When I thought about people traveling overseas, I thought they were all going to experience some life changing moment that would give clarity on their life and purpose. I wanted to travel so I could recover from workaholism, to find my inner self, and to discover my purpose in life. I expected this to happen immediately. Spoiler alert: it never happened. (Thought: Should probably write more about this later…)

Turns out, the first couple weeks traveling was much more stressful than I anticipated. I expected to feel free from work and the burdens of life the minute I landed in Vietnam. Instead, I felt anxious and more lost than I did in SF. Why was I feeling like this? I had quit my job, moved out of my apartment, and flew to the other side of the world without a return date. My plan was to have no plan and let the traveling winds take me wherever they lead.

I found out that I personally cannot scroll through life or a vacation without a plan. Having no plan at all was giving me anxiety. I wasn’t even sure which countries I’d visit, yet alone when I’d fly back. So I decided to put together a loose schedule of which cities I’d like to visit during my trip. I wrote a short post about this on my instagram that day and it made me feel much more relaxed. Even though I knew it wasn’t a binding schedule, it gave me some inner peace to know that I had some idea of which country I’d be flying to next week. I slept pretty well that night.