who?

Funchilde is actually my Dad’s alter-ego. I decided that since I’m named after my mother in real life, that I’d take on his moniker in cyberspace.

what, where and when?

I’m not sure you can call it a plan per se, but on January 10th 2006, I resigned from my job and I depart mid-February for Mexico and Central America to vagabond*. My unplan such as it is, is to take some time to live differently. To nurture my soul as well as pursue some projects that are interesting versus lucrative (but hopefully both). I’d love to study Spanish, volunteer, work on some small projects, and to spend time with the beautifully human people that cross my path.

how?

I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy my consulting and project management work for the last 9 years. I don’t live extravagantly and stumbled into some real estate, some free lance projects and now some free time. Anyone who knows me knows that I am severely allergic to the idea of a car payment. Shorty Rock (my car) has 233k 236k miles on her. Instead of buying a newer used car, I had her 12 valve engine upgraded to a 16 valve when she blew a rod in October of 2005. She’s a little rough around the edges, but so am I, and I’m loyal like that.

why?

We were a military family and I spent 8 years in Europe as a kid. I never shook the travel bug and have since been to Africa, Alaska, and the Bahamas and did a cross-country trip of the U.S. However as a member of the working masses, 9 years of three weeks of vacation per year never have seemed like quite enough. Taking some time off to just BE has been on my Mondo Beyondo list for a while. I just never had the money, or the time never seemed quite right. Over a year ago I stumbled across Bootsnall, a website targeting the budget-conscious traveler. Boots led me to Erik’s award-winning blog, Solbeam’s inspirational travel journal, Hector’s site and Where She Goes, tales of a female nomad’s 2 year trip around the world (RTW) and most awe inspiring, the book Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. I realized that if they could do it, so could I. So, I find myself at a point where I am currently single, child-free and at a good pause-point in my career. My family is healthy and I have nothing tying me to any specific place. It is quite liberating and scary to reduce my life to a storage unit, a PO Box, a bank box, 2 bags, a laptop an mp3 player and a cell phone.

I don’t necessarily feel like my journey is all about travel in the literal sense. I am calling this a radical sabbatical (a term I’ve pilfered from somewhere else I’m sure). After a childhood friend and a college professor both passed in 2005, I realized I didn’t want to wait until I retire to begin living some of my dreams, so I’m changing the rules and I’m taking some of my retirement time early. I am passionate about cooking and working with young people and volunteering, so I intend to nurture those areas of my life as well. I am ready to relocate geographically and I’m also considering graduate school, but being a bit of a commitment-phobe, I’ve decided to think about those for awhile longer, preferably while playing cards on a beach somewhere with una cerveza mas fina** and some “eye-candy” nearby.

*Vagabonding – n. 1) The act of leaving behind the orderly world to travel for an extended period of time. 2) A privately meaningful manner of travel that emphasizes creativity, adventure, awareness, simplicity, discovery, independence, realism, self-reliance and the growth of the spirit. 3) A deliberate way of living that makes freedom to travel possible.

** a very good beer