Bluebird day with Denali
Hi! I am Amy. Born and raised in the Midwest. The Ohio State University alum (Go Buckeyes!). Moved to Colorado with no job and no friends, but determined to succeed. Managed to make it…have lived in Denver, Colorado for the last 10 years. Worked as a Program Manager and in Business Development for a government contracting company for the last 9 years. Loved my job, but resigned so I could make this trip a reality.
Took my first international flight at the age of 24 and was instantly hooked. Have been “planning” this trip since then. I prefer adventure travel – getting out and doing it versus laying on a beach. I have no real itinerary for this trip, but know where I would like to go. Love trying new food, coffee, and beer. My family has been incredibly supportive of my crazy shenanigans. My dog, Sawyer, is my best buddy…I am going to miss him terribly. My goal is to travel to as many countries as I am years old…keeps you going each year, right? I have some catch up to do 🙂 Cannot wait to immerse myself in the world and travel slowly. It will be one hell of an adventure!
GOALS
For my blog:
I want to share my experiences with friends and family as I take on this adventure – and hopefully inspire others to take the travel plunge too! I will offer my advice, reviews…all with honesty and a splash of humor. I have used many blogs as reference in order to build my trip, so hopefully I can repay the favor and entertain you all with my exploits!
The Great Pyramids of Giza
For me:
I have always followed the conservative path. You do well in school, go to college, get a job, buy a house, get married, have kids….well, I guess I missed the memo on those last two! But, I was raised to work hard, and that is what I have always done. Gap years are basically non-existent in the U.S. so after I graduated it was time to get to work so I could afford the apartment, car, and to start saving for a down payment for a house. I had a successful career, great house, new car, and a house full of unnecessary things. I realized that none of it really made me happy. I sold the house, nearly all my possessions, and decided I needed to follow my passion. Over the next year, I want to: live slowly, gain new experiences, become part of a community, meet new friends, volunteer, learn a language, discover new things about myself, learn to appreciate the small things more, and get closer to figuring out this thing called life!
Awesome!! Good luck to you!!! Question #1: how much money does one have to save up to get started?? 🙂
Hey Candy! Glad to have you following my adventure! To answer your question, it really depends on a lot of factors. There are parts of the world that are much more expensive (U.S., New Zealand, Australia, etc.) and parts that are much less expensive (SE Asia). You also have to take into consideration how you want to travel…are you comfortable in hostels, or would you need hotels? If you were to splurge on a few more expensive countries, stay mostly in hostels, but have a good balance of activities and food, I would say you would need $25k at a minimum. Others have done it cheaper than this and plenty of have done it for more! I will be tracking my costs per country and sharing them along the way, so I will have a much better perspective once I get out there! Hope that helps!
Have fun on your new adventure!
Good for you!! I did the same thing 2010-2011, was on the road for 11 months and went around 23 countries… best thing I ever did with my life. There were a lot of naysayers but i’m glad I ignored them and did my thing as they turned out to be wrong in pretty much everything.
Now it’s been 4 years in the rat race and i’m feeling the itch to travel long term again… once you get the exploration bug it’s in your system for good 😀 Cool blog..good luck and safe travels.
oh, btw, I found your blog as I was researching to find a first hand account of the Everest Base Camp trek, I am headed there in less than 25 days 🙂 Thanks for your complete report 😉
Ahhh, you are going to love the trek to EBC!! If you have any specific questions about it, shoot me an email. I would be happy to help. I am glad you found the posts to be helpful! Enjoy!!
Thanks, Kevin! It has truly been amazing! When I left my job 9 months ago and started this journey, I never imagined what I was in for! It think it is going to be tough integrating back into the real world, but I am so glad to have done this and had the experiences 🙂