Damn, Even the Vagabond Life Costs Money...
For all those wondering what it would be like to pack it in, this is a good one...
At one time or another, perhaps on the bus ride from that heartbreakingly perfect beach bungalow to the airport, the thought must have tempted you: What if I didn't go home?
You probably started calculating: If I sold everything, I could stay out here on the road for years, drifting from one idyllic destination to the next, from one adventure to another, following my whims around the globe. And then, when the bus got to the airport, you snapped out of your reverie and boarded the plane for home.
Elliott Hester never let go of the fantasy. In the fall of 2002 he set off on an 18-month, around-the-world adventure. But instead of coming home, as he originally planned, he cashed in the return ticket and has been on the road ever since, living as, he calls it, a "continental drifter."
Regular readers of Travel will recognize Hester's name. A flight attendant on leave from American Airlines, he's the author of the best-selling "Plane Insanity." Many of his essays have appeared in these pages. His latest book, "Adventures of a Continental Drifter: An Around-the-World Excursion into Weirdness, Danger, Lust, and the Perils of Street Food" (St. Martin's Press), arrived in bookstores this week. Curious to know whether the reality lived up to the fantasy, I recently interviewed him via e-mail.
Perhaps most disconcerting about the article is the revelation that this homeless life requires $36,000 per year. For more, click here .
At one time or another, perhaps on the bus ride from that heartbreakingly perfect beach bungalow to the airport, the thought must have tempted you: What if I didn't go home?
You probably started calculating: If I sold everything, I could stay out here on the road for years, drifting from one idyllic destination to the next, from one adventure to another, following my whims around the globe. And then, when the bus got to the airport, you snapped out of your reverie and boarded the plane for home.
Elliott Hester never let go of the fantasy. In the fall of 2002 he set off on an 18-month, around-the-world adventure. But instead of coming home, as he originally planned, he cashed in the return ticket and has been on the road ever since, living as, he calls it, a "continental drifter."
Regular readers of Travel will recognize Hester's name. A flight attendant on leave from American Airlines, he's the author of the best-selling "Plane Insanity." Many of his essays have appeared in these pages. His latest book, "Adventures of a Continental Drifter: An Around-the-World Excursion into Weirdness, Danger, Lust, and the Perils of Street Food" (St. Martin's Press), arrived in bookstores this week. Curious to know whether the reality lived up to the fantasy, I recently interviewed him via e-mail.
Perhaps most disconcerting about the article is the revelation that this homeless life requires $36,000 per year. For more, click here .
posted by Unknown at 5:52 AM
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