On Duck Hunting and Travel

On an overcast Friday afternoon, overlooking the Chesapeake, I watched an old friend attempt to eat his way through a mountain of steamed Maryland crab. He alternated between quiet concentration, picking out the meat with his fat fingers, and purposely riling me up, telling me where his EpiPen was located, so that I could stab him because wouldn't you know it, he's allergic to crab...

... Such an asshole. But it's now been 12 years of friendship. Few people who knew the awkward angry girl in high school know the awksome woman-child that I am today, and of those few who stayed, I want to keep them here. The downside is he knows my buttons and doesn't let me get away with my crap. Makes it hard to convincingly lie to myself when your friend is smirking at you across the way, eyebrows raised.

Harris Crab House, Grasonville, MD

It was a goodbye meal. Or at least goodbye for now. We hadn't seen each other since high school when we ended up living within 100 miles from each other this past year. Keeping in touch the last decade was always sporadic and short, yet familiar and easy, with no pretense. Some conversations were musings of what might've been, what could happen, or a favorite: how to fall off the grid completely. One that comes up time and again is the next epic adventure, and after that last meal we shared, he was setting off on a bucket list cross-country road trip, while I stood still, getting smaller in the rear view mirror, soon to be buried by the snow that is sure to come. Again, such an asshole, for leaving me behind.

So of course the topic changes to why don't I leave as well? Take off for one of the many adventures we always start to hypothetically plan. Bucket list locations like Kilimanjaro, the Silk Road, Inka Trail, Everest for him, Mars for me... It's a constant Nat Geo Adventure travel trailer in my head on loop after taking some soma, but I can't go just yet...

Mainly because I'm a type A, first generation child of immigrants Capricorn Tiger. 

And because I'm poor. The former makes me unable to function until the latter changes.

I have read every article under the sun about how to save up for travel, how to work abroad, how to become a successful travel blogger, ad nauseam. And it's all balderdash!

I don't see how I could possibly retire in my 30's with passive income so that I can travel.

I won't be selling myself so that I can see the world in style, and saving $13,000 in 7 months on a kitchen wage? Fuggedaboutit.

I live in a pit of debt that I dug myself by going to college and to culinary school. I don't regret it, nor do I blame anyone for it. There's of course a larger conversation to be had student loan debt in this country, as well as living wages, but that's not what this is about.

This is about me knowing what value I place on travel for myself, and what I plan on doing about it:

I've started to go duck hunting. Before you get your ducks in a row, you need to have ducks.

To all twenty readers who haven't gotten an update in my life, I'm taking a break from the kitchen. I left my last job at a prestigious restaurant because the costs were too high, and the wage was waaay too low. There was no time to go duck hunting.

But in my month of unemployment, I came across a duckling. Vaguely termed Culinary Operations Administrator by myself, I inadvertently fell into crafting my own freelancing niche and possible business. I meant to help someone out for a month or two on the side as I looked for the optimal job in chocolate, but now it's ballooned into some kind of animal, and I'm okay with it, so I've decided to keep on with it, and see how it goes. Ideally, I'll soon be able to telecommute from anywhere, not just in DC!

I'm still keeping my hand in with chocolate. If you would like to contribute to my Duck Hunting Travel Fund in exchanged for cocktail inspired chocolate truffles, please let me send me a request. That duckling is still searching for its footing, but like myself, I can't walk in a straight line sober, I can hardly expect my ducks to be entirely straight either. A vague single file would be great.

Ducklings, Boston

So while I'm not going to be riding off into the sunset on the next great adventure just yet, I'm on my way there. I'm closer now than I have been in the last four years, and with 30 around the corner, I'm okay with the current pace of the journey.