The How

I've covered the why, but let's be honest, the most difficult part about this whole thing is the how. While the idea of picking up and moving TODAY without a job and without a place to live sounds (a little) exciting, it's not realistic, and I'm old enough to know now that realtiy is not to be ignored (especially when money is involved.) There are two big things holding me back: (1) money; and (2) experience.

1. Money

Yes, I have a good salary right now, but I also have mountains of debt. I've been working diligently over the past year to pay off that debt, but mountains are well... mountains. I still have a long way ago. In addition to paying off debt, it's imperative that I save a substantial amount of money before I go (something along the lines of $16k, at least). That's going to take time, my friends! (Like... 10-12 months.)

2. Experience

While I acknowledge the fact that I'll be taking a severe pay cut when I move to the city (I can't go into details here, but just know that my career path will change), I also acknowledge that in order to make enough to realistically live there (aka not have to eat ramen for dinner every night), I will need a decent paying job. And that, my friends, will not come about unless I have a fair amount of working experience under my belt. As of right now? I don't have enough. I need to make it until October.

So the timeline is that I will make the move sometime in early 2011. To me, that sounds sooooooooooooo far away, but I have lots to do before then. And I'll need your help along the way!