Hey guys. So as far as traveling goes, I'm not as beginner as you can be, but I'm pretty damn close. I've been on trips before, but they've all been with family and friends. At 26 years of age, I've only been out of the country once, on a cruise to Mexico, and I never even got off the boat (I had a trip to China and Singapore planned with my friends, but I found out my passport had expired, and it was too late to get it renewed for the trip... huge, huge bummer). Solo travel has always appealed to me as an idea, but it's not something I've ever done. I've never even booked my own plane ticket by myself. So, if you think something is too obvious to say, think again. Feel free to treat me as a total child.

Lately, I've been feeling like I have less a desire, and more a genuine need to travel, or more accurately, just to be anywhere else. Without turning this into a therapy session, this past year I've begun to feel tremendously stuck in life, and just trapped in a very bad place, both mentally and literally. I live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and while it's a fine town, in this case, familiarity truly has bred contempt, and I've started to think some of my larger issues with severe, occasionally suicidal depression is due to feeling like my life has no forward momentum: every day is the same. I do not yet have a career ties me to a place that I do not care for. And I've been trying to think that maybe that's actually a good thing. Maybe in this lack of purpose, there's also freedom. Maybe I can break myself out of this mental rut if I just put myself in a new environment.

Granted, this may be a pipe dream. One of my favorite writers, Neil Gaiman, has a nice quote: "People believe they'll be happy if they go live somewhere else, but it doesn't work that way. Wherever you go, you take your problems with you." And, wise British dude that he is, he's almost certainly right. But I have to try. So, I'd like to shake things up and just live somewhere else for a short time. Too short to get an apartment lease, but arguably too long to justify doing an Airbnb or something.

I'm not looking for anything exotic, at least not at first. I don't feel any great need to go piss off a lion in Africa to find myself, like so many disillusioned college students seem to. My true passion is writing, and would like to follow it one day by living in Los Angeles and trying to become a screenwriter (as far as occupations go, I hear this is very similar to being a monkey in a zoo and throwing your shit at the cage wall all day). I'm learning French, and would love to live in France or Quebec for at least a year one day. But for now, I'd settle for some place like Florida, somewhere warm. Or maybe New York or Chicago; I've been to both several times, and absolutely love the city life, even though I'm fairly sure I would grow to hate it after a few months. Perhaps Seattle. Or I've even thought about thinking really small and just trying my back door, Nashville or Atlanta.

Money is a key factor, however. Part of my general disillusionment has bled over into my worklife; I just can't justify working a job that I despise (behind a cash register, in a kitchen, at a desk in a cubicle, something similarly soul-crushing), and for now keep myself alive by doing freelance videography. Pays the bills, but not by much. So it would be difficult to just straight up move somewhere, without getting a job first, particularly if I'm not sure about living situation. I do, however, recall talking to a former co-worker, who I'm no longer in contact with, that said she was going to do something interesting. She told me there was a program, that I freaking wish I could remember the name of, that lets you travel somewhere, and in exchange for work, you get free lodgings. That would be wonderful. Set you up in some place new, and for an introvert like me, it has the added bonus that I instantly am forced to socialize with the people I work for/with when I get there. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

Sorry for the rambling post. Tl;dr version: I'd like to live in a different state for a short time, in the hope that the change of scenery will renew some of my zeal for life, and perhaps stoke a desire to see more of the world. Do you guys have any recommendations on the best way to go about something like this? Any program that allows you to do something like this on a budget, without leasing an apartment or staying with relatives? And while I'm at it, do you guys have any destination recommendations? Places that might be tough to live in, but would be a great experience for a short period? Any travel advice in general for the beginner? All input is much appreciated.