Sabbatical Daydreaming

so a couple of days ago my boss let slip that there was a high chance i could take a one-to-three month sabbatical this year. naturally, my mind began to wander (always a bad sign, especially if it’s not a for-sure thing yet) as to what i could do with that time. because i would still have to be available for work, it would make the most sense to be places where i have unlimited data roaming on verizon (thanks to our business plan; click “View List” under “Global Data Options”), so that limited my choices.

i narrowed it down to three, based on what i could do in 4-5 weeks (thinking i could extend to longer if they let me):

• mostly brazil, with some argentina
• mostly thailand, with some hong kong and macau
• kazakhstan
• the balkans and then some

after some thinking about what i wanted, i’m going with the last option. i would need to have reliable (and relatively speedy) internet in case i needed to do any work, so kazakhstan is out. having done japan and cambodia last year, and even though brazil (specifically brasilia) is on my bucket list, i’ve developed an itch for southeast europe lately. this is partially thanks to the last #indie2012 and missing my old classmates from grad school, many of whom were from this area.

this is my tentative plan, with major stops along the way (going counter-clockwise, i.e., from west to east*):

[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=211351468533124030166.0004bd346e611e68d05ea&t=h&ll=45.723292,24.532471&spn=9.453616,12.414551&output=embed&w=500&h=500]

* there’s no big reason why i’ve chosen this direction, but i read on wikitravel about passport trouble going from kosovo to serbia, and even though it is not supposed to happen now, it’s just one less thing to worry about if i go from serbia to kosovo.

the crossing on the black sea, i’m thinking, would be on the prinses elena, which i found out about on seat61.com. yes, kind of daunting, a ukranian cruise. not only would i stick out like a sore thumb (not too worried about this), i’d have no clue what’s going on (more worried about this), since i don’t understand russian (or ukranian, or turkish), and the longest “cruise” i’ve ever been on was the three hour eckerö ferry from helsinki to tallinn. on the other hand, it sounds like a great adventure!

in order, the major stops that i’ve mapped out are:

• sarajevo
• niš
• priština
• skopje
• sofia
• istanbul
• odessa
• kiev

thoughts? this may never happen, at least not soon, and this is only a first pass. i’d love to fit in something in romania, but i’m not quite sure what. this is already incredibly tight (bordering on impossible) for five weeks.