The Prologue

Hello and welcome to the blog of the Ultimate World Tour. I'm Joe and I'll be your host for the next few years.

Why am I so important that you should read this blog? Simple. Because I've decided to give up the remnants of order in my life to travel the world and see what's out there. This has already begun, I suppose, as I'm fresh off a tour of Europe this fall where I visited 11 countries in nearly three months.

How do I follow this up? By moving to New Zealand. And then to Australia. And then taking on Asia. This is where our story begins.

I recently received an e-mail from the New Zealand Immigration Department telling me that my application for a working holiday visa has been approved. I am now allowed to enter and leave the country, as well as work a full time job while I'm there until December 1, 2007. And I plan on using it to its full potential. As a farewell gift, my parents bought me a one way ticket to Auckland, New Zealand where I'll be meeting up with one of my friends who owns a cafe there. I'll be working full time for the year after I touch down on January 11th and begin saving up to head to Asia. After that, I'm heading to Australia to visit friends there and work for a little while longer while trying to ensure I have enough money in the bank that I won't get stranded in the middle of Nepal with no way out. After that, it's show time.

For the next month, this blog will be about me getting ready to leave America for the foreseeable future to begin a new life in a new country. Think of it as the American Dream in reverse. After that, we'll just have to see how I do.

Let the fun begin.