Photo By: Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

We all love to travel. As a wannabe foreign correspondent, I know I’ve spent my fair share of time daydreaming about incredible adventures in Nepal, Senegal, Peru or a million other far-off places in the world. The problem is, travel can be expensive, and while many of us would love an opportunity to go abroad for awhile, we don’t always have the means to do it. Despite our desire, we’re not all able to pack up our suitcases and say goodbye to our communities.

But maybe we don’t have to.

For all those travel junkies in need of a fix, New York City’s Ed Casabian, 29, may have found an answer:

Don’t leave your community; just learn to travel within it.

Nicknamed the “N.Y.C. Nomad,” Casabian is in the midst of a yearlong journey through his own city, picking up and moving to a different home in a different neighborhood every Sunday. A financial analyst for a local news website, he got the idea when he and his girlfriend ended their seven-year relationship and he needed to move out of their co-op. In a state of depression, he tried to come up with a plan for the next few months. “Thinking about the happiest times of my life, it was when I was traveling, exploring and meeting new people,” he told The New York Times, who recently wrote an article about his adventure. “Couldn’t I just travel in my own city?”

Photo By: Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

Yes, he thought, and so he does. Armed with a camping backpack, an air mattress, two weeks’ of clothes, a business suit and a tennis racket, Casabian has been traveling for six months now, and at this point he’s seen about 20 different neighborhoods.

In each new location, he pays his hosts not with money, but with home-cooked meals and nights out in the city. And as he makes new friends along the way, he helps them rediscover the unique beauty of their own neighborhoods.

Get the conversation started!

We want to know:

• What do you think of the “N.Y.C. Nomad”? Would you ever pursue a similar adventure? Why or why not?
• What places would you like to explore in your own community?

These thoughts were inspired by an article in The New York Times, entitled “In This Journey, Every Sunday is Moving Day.” Casabian also writes about his journey at thenycnomad.tumblr.com.

Home page picture by: Kprateek88

Tags: travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 at 7:35 am and is filed under Community Oriented. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.