Where Am I Now?

Where am I now?

That's a question with both a literal and a metaphorical answer. Metaphorically I guess I'm lost. I'm looking for a way to replace my job, but that's really not the whole story. Since I'm going to be honest, I'll add that my personal life is shaky and my family situation is a slowly recovering disaster.

And did I mention I turn 30 this year? I've never been one of those people who think anything over 25 is going downhill - I've always believed that life only gets better as we sharpen our abilities and our insight - but 30 is still a milestone and I wish I had something "adult" to show for my three decades of effort, something like a serious relationship or a 401k.

Lucky for me, the literal answer to "where am I now" is a lot more satisfying. Right now I'm in Cagliari, Sardinia, one of my favorite cities in the world, which just happens to be located on the south coast of a beautiful Mediterranean island. An island that - I've discovered - most Americans can't locate on a map. Maybe that's why I love Sardinia so much, and I do love it, because I return here almost every year. Sardinia feels authentic and undiscovered. You can't count on people speaking English here and if you venture inward from the coast even a little bit people will ask you what on earth you're doing in Sardinia. Travelers are unusual enough for people to stare at you and strange enough that most people leave you alone (which can be a real godsend for a woman traveling da sola).

So yes, I'm having a crisis, but at least I'm having one in a beautiful, exotic place. And the beauty and the exoticism help. As I lose myself in the narrow stone streets of Cagliari's medieval castello, stopping to duck inside ornate churches and chic modern bars, I'm reminded that there's a lot I still have to discover about this city I know so well. Perhaps I'll find the same to be true of my life.

Copyright 2010 Sara Harding

The Voyage Begins

I lost my job.

I was a travel writer for Students In Europe, a great backpacking and study-abroad oriented travel blog that - sadly - didn't make it. C'est la vie, I guess.

I found my job with Students In Europe by accident. Late one night I was sitting on my couch with a friend who was practically falling asleep on my shoulder. I wasn't sleepy, though - instead I was ranting. I was ranting because here I was, a reasonably interesting person with, you know, skills, and I couldn't, you know - and here I nudged my friend to get his sleepy approval - find a job using those skills and, you know, shouldn't there be something out there for a person like me?

My friend made a sort of "mrapp" sound that I interpreted as agreement.

A short Google search later and I was sending off an application to be a travel writer. Writing and travel are two things I love and two of my - I'd like to believe - skills. So I thought: why not? The worst this could be is a hoax. Besides, it was well after midnight. Nothing seemed like a bad idea at the time.

And it wasn't a hoax, either. Students In Europe hired me and I spent seven months with the best job ever: writing about what I love to do. I genuinely loved this job, and now I find myself missing - more than the money - the opportunity to share my love of travel and my experiences abroad with other people who think that travel is more than ticking off a list in a guidebook, it's an opportunity to expand who we are.

It's well after midnight again and I have other things I should be doing (sleeping, above all), but I can't get my desire to keep writing out of my head. Why not share my experiences on my own, I keep asking myself. And so I will. The voyage begins.

Copyright 2010 Sara Harding