I left my lucrative Wall Street career in January of 2001 to backpack around the world.

I knew the time had come for me to make a major change to my life. I wanted to travel to all the places I dreamed of visiting; and I knew it would take more than a couple weeks of vacation per year. I wanted to re-immerse myself in other cultures.

I felt that stripping away a lot of the day-to-day masks we all wear: father, girlfriend, co-worker, teacher, breadwinner, housewife, etc. would give me a better chance to glimpse my authentic self.

The time had come for me to leave the dynamic yet chaotic rat race that New York City can become. The paradox of energetic masses is offset by the weight of the struggle to exist and thrive in this city.

I did not want to get any more caught up in the 'money-culture' of Wall Street and New York; where often, one's weath or earnings became the predominant measure of one's worth.

When one of my colleagues brought in a briefcase one day, several very heavy brass door hinges tumbled out. He and his wife were decorating a new loft. I asked him how much one of these gold-bar sized hinges cost; his answer was "six hundred to a thousand each." Each.

I knew the time for me to leave had arrived.

I spent the next six months in New York, enjoying the city in a way only the unemployed can. I went for 11 am coffee and bagels and the bookstore, cruised late night clubs where models partied on Sunday nights, a time when regular working stiffs could not go out. I wandered the city and marveled at all the other people who did not seem to have 9-to-5 jobs either!

I began more detailed planning for my trip, I realized my one-year plan would need to expand to two-years to do justice to my agenda. So I planned for a 24-30 month trip around the entire planet. I studied weather and distances to make sure I was in the correct hemisphere to take advantage of milder weather.

I also hit camping and outdoor stores in the city, buying the supplies that I would need for my trip.

In June of 2001, I bid my New York friends farewell at a party in the East Village.

I sold my Wall Street badge of honor, my Porsche, and picked up a used Pathfinder, the better to haul all my gear across America.

I drove across the George Washington Bridge and watched the distinctive twin towers of the World Trade Center and the NY skyline recended into the distance in my mirror.

I would never see that again.