Can I even (travel) write?
I’ve been putting off writing about my almost 30 years living and traveling abroad in any concentrated way. Sure there are the sporadic attempts at blogging, social media posts, and even hiccupy stab at podcasting. I don’t even know what to write about - but there are some funny stories and lessons learned, or some undiscovered lessons to be learned in those stories, and maybe coming to some sort of understanding why I chose a life of perpetual uprootedness. (Funny then that I chose to call my podcast Rootabaga and made it about putting down roots in foreign places.)
So the other day when I posted a probably overdramatic rant on Facebook trying to explain my nomadic lifestyle and my fear of writing about it, my sister said a friend had recommended substack as a good place to write. I didn’t even bother to research if it was true or not. I just started an account that day (yesterday) and here I am.
I’ve got loads of unfinished travel stories and musings, and photos that I think are worth sharing, so stay tuned for them as I sit here in the closest thing I’ve had to a permanent home - Sant Carles de la Rápita, Spain (more about why here later) - and try to finish some of them, and later create some new writing.
The goods
I am hoping to post stuff regularly, but don’t want to make any promises just yet. Let’s see how it goes. But stay tuned for tales of woe, fear, joy and disaster. Here’s a taste of what you should get, in addition to just musings on expat life:
From the absurd
an alligator gar attack in Cambodia
buying a home in Spain while locked down in China during a pandemic
bad trips in Thailand
revenge deportations by vengeful ex girlfriends
street fights and jail in S. Korea
hitchhiking through the Tibetan plateau of western China
renting an AirBnB from a crazy Japanese man
To the mundane
the joys of washing dishes in a tiny Tokyo flat
shipping everything you own to Spain from 3 different countries
shopping for a quilt on a chilly autumn night in a traditional Korean market
Who is my writing for?
If those kinds stories appeal to you then you might like this newsletter. I’m no Theroux or Chatwin or Morris or P.J. O’Rourke, but maybe I’ve got some bon mots in me somewhere. If you just want to be inspired to travel or work overseas yourself you might like these pages. Because I promise, if I can do it, just about anyone can. OK let’s face it, that’s a bullsh*t cliche - it’s completely untrue since my lifestyle is certainly facilitated by the greased palm of privilege I carry as a white, American, native English speaker. That’s something that is definitely worth addressing.
For now it’s free. Let’s see if I can deliver.
But please do subscribe. Your subscriptions and comments will encourage me and let me know how I’m doing. Plus, only subscribers will get some of the stories that might be best left out of the public eye.
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Thanks for reading my first post and may you enjoy many more.