Details of my trip

It is now exactly one week till I will be on my way to my 6+ month adventure.  Many of you have asked more details about my trip so here they come. 😉  I leave from BWI airport at 6 am on Thursday, October 23, 2014.  That means in order to be at the airport with plenty of time to check in and such I have to leave home between midnight and 1 am.  My mom, bro, and gram are gonna be the ones to take me over and drop me off.  I fly from Baltimore to San Francisco, California.  The flight will last about 6 hours.  I arrive in San Francisco at 9 am there time.  I then have to pick up my luggage and hang out in the airport for about 13 and 1/2 hours.  I fly out of San Francisco at 10:30 pm and head to Manila, Philippines.  That flight is 14 and 1/2 hours.  I completely lose October 24, 2014 on my calendar because I’m passing over the date line.  When I arrive in Manila it will already be October 25, 2014.  It will be 4 am in the morning.  I then hang out in Manila for 3 and 1/2 hours before heading to Tacloban, Philippines.  It is a 1 and 1/2 hour flight so I will arrive at 9 am.  I will be picked up at the airport after going through customs and such and driven to my homestay or the headquarters of the in country organization for which I am working.  I won’t begin work until Monday so I will be able to unpack, rest, relax, and get acclimated to the area a little.  I will have the rest of the day Saturday and then a formal meeting at the headquarters where they will teach me how to get around the city and such on Sunday.

During my time in Tacloban I will be helping with 3 main projects.  I believe it will be in the following order, but could change if needed.  I will spend 4-5 weeks in the Women’s Shelter, 4-5 weeks in the Street Children Program, and the last 2-4 weeks in the Community Center.  I am looking forward to the many new things I will be helping with and experience.  I will update about next flights when the time gets closer, but this will give you an idea of the travel time and changes on my body.  As I begin this final week, packing is going to be foremost on my mind.  I hope to begin the actual process tomorrow.  If anyone has mega packing tips they are welcome. 😉  I will be packing everything I need in 1 checked bag, 1 wheeled carry on, and a backpack or that’s at least the plan for now. 🙂  I hope this post finds everyone doing well!  I will likely post one more time before I leave hopefully next week when I have things all set in place.  For anyone that attends Crossroad Community Church I will be setting up a table in the back at every service this weekend (1 Sat. night & 3 Sun. morning).  Feel free to come by and ask questions.  I will also have some extra information about the projects I’ll be helping with in the Philippines and Argentina and the organization itself.

Update on Preparations

As I begin to share my blog with everyone on as many platforms as I can, I want to give an update.  I have my flights locked in place and know my exact dates now!  I have many of the big things purchased including my travel insurance, flights, program fees, etc.  I do still have a lot to get done.  My biggest financial issue at the moment is figuring out what type of electronic device to take with me on my trip.  Primarily laptop or tablet.  The problem is I have neither and the budget is already pretty well maxed out.  I have had a few suggestions from folks and am trying to research in between doing many other tasks.  I am glad to be where I am now and know the Lord will provide the best option at the right time.  I will plan on putting up a post very soon with my exact dates and such, but will be leaving very early in the morning on October 23.  I appreciate all prayers while I am trying to get all the details finalized and begin the process of attempting to pack in 1 suitcase and 1 carry on for 6 and 1/2 months. 🙂  Any tips or suggestions are welcome!  Have a great day!  You will be hearing from my shortly!  Don’t forget to sign up for email updates when I publish a new post!

Preparing for my longest & most unique trip yet! :)

As many of you who make your way to this site know, traveling to help others is my passion and something I absolutely love to do!  In the past I have sent mass emails each week while I was away as an update of what I was doing.  The last trip I went on to Nigeria my email list had become so large my emails were often getting marked as spam, so to avoid that from being a problem I decided it was time to upgrade to a blog where a wide number of people could follow me and receive email updates if they would prefer.  For those of you who have been supporters and followers in the past I hope this will work well for you and for those of you who are just joining me I’m glad to have you and hope you enjoy what is to come!

This is my very first blogging experience so bear with me as I try to get everything set up and get in to the swing of things. 😉  Feel free to share this site with anyone who may be interested in hearing about or keeping up to date with where I am and what I am doing.

As for this trip I am preparing for it is not only the longest, but absolutely the most unique I’ve ever attempted.  I will be out of the country from the end of October till the end of April (exact dates to be determined in a couple of days).  I will be volunteering through Global Volunteer Network whose headquarters are in New Zealand.  I will be spending my first 3 months in the Philippines in the city of Tacloban which was hit extremely hard by the typhoon in 2013.  While there I will spend time helping in a women’s shelter, a street children program, and a community centre program.  After 3 months in the Philippines I have scheduled a 10 day break for myself in Australia to spend a little time relaxing and getting refreshed before continuing on to Argentina for 3 months more of volunteer work.  In Argentina I will be spending about 3 weeks in each of the following programs: Horse Therapy, Gender Equality(assisting single mothers with basic life skills), Community Development Project, and an Animal Conservation Program.  This week is a busy one for setting everything in order.  I have just paid my program fees, on Tuesday or Wednesday I am to arrange all my flights, and hopefully by the end of the week I will have my travel insurance locked in place.  I must also begin the process of packing for 6 months in 1 checked bag and 1 carry on.  I am already in the middle of the series of vaccinations I need for this trip.  The other big thing to be set in place asap is my visa for the Philippines, but that process can not be started until I have my flights locked in.

This is also the most expensive trip I have ever attempted to pull off.  This past summer I worked 2 jobs (basically about 70-80 hour work weeks) in order to save as much as absolutely possible.  I was able to save $15,000 for my trip.  Although I thought that would be more than enough for 6 months of volunteer work it has proved to be not quite enough.  Airfare being the thing that was considerably more expensive than originally anticipated.  Also due to the amount of traveling I have done in the past and the amount of vaccinations I have already had, I had not anticipated a large cost for vaccinations.  However, I soon found out although I only needed 2 they happen to be the most expensive I’ve ever needed.  All together the trip looks to be costing about 17-18,000.  As always though the Lord provides and I have no doubt that He will work the miracles that need to be worked!  Jesus is by my side always and the money always arrives when it’s needed.  I have not and do not plan to do any fundraising this time around because that is why I worked the way I did for 6 months.  Those that feel led to assist in my extra costs may feel free to contact me, but more important than the financial side of things I appreciate and covet your prayers before, during, and after my trip.  I am always seeking full-time employment that would allow me to help others all the time, but in the meantime am thankful the Lord continues to provide a way for me to make money, save, and go help for longer periods of time.  I am always glad to experience new cultures and broaden my own expertise and exposure to new and different types of programs/projects!

I will continue to update here as things get locked in and the time gets closer to my leaving.  Over the next few weeks I will be emailing my original list of contacts to let everyone know about this blog.  I am also ordering cards to hand out and will hopefully share on Facebook, etc.  Please share with anyone who is interested in following along!  I appreciate any comments and will look forward to hearing from those of you who lend encouragement, prayers, etc. along the way!  Feel free to leave any questions you might have also and I will do my best to answer them.