[Marley]

I have the next 6 months completely off with no obligations and am looking for some travel suggestions.  Time of travel would be now through Mar. 2011.  My current plan is to hang around the east coast for the hurricane season (just traveling up and down the coast in my VW van) - Then fly to El Salvador and work my way down the coast to Costa Rica and fly back March 1. My problem is that I always go the Central America -and I while I love the place, feel comfortable there and know it well - I would love to go someplace new - at 43 I am not looking for any spots that require a helmet.  Any suggestions?

[DEADMULE]

Winter in Rincon Puerto Rico

[NJ Longboarder]

i would explore the nooks and crannies of new england, a month in rincon PR, time a boat trip for a decent swell in tortola, then head to new zealand and/or australia.  don't know what the season is there, but you have the time. 
 
do central america when you have commitments again and shorter time windows. if I had 6 months, i would at least have one trip far far away.

[The Lone Surfer]

Indonesia.

[surfnli]

indo/bali/oz/nz.  start your way on the west in indo, work east, in oz start in sydney and move up to the goldie and you'll catch it right when cyclone season starts.

[Marley]

Thanks for the advice! - I like Puerto Rico but the Crowds there are not what I am looking for in this trip.  I have always considered Indo/Australia a possibility but am a bit concerned about flying solo in a place I really have never been - but maybe that is what i need.  I know centro America so well that I know exactly where to be and when - In the early 90's we use to buy used 4x4 Toyota 4runners after ski season ended and drive them down the pacific coast and then sell the car in Costa Rica for about $4k more than we paid and fly back in time for ski season to start. I would love to do the drive again but really fear driving through Mexico (which ironically use to be easiest part of the trip in the 90's) so I thought I would start in El Salvador and retrace my old route.


I might as well put it out there. . . My wife took a job back home in Denver, CO about 5 months ago and i was suppose to join her and my son this month.  We sold our house here in NJ and purchased a home in Denver (I have been living in my VW van for the last 5 months here in NJ/NY showering at the gym and going to work and flying to CO every other week).  Well we got in a huge fight over what amounts to petty $hit and she has decided to file for divorce.  While this situation really sucks - especially the fact that I do not get see my son as much as i would like - The truth is that it has been a long time coming and I need to figure out what I want to do with the second half of my life.  The good news is that I have been very fortunate most of my work life and have accumulated a little over $2 million that once split will give me a million dollars to play with.  I really want to get inspiration from this trip not just from the waves that I consume but am looking to experience and gain inspiration from the culture and people. I want and need to gain both physically and mentally from this trip and come back ready with a plan for what I want to do.  Right now I think I will end up in Los Angeles after the trip - besides NYC its the best place for me to find work.  Any advise or input from those that have also gone through a similar situation would be most appreciated.
 

[NJ Longboarder]

wow, that's heavy, sorry to hear about it.  you should have hit me up.  I had an empty house for the past few months you could of used, but renters moving in on the 24th. If you need a place to crash/shower/etc. me casa es su casa.
 
if this floats your boat, i might be sending 2 vintage logs to sydney australia.  the buyer got a quote for shipping at $1400 and airfare is only $800.  If you want to drag a longboard case with you, I can probably get you to australia for free (buyer paying for your ticket).

[surfnli]

real sorry to hear about that marley but stoked on your new perspective and trip!
 
i have to say, it's real strange for me to hear someone say they're comfortable flying solo in central/south america and not in aus/nz.  really no worries at all.  maybe in indo, i've never been, but bet even bali is pretty easy.

[Fat Occy]

Marley.. the options available to you seem pretty exceptional.  I would say given what your looking for that you should be traveling alone and go somewhere you've never been before. Retracing your old haunts seems too sentimental. If your goofy my vote is for Chile. Regular you should think about  camping  out at Jbay.  Let me know if you end up in LA, I grew up surfing there and could point you to some out of the way waves. Good luck
and let us know if you are getting rid of any boards before you go!
Fynn

[NJ Longboarder]

Perfect timing:
 
JetBlue brings back all-you-can-fly deal
 
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- JetBlue is reviving its unlimited travel deal, which for one month allows travelers to fly anywhere they want, as much as they want.
 
The offer, which JetBlue (JBLU) originally debuted last year, is on sale through Aug. 20 and is good for travel between Sept. 7 and Oct. 6.
 
Jet setters can choose between two deals: a $699 package that allows them to travel any day of the week to any of Jet Blue's 60 domestic and international travel destinations; or a $499 package that excludes travel on Fridays and Sundays.
 
http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/17/news/companies/jetblue_deal/
 

[jboe]

Wow.  I don't post that frequently on this board but your opportunity is pretty spectacular.  Having had smaller (but extensive) windows of time and having posed myself similar questions (at least on the surfing front), let me throw some suggestions at you that other members of the board here threw at me, plus random other observations:

1) you know Central America so skip it.. when will you have this block of time again;
2) if you're leaving soon, think about Indian Ocean: Maldives, Sri Lanka, and if you want to go wild you could pull off truly exotic like Nicobar Is..   But your window is shrinking there
3) You thought at all about Peru?  Not just Lima but the whole coast?  You seem comfortable sleeping in cars (do you sleep elsewhere?) and that's pretty necessary to do the whole coastline... JustinPI can tell you something about Chicama, I can tell you something about Lima, spectacular cultural trip, supercool people, surf ranging from point-y to slabs..
4) Come almost-spring Morocco presents some pretty cool opportunities for travel both on the surf front and on the life-expansion front.  Plenty of people can speak to that on this board, I'll volunteer Little Nasty to speak both to this point and the countries mentioned in point 2 above

Good luck, in finding surf and otherwise.. if you want real inspiration go drop $100 buying the three versions of "Stormrider Guide" for the planet and let your imagination run wild

[kumachan]

I'm really sorry to read the cause for your move.  I hope things work out.

If I had that much cash available to me, and I was looking to diddie-bop around for a few months or a year, I'd probably do NZ, OZ, Indo, maybe sail around the South Pacific.  If I knew Central America as well as you, and was looking at a life change, I might consider buying some beachfront land in Nicaragua, start a surf camp or something. 

[little_nasty]

Like others, sorry to hear the circumstances.  Hope that it settles into a good place for you all.

To me, I think you gotta ask yourself what kind of experience you’re looking for.  I mean do you want to be hanging out with other people, doing a lot of cultural exploring, or just getting away from it all.
 
I gotta say, if it were me and I decided to take a trip like this, I’d want to go somewhere waaaay off the beaten track.  Frankly, I wouldn’t really want to see a lot of other people (unless they didn’t speak English, lol).  But I’m a bit introverted and that’s how I deal with things – and part of what I find mentally/emotionally cleansing about the ocean/surfing.

Anyway, this would probably lead me to consider places like less touristy stretches of coast e.g. Africa (Namibia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Western Sahara), West Oz, Peru, Chile, Andaman/Nicobar Is., India (though not remote or sparsely populated has a nice spirituality), Norway, etc.

[Marley]

Hey I really appreciate the well wishes, PM's (thanks NJlongboarder) and the phone call (Dorado - enjoy Indo!, please report back). Lots of really great ideas - the take away for me is to seek a new place and leave Central America for another time  (buying land there is real possibility for me so that was kinda my though - travel down the coast and find the perfect spot and buy land and build).  I think the window for the pacific is closing quickly w/ monsoon season right around the corner - which makes indo/Aus/NZ a bit less desirable.


Here is a plan that I just cooked up - I found my dream Van in Italy (see pic - the girl selling it not bad either) - its a 1992 VW Syncro (4x4) full camper w/ front and rear differential locks - perfect body and really low miles.  It's a thing of beauty! TIT'S!!  I had a Syncro but mine was beat up from Colorado and I sold it on ebay for $4,500 more than I paid for it in 1991. I currently have a 1999 Eurovan Camper that is perfect for the east coast. Anyways, my thought was to fly to italy buy the Van and drive it to France, Spain, Portugal for Spetember, October, November and then drive it down to Morocco and hit up all the points down that coast through Feb or March.  And then import it back to the US.  Thoughts?

[seacow]

idk anything about the importing part but the trip sounds sick. 

Morocco looks / sounds unbelievable.  So many right points and plenty to experience outside the surf. 

As for the first leg...

http://magicseaweed.com/photoLab/viewPhoto.php?photoId=176337