Vagabond’s New Year Resolution 2009

I am standing at the crux of another year in my paternal home. I am standing at the point from which I began, staring into the face of another year on the run. I have reached the top of a hill, ever looking down once side from whence I came while concurrently looking down the other side of where I am going.

The Middle East is still before me, while Morocco, Central America, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary lay behind.

Vagabond Journey.com is beginning to take shape, while the Song of the Open Road Travel Blog is no more.

I like New Year’s Eve. I like the wholesome feelings that come from pondering my successes and failures, my achievements and short comings, my

More than any other holiday, New Year’s Eve is for the introverted. New Year’s Eve is for thinking about the self while in the presence of others. What am I doing? Where am I going? What have I done?

Gifts are not exchanged on New Year’s Eve, for it is a holiday for self-absorption.

What have I accomplished this year?

1. I graduated from university.
2. I traveled to six new countries.
3. Average traffic on Vagabond Journey.com went from less than 100 daily visitors to 600 – 800.
4. I published six articles in print magazines.
5. I fully edited a print magazine.
6. My father reads my travelogue.
7. I made and maintained many friendships with other travelers and friends.

What do I wish to accomplish next year?

I like goals only for the fun that they provide. I am ambitious only for fun. It is enjoyable to draw a line in the sand far from where you are just to see if you can make it. This upcoming year I would like to:

1. Travel through the Middle East.
2. Travel into “Africa” Africa.
3. Move the Alexa ranking of Vagabond Journey.com from 800,000 to within 400,000.
4. Make at least $5 a day off of adsense.
5. Maintain better contact with friends and family (send at least 1 personal email a day, 1 phone call a week).
6. Enjoy working.
7. Enjoy traveling.
8. Work hard while walking slow.

Andy said that he is going to publish at least one travel tip and one photo daily to show appreciation to his travel blog readers, and I think this is a good idea. I feel that tips and photos are two of the most practical things to publish for readers to enjoy and use. I would like to also be a little more reader centered in the next year, though I won’t go as far at to claim that I am going to publish one tip and photo a day (putting up this sort of content is a lot of work haha).

In this next year I would like to publish more USABLE travel information. I will attempt to record the average prices of food, accommodation, and transport in each country that I travel in and publish them on simple pages. So if someone wants to find out how much Romanian trains cost they can find a page of mine that will record where I traveled to, the date, and the price I paid, all with a comment form at the bottom of the page for readers who travel these routes after me to update the information.

In 2009, I will attempt to transform the Vagabond Field Notes Travel Guide into a usable budget travel resource.

I would also like to thank the readers of Vagabond Journey.com for all the support, suggestions, criticism, and comments that they have contributed over the past year. 2008 was the formative year for Vagabond Journey.com, the blocks have been set up. It is now time to make a good vagabond travel website.

Thank you!

Walk Slow into the new year,

Wade