Sharks & Cents

Two things scare me more than anything in life

1. Sharks

2.Being stranded & broke on the other side of the world.

So why not go to a place known for at least one of my all time greatest fears. I have been getting my google fix for Australia & then it happened.

Cue low level JAWS theme song.

 One by one I noticed pictures of "White Sharks" and their associated stories. After an hour of looking at horrible pictures, and reading news articles from Australian newspapers about people being attacked, I literally feel like I need to throw up. Why must I have such an insane fear of sharks. I couldn't get into the water in Hawaii last April without even thinking about it, CONSTANTLY.

Moments from Shark Weeks past flashed into my mind and I most likely peed in the ocean!!!!

I know that I have a greater chance of being struck by lightening, but does that mean I am walking into a lightening storm dressed in steel by getting into the ocean?

With all of this fear, why on earth have I always wanted to get into a dive cage with at least one large white shark swimming in the surrounding chummed water?

Well, and that's all the time we have for today. On to the not so scary stuff!

The second fear of mine,

I have been plugging away on search engines to try and find someone who has done what I am looking to do! Sadly, I am not having the best luck.

I know that there has to be hundreds of people who have written about picking up and just moving to a foreign country, 8000+miles away, right?

On to the dolla' dolla' bills yall',

Ok, not so much.

I have been wracking my brain on some of the following questions,

How much money should I bring with me?

What is a good amount to keep in my mothers hands in case of emergency?

Should I sell my truck to take this trip?

Should I scrap the trip and put the money towards chiropractic college?

If I didn't drink gallons of Starbucks, how many trips could I have taken by now?

Why is Starbucks so good, is there crack in it?

How easy will the job search be?

Am I looking to backpack around or actually settle down, down under?



I have so many questions as to how people "just travel around"....and since I'm not finding the answers I need, it appears that I will have to go find them for myself!


Here is the financial plan so far.

 Today is technically Tuesday September 13th, 2011 & permitting I stay working until Decemeber I could actually make this happen.

If I gave up coffee, bars & all other "misc" expenses like $150.00/mo. Verizon bills, etc... I could easily save 1,000.00 per month. (No, I do not drink $500.+ per month on average). It would take some major cut backs, but I'd be happy to do it.

That's a lie, I'm going to be one bitter, old, coffee deprived hag.

=$4,000.00

If I decided to stay at my current position in Colorado (stick out one more winter with snow) I could easily up my monthly income by working extra hours, working a tad bit harder to hit a bigger bonus...

=$1600.00

I made an awesome choice in the truck I purchased, I worked for Brown & Brown and got a great deal on my trade in & on my 2008 Silverado. I just found out that I owe less than 1/4 of what my truck is worth! That is nearly unheard of, but HOLLA anyway.

=$4000.00

Now, if I can just get past this whole "Note to self, Laura you need to save money", because now I only want to spend, spend, spend!!!

Keep moving, or in this case.....just keep swimming especially with all these sharks around EEEK!

L.