NOTE: I HAVE RETURNED AFTER A DELIGHTFUL TRIP. I'LL BE SHARING STORIES FROM MY TRAVELS IN A NEW BLOG POST COMING SOON!

This is just a quick post to let you all know that, while a blog post will go live next week as usual, I will not be around as usual on twitter and to answer comments.

I’ll be spending the next 10 days without internet or phone access. I will be cut off, isolated, uncontactable.

And why, you ask?

I’m shipping aboard a cargo freighter, bound for the United States from Ireland, heading back to where I started.

I’ve written before about unconventional travel and my passion for interesting (and sometimes strange) experiences. Well, when I started planning to move back to the United States after these two and a half years in Ireland, I heard somewhere that freighter travel is still a transportation option. You can cross the ocean (or actually travel around the world) aboard a ship designed for carrying all the goods and products of our globalized world, rather than carrying passengers. This is not a cruise. It is not a luxury experience. It is a cabin on a cargo ship.

And why, you ask?

This quote is on the wall of the hotel where I am staying for one night before shipping out. "We are tied to the ocean, and when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch0we are going back from whence we came." John F. Kennedy

I haven’t fully decided yet. I might be seasick (I hope not!). I might spend ten days bored and lonely (I hope not!). I might arrive at the other side of the ocean with nothing to show except a burning case of cabin fever.

But I suspect it’ll be a little different than that. I have a stockpile of podcasts to listen to, and a stack of books to be read. I hope I’ll write, although I’m leaving it up to the journey to dictate what exactly I’ll feel moved to work on. I have projects and schemes and plans that all could use some undivided attention. Just imagine the things you could accomplish with ten days of no distractions.

I also plan to use the voyage as a transition period. To let go of what’s been (Ireland) and get ready for what’s coming next.

All this to say, please don’t think I’m ignoring you over these next ten (or so!) days. I’ll be chugging across the pond, in transit from Liverpool to Chester, Pennsylvania. Wish me luck, and I’ll see you on the other side!

I'd love to hear any adventure travel stories, commentary, and feedback on this crazy venture. It would make me so happy to have comments waiting for me when I arrive in the US!