Travel is my favorite thing in the whole wide world. I get asked often how I do it—how I can take off work, afford it, or have the courage to go.

A major misconception is that I’m always vacationing and not taking life seriously. But it’s actually the complete opposite. I take my gift of life and my knowledge that I won’t get this time back so seriously that I make sacrifices and take risks to follow my dreams and inner calling.

I’ll eat veggie hot dogs and pasta to stay in beautiful places. I’ll wear the same shirt and carry everything on my back for the freedom to get up and go. I am there to be, not to impress.

I’ll miss loved ones, holidays, and special events to pursue my dream of seeing the world. I’ll say no to opportunities that take away my freedom, even if they provide security and good pay. I’ll let others down for not following their imagined life for me.

But when I follow this path, I wake up excited, I shine brighter, and every sacrifice is worth it. Someone gave me encouragement once and said, “You should never have to think twice about being yourself. Your path and your decisions are yours to make. The joy and happiness that will radiate from you when you are empowering yourself will shut down anyone’s doubt they had in you.”

There’s a story of an old man who worked tirelessly for years, dreaming of the day he could retire, buy an RV, and travel the country. But that day never came, and that story haunts me. So, if you’re waiting for permission to chase your dreams, let this be it. Don’t expect it to be easy, but trust me—it will be worth it.

A great resource is the book I Don't Want to Grow Up by Scott Stillman. Here are some parts that inspire me: “When we’re young, we have dreams as big as the world. Then, when you’re older, we’re told to face reality—as if our dreams and reality are in direct conflict…” (p. 60). “What do you want your life to look like? Start there. When you focus on the life you want, rather than what you think will get you there, you’re on the right track” (p. 61).

You’ll hear that you’re being irresponsible. People won’t understand it, and that’s okay.

I’ve questioned if this desire to travel meant I was running away from myself. But when I travel and experience the world, I feel like I’m truly living. So present in the moment, it shakes me awake and reminds me how beautiful humanity, culture, and this earth are. How lucky we are to just be here. I learn to surrender and trust. I see goodness in the smallest acts—the smiles of people I do not share the same language with, the laughter of strangers simply living their day-to-day lives. You come to realize that most people are good; the news just reports the bad.

Even when connecting with those who do not share your language, there is something pure about speaking heart to heart. When words fail, we communicate through smiles, laughter, gestures. There is a universal language beyond words—the language of presence, of being, of simply existing together. It’s direct. It’s essential. It’s real.

Travel is my greatest teacher. I pick up lessons and habits from around the world that make my life fuller.

From Spain, I learned the beauty of slowing down. When I said I would run to the bathroom, someone asked, “Why run?” go with ease.
From NYC, I learned perseverance—to make things happen for myself.
My new Swedish friend taught me about fika, the importance of pausing for coffee and connection.
My Brazilian friend showed me the passion and fun life can have.

*Joshua Tree National Park, California. August 2024.*

It’s as if I’m walking along the shoreline of life, collecting treasures from people and places that stay with me wherever I go.

At some level, you are never truly safe anywhere—so why not give yourself up to the unknown? I find my sense of belonging among strangers, in the excitement of meeting someone at a bar, in conversations with a stranger on a train, in the lessons learned from sharing a room with ten people in bunk beds. I feel more connected with humanity and with myself in the unknown than I ever do in the familiarity of home.

Wherever you go, there you are. And no, I am not running away from myself when I explore—I am quantum leaping into the truest version of me. We travel to leave our habits behind, to shed the limited self who sleepwalks through life. Instantly, in travel, I am eager to be transformed, freed from the ways I define myself. My resume doesn’t matter. The people I meet question my kindness, my honesty, my intentions—not what I do for work.

I wait to be surprised. Every country has opened some corner of myself that would have otherwise remained closed. Travel brings out the raw honesty in who we are, an edge we reach when we meet the world and the world meets us. We might become someone we never dreamed of.

So, I let the journey call me again and again. Once I’ve had stillness to comprehend and absorb all the lovely things, I set out once more. We must follow these callings. And when you do, I can’t wait for you to see what’s on the other side.

Don’t be afraid to be selfish or to let others down when it comes to living a life that is true to you. No one knows what’s right for you—only you can understand that for yourself.

So go. Leap. Let the journey begin, it is calling you.

xoxo,

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