For a long time now I've wanted to be a PT, or Perpetual Traveler. My recent massive simplification has been a step in the right direction. I used to have too much stuff to even consider going on the road. Living in the RV has been another leap towards PT.

But first... why be a PT?

The idea, at least for me, is this : there is no "best" place to live in the world. Tokyo has the best trains and a fantastic culture. The Caribbean has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Europe has the history and food. "Settling down" in one place seems a lot like "settling" to me. If I live in Taiwan for a couple months out of the year I can brush up on my Chinese and become more fluent.

First I decided on the places to visit. I wanted to visit 7 or 8 places, giving me enough time to really experience each.

I wrote down a ton of places and then narrowed them down slowly. The countries had to be spaced out around the globe. I'd rent an apartment in each and use it as a home base to explore the surrounding area. I came up with a final list :

• Austin
• Panama
• Japan
• Taiwan
• France
• India (for just two weeks... it's on the way)
• Sydney
• Hawaii

Next I opened up excel and a web browser and started plotting out when the best time to be in each country was. I wanted to avoid winter and summer. Cherry blossom season is April and March in Japan. I can't miss that.

Here's the final schedule :

• Austin : Nov 6 - Jan 5 (60 days)
• Panama : Jan 5 - Mar 6 (60 days)
• Japan : Mar 6 - May 5 (60 days)
• Taiwan : May 5 - Jun 24 (50 days)
• France : Jun 24 - Aug 23 (60 days)
• India : Aug 23 - Sep 6 (14 days)
• Sydney : Sep 6 - Sep 27 (21 days)
• Hawaii : Sep 27 - Nov 6 (40 days)

There are a couple downsides to going. First, I'll miss some people here. Luckily a couple of my friends are coming with me and I hope that most of the rest of them will visit. I also have some friends in some of the places who I never get to see, so that will be fun. Also I'll have to give up the RV, which I really love.

It seems like having a rotating address would be super expensive, but it's actually not at all. The plane tickets will cost about $5-6k total and the apartment rentals are around $700/mo per person. Other than the RV, I haven't had monthly expenses that low since college.

Does anyone know anything about any of these places that I should know?