, I just go with my gut. If something doesn’t feel right, I listen to it. Your gut is never wrong.

Also, I usually ask myself why I’m going.  I don’t usually know because I’m not supposed to know until I get there, but I need to make sure my motive are good.  That it’s not because I’m running away from something at home.  That I’m not avoiding dealing with something uncomfortable.  That’s never a good reason to travel.

One motive  was to become more South American in my approach to life.  To go with the flow more instead of trying to control everything. Another was to be more community/family-minded instead of ridiculously independent and Melanie-centric.  To become more affectionate was another. And to see what it’s like to not be able to talk all the time and overexplain and entertain people.  Try being a comedian and getting people to like you when you can’t make them laugh.  Sooooo hard! 

Lastly, tell everyone you know that you’re going.  You wouldn’t beleive how many people know people where you’re going and want to hook you up.  The people from the UCB theater in NYC hooked me up BIG time. Not only with places to stay but cool people to meet and hang out with.  Also, announce it on facebook a lot. I have had lots of random things happen because of friends of friends on facebook.

Oh, and one last thing.  Start a profile on couchsurfing.com.  Host people if you can or at least meat them out for coffee.  This has been the coolest part of my trip so far.  Everywhere I go I have a new friend to show me all around.  It’s totally safe and AMAZING.

In summary, tell everyone, think of goals, get attached to nothing, and JUST GO.

Besos!