In March 2008, I told my friends: I was going to shut down my law practice and travel around the world in a year. What's more, I'd do it without taking any flights or making a single advance (预先的) reservation. Some friends offered support and encouragement, while others were doubtful. Once I'd said the words, there was no turning back. It took months to shut down my law practice and get things in order.
There really wasn't any great reason why I wanted to circle the world. I simply wanted to do something fun and different. When I had this plan, I didn't plan for it to lead to a life on the road forever. I was planning to come back, open a new law practice and write a hugely successful book about my travels. Before I left, I started a travel blog, which served as a way to take notes for the book.
Once I set off on my trip in December 2008, I found that travelling without using planes was not easy. It took seven days and nights on trains to get from Moscow to Beijing. Sometimes, I wouldn't see a village or a human being for 10 hours. I had a whole cabin to myself from the second day of that journey.
It turned out that travelling with no reservations was far less difficult than I had imagined. Pulling into a city on a bus with a bag, looking in a guidebook for a few suggestions of accommodations (住宿), and then finding an empty room was never a problem.
Soon after I started this adventure, I realised that my return to the US would be temporary (暂时的). About three months into my journey, I realised that I didn't want to go back to my old life. The world is so wonderful and I wanted to see as much of it as I could.
