Today is the first day of the next chapter of my life!  I am officially no longer employed. The last 5 years have been a ridiculous roller coaster: IPO planning, IPO cancelation, Mass Layoffs, IPO cancelation #2 and #3, Record reveneues, IPO celebration, First M&A deal, Brazil business start up, Brazil business shutdown, and finally my exit.  

I'm been working non-stop at hard charging, high expectation enviroments in Fortune 50 companies or start ups since 2000.  I always wanted to retire at 30, but the DOT-COM bubble nixed that idea. I had to bust my hump to recover from that debacle, only to get smacked by the Great Recession. So I ended up missing my retirement goal by 10 years (okay, 11 years, but 40 is just such a nice round number).

This day has been in the works for years, even though this exact day came by surprise. As in the CEO saying, "You don't have a job anymore...SURPRISE!!!!" No problems though. I'm prepared, planned, locked, loaded, and ready. The question is ready for WHAT?

For now, the only plan I have is to figure out where I wanna live next: South East Asia, Eastern Europe, or Latin America. I'm going to do some exploring, before I put down some stakes. The current plan is a November 2015 departure for 24 countries in 24 months. There are a few events that have set dates: La Tomatina (Spain), Yacht Week (Croatia), Distortion (Denmark), Queen's Day (Amsterdam), Songkran (Thailand), and Great Migration (Kenya). Other than those, no set itinerary. My plan is go with the flow.

Anyone wanna meet up? I will not have a permanent phone or address, but I can be reach at http://www.marcosison.com/

If you leave your number on the home page form, it will ring my phone, if I am in cell service or you can click on the "Contact" menu to leave me an email.

Alright then...I'm off to Explore.