My Own "Eat, Pray, Love."

“The only thing more unthinkable than leaving was staying; the only thing more impossible than staying was leaving.” - Elizabeth Gilber; Eat, Pray, Love. 

NO, I am not having a relationship crisis, or any real crisis for that matter. 

I just need to go.  

Three months ago, I left my job for the cautionary freelancing world. So far, it's been feast, not famine. I'm paying bills, going on trips whenever I want, and still juggling numerous accounts and learning to organize and manage my life in a professional way. 

However, with this freedom to go anywhere, I find myself wondering why I'm staying put more often than not. Don't get me wrong, I love Colorado, and am so excited to spend another summer here, but after that, I need to be on the move. 

Photo: Laurie Tewksbury // Mt. Evans

I feel like I have waited my whole life to do this, and I have finally created a situation for myself where I am able. 

Let me pause for a moment, by the way, and speak on the topic of how lucky I am to do what I do: 

Lately, I hear, "you're so lucky!" from people when I tell them what I do for a living. Luck has nothing to do with where my life is right now. There is nothing lucky about how I've figured out how to break away from the 9-5, learned new skills to create a career for myself, and pushed myself into burning midnight oil & waking up early instead of sleeping in to make things happen. I knew that I wanted this, and knew it would mean having to create a, "no turning back," attitude for myself. 

Which meant waking up early and not sleeping in until 10am anymore (yeah, sleeping in is 10am for me now).

When you wait for things to happen to you, you have no choice but to settle for whatever comes your way.

If you want the dream life, don't think dreaming about it will get you there. That is definitely step one, but you're going to have to work incredibly hard -- harder than you probably ever have in your whole life. I'm putting in longer hours, having to really think outside the box, and am challenged everyday in my job now. 

But I love it. Every second. 

I also have many seconds where I wonder what I have gotten myself into...but those pass quickly! 

Ok, back to my Eat, Pray, Love situation: 

My solution to ease the feelings of needing to move around I have is simple: 

Pack up.

Go. 

In August, I will be throwing all my things into storage (or selling them), finding someone to sublet my place in Golden, and then head to Louisiana to take my cats, Wizard & Howl, to stay with my sister. After dropping the cats, I'll head to Texas to be with my parents and boyfriend for a couple of weeks until I depart to... 

ICELAND! 

This will be my second trip to Iceland and I am stoked. 

From there I will go to Bergen, Norway >> Stockholm, Sweden, >> Helsinki, Finland. 

I'm using Traveller's Point to make a visual map of my plans, as well as CreateTrips to create a list of things to do so I can manage my time well while I'm visiting new countries. 

Those are the flights I have booked so far. I'm building this trip little-by-little. I'm using Skyscanner to find the best deals and being flexible with my dates, which really makes a different. (No airline credit card points here - I am rebuilding my credit and don't qualify for the good ones yet). 

My intention is to romp around Europe for the month of September, if not longer. I'm going to be writing, working and blogging while I am there, which is the whole reason I have chosen this life of freelancery (I just made that word up - and it's oh, so perfect). 

Because I work in the industry of online digital marketing, you bet I already have a #hashtag for this thing created: #TiffinyDoesEurope.

I'm pretty scared, but I know if I don't do this, I will always want to. So here we go! 

Where should I go? Should I avoid anywhere specific as a solo female? Should I take a rolling carry-on or a 40L backpack? What tips do you have for me? I'm new to long-term travel! Comment below!