In Jane’s driveway I sat. Perplexed by the call from out of the blue from the man with the thick French accent. What location did they offer me? It wasn’t Florida like I had been lead to believe before. Wow! The caribbean! I mean that was definitely an upgrade in my mind. But, this company wasn’t giving me all the warm fuzzies. Maybe this whole thing was a joke.
I was still salty. Perhaps, I should stay here. I’m finally getting settled after all the turmoil and looking forward to this life I was building.
Yes, I think the thing to do is stay here.
I walked into Jane’s house and she immediately could tell something had happened. You’re not going to believe this, but Club Med just called and offered me a job. Her being privy to all the ongoings and struggles I had been through understood that this phone call was a big deal.
Wow! In Florida?! What did they say?
Actually, not Florida, but somewhere in the Caribbean.
I couldn’t understand him over the phone.
Did you accept the position?
I told him I would call him back when I got off the road. I’m not sure if any of the details. ...I don’t think I’m going to go.
We spoke about it for awhile. Everyone was getting use to me being around, and it wouldn’t disappoint them if I ended up staying. ”I don’t know I’m really starting to like it here, Jane.”
Jane said, I know you do. And you have friends and family here and of course we would love you to stay. But I just feel like you will always regret it if you don’t go.
With that said, the answer became very clear to me as well.
All the times I had chosen to stay home and work through spring breaks, or didn’t apply for that study abroad program because I had a boyfriend, or that time I missed out on a trip to Europe because I was convinced the money would be better spent on more practical things.
I was spending my whole life being practical and it was eating me alive.
I also saw all I had gone through for this opportunity. I had wanted it so bad that I gave up my entire life’s work. I crawled across the desert and risked my own demise because something told me there is either more...or nothing at all. How could I for one more single moment entertain the thought of giving up now?
“You’re absolutely right. I’m going to go!”
I called back Mr. Olivieeerrrrr and accepted the position.
Olivier- “okay great how soon can you be here?”
me- “oh well when do you need me by?”
Olivier- “2 days ago!”
me- (oh fuck right off, mate) Well, I need some time to prepare for a move outside the country.”
Olivier- “okay, we can give you...uhhh how’s 3 dayzzz? If you cannot I can find someone else for this position...
Me- (oh fuck right off again) 3 is a bit tight. I am going to need at least 5.
Olivier- “okay, fine, I will email you all the paperworkz please fill it out and send it back immediately so we can book your plane ticket.”
Whew! Hot damn! I still didn’t know that I was going to Turks and Caicos until I got the email and could google the location. Turks and Caicos was located in the Atlantic Ocean North of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. I took pride in sending out the word to everyone with a little map attached of the Island I never knew existed. Along with the map I sent a picture of the most beautiful prestine beach I had ever seen. That was going to be my beach.
I‘m back on my parade bitches!!! Haha!
But wow- I had 5 days to get my life together and move out of the country.
Now, all of you that have been following along since the beginning of this story think that I should just be ready to go, right? Well, when it came down to it I realized there was quite a lot more strings to cut to fully free myself from the “normal” life.
First and foremost...I had just gotten hired for a job. I had to call and quit before I was even official. I remember that phone call. I was disappointed to have to turn down the position because I truly was looking forward it! And the manager was so nice! When she asked me why I told her that I had originally moved down here to prepare for a job with Club Med, and well, they didn’t contact me so I took the job with you...but they just offered me a position in the caribbean and I couldn’t turn it down. “Huh. That’s amazing. Well good luck to ya. If you’re ever back in the area and need some work feel free to contact us.” lol “will do!”
Now, one of my other goals was to gain some financial freedom out of all this by getting rid of any bill that wasn’t necessary. I wouldn’t be making a lot of money at Club Med, but if I didn’t have any bills I could actually end up making more money earning less. Make sense? Without all the bills eating up my income I would actually have more left over in my bank account earning half of what I earned before.
I had two major bills left. My car. And my phone.
First, my phone I hadn’t planned on getting rid of because I thought I would be in the country (Florida) and my plan would work there. Now, I would be out of the country. No way was I going to keep paying it. I left my future wide open with no plans to return quickly. Minimum I would be gone was 6 months to a year and I wanted to travel more after. Currently, I was on a family plan with my brother and both of our phones were connected to our plan on a lease to own basis. They don’t exactly like you to jump out of those contracts without repercusiones. It was a mess trying to do so. I didn’t own the phone yet so that had to be returned in its original box (how I managed to keep that in the midst of the great move I will never know) then there was the transfer of ownership over to m brother, and then the only way I could get out of the contract without paying was proof that I was actually moving out of the country. That required contacting club Med for letters of employment....a million emails and headaches later I had squiggled out of my contract without having to pay anything more and I was PHONELESS! How would I survive? It didn’t matter to me. It felt good to be disconnected. I brought with me a very small Samsung 8gb notebook so I could still contact people via internet and my laptop.
The car.
Oh this car.
I still owed the bank for it’s loan. So I couldn’t sell it without paying it off to get the title. Not that I was probably going to get anything for it, but I had no where to keep it! I couldn’t just leave it at my moms apartment complex, and I couldn’t even junk it without the title. This required me taking out a loan from a family member, to pay the bank, to have them speedily send me the title (and there were a lot of back and forths and things that went wrong there)- I managed to do it in the 5 days I was so graciously given. My mom ended up selling the vehicle for me- I can’t remember- I maybe got $500 for it. And that money went right back to help repay the family loan I had taken to get the title.
car bills, car insurance, phone bill- ALL GONE.
Now, I realized I was still leaving my poor mom with too much of my crap. I didn’t want to leave her with a mess so I did my best to downsize some more. I also tried my best to get some extra cash for my trip. I sold more books, clothes and donated the rest of my stuff so my Mom could have her living space back. The minimalist lifestyle requires multiple shedding phases.
In the meantime I was digitally backing up taxes and personal papers and filling out paperwork for club med. They sent me a list of dress codes and upon realizing I had none of those things. I went shopping. I had no clue what type of clothing I would need, and if there were any resources on the island. No one had any advice for me working in Turks and Caicos. I was allowed two suitcases and they were stuffed. Because what do you do when you don’t know what you need? Plan for everything of course!
I had my passport, my travel documents, and my luggage ready. 5 days people! 5 freaking days I did all this in! How!? Because I’m god damn superwoman that’s how.
to be continued...