What is Loose Luggage?

I guess I should probably explain myself. Although, I don’t think it can be easily explained and far less easily understood. I started this blog because I wanted to keep my close friends and family in the close loop of my whereabouts. Although I’ve been living in Long Beach the last year, I’ve spent much of that time in other states and countries. But the start of this blog has come at an opportune time as I start out on an adventure of sorts. I don’t want to romanticize it too much… but I digress.

There’s nothing that hasn’t already been written or said before that I could start to explain what I’m doing and why. And even past words were cliche in their own originality. At the end of May I put everything I own (an embarrassing amount of stuff actually) in a storage unit and confined my life down to three bags: A backpack of clothes, a side-bag for “office” stuff, and a small camera bag. Since then I’ve dropped by my storage unit twice to shed some of that stuff and am now down to a backpack of clothes, and my small camera case.

The idea is this: to spend the next 6 months to a year on the road. Roughing it, I guess. Working full time still– my trade (photography) allows for complete mobility– and has in fact thrived on it. I’m trying my best to live from day to day. Buying only what a need to eat for a day or two and even then trying to be simple about it. I’m on a different couch or floor virtually every night. I shower less. Eat less. Spend less. Anything I buy has to come along with me, and that steers me towards only the things I need. With my camera on my hip and my clothes on my back I’m living from day to day.

And you know what? I’ve never been happier.

I need to make a couple of things clear: This is not just a backpacking trip. I’m not trying to just extend my life into a vacation. Quite the opposite. I’ve been working 10-12 hour days most days of late. I am trying to see life differently then I’ve previously seen it. Not as work, then play, then work, then play. But as an organic whole of experiences rolled in together. Every experience, every nights rest, every tasty bit of food I eat– is a blessing. I wake up early, see the sun coming through the window, and I’m glad to be alive.

This blog is my accountability. It’s my accountability to keep in touch. To not keep my experiences for myself. And to try and take to heart that life experiences are really only meaningful when shared.

There is so much more that I could write. SO much more. But I’ll leave things here for now. Please feel free to wander around this site. On the right sidebar I’m constantly updating my whereabouts with a map and location tracker. I’m also rating and writing about the various things I do in the places I go, so check it out.

There’s a lot of ground to cover.