I press the pennies into my plastic money counting jar, watching the total slowly go up on its blinking digital face.
The pad of my index finger hurts and is already marked with black from all of the dirty coins. $24.71 already accounted for, with a pile of circular metal still staring at me from the dining room table.
You see, barely 2 weeks ago I got back from an 8 month trip, but I'm ready to leave again. In exactly 336 days, (11 months and 2 days to be exact), I'll be done with all responsibilities that tie me to America.
I have 336 days to save every single penny that I have.
Whatever the total comes to in my change jar, I know it won't be much. Chump change. Barely anything in the grand scheme of things.
All of the change I have to my name, the change I've been saving for years, will probably only afford me 3 nights in a hostel in central Europe. Or 2 long bus rides. Or 1.5 days worth of my usual daily budget. It's not much at all, but that's 1.5 days that I wouldn't be able to fund if I didn't obsessively collect every single penny. I'm sure those 1.5 days will be worth it, and I won't even remember the sore pad of my index finger when I'm living them.
Cheers to when I can travel for an extended period of time again, to the next 336 days and some change.