On our way...in a year.

Well very soon, anyway....so just a quick update. 

Juliano and I are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime at the end of summer next year. We are traveling across the country - not sure whether we are taking the northern or southern route. I would love to drive as much of old Rt 66 as we can.  We are hanging on the beach in Cali for a few weeks. Then we are traveling by car, truck, or van through all the countries of Central America to Panama. We are then shipping the car to Venezuela, while we take a relaxing break on some Caribbean island.  We are driving the East coast of South America all the way to southern Brazil, hopefully in time for Christmas. Once in Brazil, we will lounge on the beach, drinking Corona, dancing the Samba, enjoying Carnival and plotting ways to never come home again.

That is the plan....now here is what we have to do to get there....a whole lot.

1) Brazil visa issue - Juliano has been in contact with the Brazilian embassy in Panama.  Thank goodness I can get a visa for Brazil through them.  They have a ton of paperwork requirements, including three recent bank statements.  Not sure how that is going to work but we will figure it out.

2) Jul also got paperwork requirements for driving into Mexico...man there are a lot of

 requirements to do this.

3) I am writing an email to be sent to all the embassies so we can get free information! 

4) Last but not least and the most important, a friend is loaning me Rosetta Stone so I can learn Portuguese.  But what about our Spanish?  Oy.  That is two languages plus English.

I have had to tone down my excitement about this a little because I was getting to anxious to go and not getting any work done or taking care of my life.  But J and I are both paring down our lives, budgets and watching what we spend. We have to save and save and save. 

So that is where we stand. More tomorrow. 

Feliz dia das Maes II

Como a Mellissa bem colocou, dia das mães esta chegando e então, eu resolvi postar também. O assunto a principio pode não estar muito relacionado ao blog, mas particularmente acho que tem tudo a ver. O apoio da mãe numa aventura será muito importante. Minha mãe sempre me apoiou nas minhas decisões e desta vez não ia ser diferente.

Mas neste post, eu queria falar um pouco da minha mãe. Falar da minha mãe é fácil. Diva, como seu nome já diz, DIVINA, MARAVILHOSA, ou simplesmente DIVA. "A palavra é uma derivação de “divina” em italiano, que por sua vez vem do latim “divus/diva”. Era usada principalmente para definir as prima donnas da ópera, cantoras com talento extraordinário. Segundo o Aurélio, diva é exatamente isso, mas também significa deusa”.

Com certeza, foi uma das minhas maiores dificuldades quando resolvi juntar as minhas coisas e me mudar para os Estados Unidos. Ficar longe dessa pessoa de quem eu admiro tanto e que tenho aquele amor especial, não é nada fácil.

Um dos maiores presentes que já ganhei, foi o grande momento do reencontro, quando você veio me visitar por alguns meses. Fazendo um esforço aqui, outra ali, ela conseguiu, juntamente com meu pai, comprar a tão esperada passagem para os Estado Unidos e assim, poder nos encontrar novamente. Espero que seja a primeira visita de muitas, porque eu quero que você esteja comigo todos os dias possíveis.

Mãe, eu espero que você tenha um ótimo dia das mães e que mesmo de longe, mando aquele abraço e beijo especial. Você, que tem enfrentado tantas batalhas, mas como sempre saindo vitoriosa. Eu te amo!

TRANSLATION: As Mellissa said before, Mothers Day is arriving and I decided to post something as well. It may not seem like this subject is related to the blog but to me, it means everything.   A mother’s support in this adventure is very important.

My mother always supported me in my decisions and this time won’t be any different. But in this post, I would like to say something about my mother.  To talk about my mother is easy. DIVA, as your name already says, Divine, Marvelous, or simply Diva. “The word is a derivation of Divine in Italian that come from Latin “divus/diva”. It was used mainly for defining the primadonnas of the opera, singers with extraordinary talent.  It also signifies god.” 

Leaving her in Brazil was one of the hardest things to do when I decided to move to this country. To stay away from a person who I admire so much and have a special love for is not easy as a son. 

One of the best gifts I have received was the great moment of our reunion, when you came to visit me for a couple of months. You struggled hard, here and there, to be able to buy a plane ticket together with my dad, so we could see each other and finally hug again. I hope this is the first visit of many cause I want you to be part of my life every day.

Mom, you have always been very strong in facing your battles and will end up victorious. I hope that you have a wonderful Mother’s Day and even from far away, I’m sending you a big hug and special kiss. I love you.

From Here to There

So we are traveling from the West Coast of the North America to the East Coast of South America....from here to there.....

Southern California

Santa Catarina, Brazil

All who wander are not lost.....

Juliano says in Brazil the word vagabond is a slur word, used for someone who is lazy and wants easy money. Our blog title is sort of ironic then, since we are far from lazy and going to be spending lots of moneyI decided to google vagabond to see what sort of interested mix they would throw my way.

I got the usual Wikipedia right off the bat. A vagabond is an itinerant person.. A vagabond is characterised by almost continuous travelling, lacking a fixed home, temporary abode, or permanent residence. Vagabonds are not bums, as bums are not known for traveling, preferring to stay in one location.

Good to know we aren't bums. Of course Merriam AND Webster had to throw their two cents in....Middle English, from Anglo-French vacabund, from Late Latin vagabundus, from Latin vagari to wander, Date: 15th century 1: moving from place to place without a fixed home : wandering.

I did find a surprising array of other vagabond related links, Vagabond Inn, The Vagabond in Miami, apparently a club, Vagabond Sportfishing, the Vagabond Travel Guitar....very cool, something every vagabond should own...book results, video results...The Vagabond's House Inn, which is very ironic, because bondies don't have houses....just look it up in Wikipedia....the Eagle Creek Travel Gear Vagabond Bag
.....I might need one of those ...hmmmm HERE we go.... Your Inner Vagabond Coffeehouse and World Lounge, complete with music, bellydancing, comfy couches and java.... who would have thought? My inner vagabond is all about coffee, bellydancing and the world's biggest living room as this place is called. That is pretty cool.Guess its not so bad to be a vagabond....

And so it begins...

My boyfriend, new boyfriend mind you, and I have decided that in a year and a half we are going to quit our jobs, relocated to southern CA and drive the Pan American highway all the way from Mexico to Panama then make our way through South America to his home in Brazil. We must be absolutely nuts....stark raving mad.

I am so excited I can hardly stand it...and I just don't know where to begin. So I thought I would start a blog of my journey to get to my journey. My plan is to blog each step of the way, offer solutions I find, lament about problems I run into, pass on suggestions and just basically share my path to what I hope will be a turning point in my otherwise mundane sort of life.

I have nothing tying me down so why not venture off to the great unknown and suck up all the life I can while I have the chance.

I hope you enjoy my journey as much as I enjoy sharing it with you.
Mellissa

PS Juliano, the other half, is at work, but this is his adventure too, so I post for both of us.