Welcome to my first blog post, and yes, I am going nomadic.   Oh, it’s exactly what it sounds like,  and not a surprise at all to the people who know me.  Actually, they are probably saying “What took you so long?”
I love to travel.  I don’t care that I’ve only done it once.  (well out of the country at least – I was ‘voluntarily homeless’ building concert stages around the USA for 4 years).

(Me on the U2 build in Atlanta, GA after an overnight shift.  I brought my gargoyle with me and took photos as I built this tour around the USA)

I’ve wanted to travel and take photos since I bought my first camera at 7.  I’m now 31.  I’ve been slacking on my dream…but no more.  So…

 

Welcome to GoingNomadic.com

 

 

My name is Dani Blanchette.  I am a travel and music photographer (website: La Gringa Photos), I love attending live music (especially rock shows), and I am going to start making my own travel videos soon.   (This last part is something I have never done.  Please bear with me as I learn to shoot and edit.)

I am also about to embark on a one-way trip, and won’t return until I run out of money.  Yes, this is my actual plan.

(Me being silly in Red Rock, Las Vegas.  I love living in a city that is only a 10 minute drive into nowhere). 

So I am selling everything I own (save for my DSLR, a laptop, a few clothes, and a couple sentimental heirlooms from my dead relatives) – and leaving the country this September.  Indefinently.  Seriously – im selling everything.  My car I just payd off 2 month ago? – selling (I have a few people interested in buying it).
*note.  Follow this link to find out what happened to my car not long after this post

My brand new kick-ass gaming desktop cpu I just bought in January? – selling it to my sisters best friend, who is a graphic artists in desperate need of a banging computer.

My laptop – Ok, it’s a P.O.S. and I’ll be lucky to get $50 for it at a laptop store.

All my clothes I’m selling or donating.

My awesome Asian style dishes – selling.  My books – selling what I can, donating the rest.

That’s pretty much my story – I’m selling everything I can, to help pay for my worldwide – go till you run out of money – trip.  And I’ll donate the rest.  Maybe I’ll bring some cool photos of America and Vegas I’ve taken, or a few of the cooler band shirts I’ve amassed and bring those with me as swapping items/thank you gifts.  But I’m really not going with much.  I can buy extra clothes if I need.  I’ll only need 1 or 2 pairs of pants, a few shirts, socks, underwear, and a sweater and jacket.  And one pair of shoes.

So yes, I am, for the most part, getting rid of all my worldly possessions and roaming the world, taking photos of the  places I go and the people I meet.

(And if you haven’t figured it out yet, I write like I talk.  Sorry. I will try to get better as I get used to writing.   Though I do create my own words, thus evolving the English language.  If Shakespeare can do it, so can I!)

So yeah, this will not be a Pulitzer Prize winning blog or anything. I’ve actually never blogged before, but figured I should start one before my trip.  This blog will be all about my travels (and the insanity of going all Mother Teresa on my stuff beforehand) and the people I meet and the kickass places I go.  And it will be supplemented with many, many photos of my journey.

I’m a photographer, not a writer dammit!

(I am also a HUGE Star Trek fan!)

 

(I was also a dancer and ballerina for 15 years.  I’m about 8 in this photo.)

 

(I was also, and still am, very much a tomboy.  (Notice the band-aids on my legs.)  Ballerina and tomboy.  I was a strange and adorable child.  And yes, I sucked my thumb until I was about 10.)

 

So get ready for long journal entries like this.    I will also, hopefully, figure out this WordPress thing by the time I go, so I can make my blog page look slammin’.  (I am using a stock windows photo right now.  I am sorry.  I’ll make this blog look more awesome soon enough.)

*Mother Teresa kicked ass by the way.   Ok im not sure if  you should use the words ‘ass’ and ‘kick’ to describe Mother Teresa…but she did.  I don’t care what your religious beliefs are-because I certainly don’t go to church – but she was awesome.  And no I don’t by any means think im Mother Teresa.  Mother Teresa would not use words like ‘ass’ and ‘slammin’ and all the other descriptive degradations I will come up with along the way.  ‘going Mother Teresa’ simply refers to ‘giving away your possessions’.  That’s another thing I like to do.  Use people’s names as actions.  Also changing parts of speech of words is another fun thing a do.  like “I’m a master at wordsmithing”.  

I will attempt to not write EXACTLY like how I speak.  But this is my first post, so I am mostly just having some fun.

This blog will be fun and amusing on all sorts of levels.  Let’s see what crazy things I do and learn.

(Like abseiling in Red Rock Canyon.  I have never rock climbed, but my neighbor, who I used to babysit years ago, is now an avid rock climber, and took me out for an afternoon when he came through Vegas.  I love being outdoors and doing new things). 

Tchao!