This blog is going to be a chronicle of my trip, and to convey everything, I have to provide some context.

About a year ago I started feeling like my life was getting too complacent. I'd been toying with the idea of going overseas for a few years, but things never worked out for one reason or another. I was getting bored and depressed, and this was impacting parts of my life in a very negative way. I had to make a very difficult decision about my future, and once it was made, the opportunity to scratch this travel itch became real. I researched obsessively, started the arrangements to obtain a work visa, and somehow that little idea of moving away became a very crazy reality.

I've said goodbye to family and friends, and I'm struggling with homesickness. The romantic idea of globetrotting has been replaced by the reality of being in a huge city with a backpack and no job, no place to live that isn't a hostel, and no real friends to call my own yet, and if I hadn't paid through the nose to get here, I would be very tempted to think about going home. Of course, I'm writing this at 11:00 at night, when these feelings tend to pop up, and I also don't tend to quit things just because they're difficult. And the good parts have been amazing. I mean, I saw Buckingham Palace the other day. I stood across the street from where Guy Fawkes failed to blow up the government and was passed into legend. The bobbies wear amazingly funny hats without a trace of awkwardness, there are red telephone booths and double decker buses everywhere, every other building is literally a pub, the Tube is awesome and I can now ride it without fear of being lost forever underground. And the sun has actually been shining all the time I've been here. Knock on wood...

I don't know if this trip is going to help me figure my life out, but I know I won't get another chance to do something like this again for a very long time, if ever. So, I'm here and I'm looking forward to seeing all that I can. I'll be posting as often as possible, so if you wish, you can see it too.