I'm a 49-year-old father of two from Maine. For years I've worked in the TV business, writing shows and commercials, using my creativity to tell stories for advertisers. But lately, I have a new focus. After a big trip that took my family and I around the world, I’m now writing books, working on behalf of orphaned children, and telling their stories. It’s some of the most rewarding work I’ve ever been involved in. I love it.Read More
I’ve always wanted to travel and I’m not actually sure why. Perhaps it’s because I grew up in Tasmania, which always felt like the edge of the Earth. It was a big deal just to get to the mainland of Australia! As a teenager, I’d watch Australian travel shows and take notes on the destinations that appealed to me the most. After the dot-com crash, which came around my 21 birthday, I went straight to a travel agent and booked my first trip. Since then, I’ve been to over 80 countries!Read More
My name is Tomislav Perko. I’m 30, from Croatia, and I’m just a regular, everyday, normal guy, that every now and then tries to do something irregular, unique and extraordinary. Back in the day I was a stockbroker. Suit, tie, lots of money—that kind of lifestyle. Due to the financial crisis in 2008 I lost everything: money, career, reputation. Little by little, I started exploring alternatives to chasing my career and another promotion. Then I realized that I should be gathering experiences and connections, not money and other tangible possessions. "Things" can vanish in no time.Read More
Matt Schwartz began travel hacking in 2011, and last year quit his job for a dream trip around the world. One of his best buys? An NYC to Bangkok flight for less than $45—in Business Class.
I’m a twenty-something taking a career break from Information Systems to travel the world. Traveling alone has been part of my life since 2010, and I decided to leave my job (for a bit - I plan to go return) in early 2014 with a one-way ticket to Bangkok. Since then I've traveled through over ten countries. People I meet wonder how I was able to just quit my job and hit the road. I’d argue the fact that this question exists is systemic of a larger issue Americans have about vacation and work-life balance.Read More
Erin McElroy decided to take an extended trip to one of the passionate places she could think of: Argentina.
I believe the hero’s journey is possible for anyone; that we all get a "call to adventure,” and have the innate desire and responsibility to do something great. I call myself a writer, adventurer, and change-maker. I work with people one-on-one and in workshops to help them find the “thing” that makes them feel most alive and happy because I believe the best thing we can do for ourselves, those around us, and the world is to be the most authentic version of ourselves at any time—and I want to contribute to this.Read More
Well into her third year of continuous travel, Serena Star Leonard and her husband John spend their days exploring the world and documenting stories of people who make a difference.
I’m Serena, a half-Kiwi, half-Malaysian born in Hong Kong. My husband is John, an Irishman. We were both living in Australia when we met, fell in love, and got married in the space of 16 weeks. I’d worked in corporate environments for a number of years, but I wanted to change things up. My goal was to work for money one day a week and spend the rest of my time doing work I was passionate about but wouldn’t necessarily make a cent.Read More
On the road is where a traveler feels most at home. Sure, you can take it slow for a while, staying in one place to save up funds or work on a project or do whatever you need to do.
As many of our readers know, having a full-time job doesn't mean you can't make travel a regular part of your life. Ruby Escalona tells us how she does it.
Hi! I'm Ruby. I grew up in the Philippines, but now live in Jacksonville, Florida. I’ve always had ambitious dreams. When I was a child, I wanted to read all the books in the world. Now, I’m passionate about traveling. My fiancé and I have desk jobs, and a motto: live a life of travel, even with a full time job. We’re seeing the world, one bit at a time. It’s a little slower than people who are location independent, but it works for us.
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Jared and his wife were interested in how the world prays—so they went on year-long exploration of different types of Judeo-Christian prayer. Here's what they learned.
My name is Jared Brock. I’m a writer and filmmaker. Together, my wife and I run a charity that fights human trafficking, and we’ve traveled to over 40 countries and visited more than 40 American states and Canadian provinces. My most recent adventure was a 37,000-mile, year-long prayer pilgrimage around the world. I explored prayer traditions across the Judeo-Christian faith, including some of the "weird uncles" and "crazy cousins" under that umbrella. I danced with rabbis, visited monks, spent time with Quakers, checked out the world's largest church (1 million members!), and visited numerous ancient sites including Assisi, Avila, Monte Cassino, Camino de Santiago, the Vatican, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem.Read More
This is a traveler case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)
Dissatisfied with the typical suburban lifestyle, the Boyinks packed up their teenagers and hit the road. For the past five years, they've lived together in an RV, traveling America, meeting like-minded families and having adventures.Originally, we traveled based on what we wanted to see. Now, we focus on who we want to be with. We’ve made friends with other traveling families and route planning is more collaborative. Admittedly, there’s been some talk of finding land where we could all park our RV’s, let our kids hang out, grow a garden together, and just come and go as the need arises. The more we talk about it the more it starts to sound like a hippie commune...but maybe that isn’t so bad.
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I’m Sarah, and my partner is Scott. We met several years ago and fell in love - not just with each other, but also with the realization that we could fulfill lifetime dreams of traveling the world with the one we love. We've lived mostly in the Midwestern U.S., but Scott recently took a job teaching at a middle school on the island of Eleuthera in The Bahamas, where I’ll soon move full-time. One of our passions has been learning about the work of artisans we meet in our travels. This turned into an online business called From Around the Globe to help these artisans reach a wider audience. In doing this, we’re actually aligning with our core values: to be respectful, caring, and helpful members of the world community.Read More
This is a traveler case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)
I love finding people who are able to incorporate travel into their lives without making it their whole life. Here's how Megan Cain has done just that.
After college, I lived in San Francisco before packing up and moving to a rural, 100-person town in Missouri to live at an eco-village and learn how to garden. I felt a pull towards growing my own food. My move was a leap of faith that changed my life forever. I lived in a 90-square-foot cabin, met my future husband, and started the basis of a career in sustainable living. Mark and I are now have jobs, enjoy owning a home and being rooted in Madison, Wisconsin, while incorporating longer travel adventures into our lives.Read More
After experiencing many travel misadventures around the world, I love hearing other people's "silver linings" stories. This one (and other stories, too) comes from Elizabeth Glanzer in Los Angeles.
I'm a therapist and work with teens and young adults who feel misunderstood and out of place. I study psychoanalysis and neuroscience every chance I get. Traveling is one of my favorite things to do. For me, it pulls everything together and shatters blind spots. People, culture, art, and "normal" is all relative when I go abroad, and I appreciate the ability to see how someone else lives and thinks.
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Greetings from the skies over Helsinki, on-board a well-aged Thai Airways 747 that has two hours remaining in its eleven-hour flight. Last night was Singapore, then a quick hop to Bangkok, and then this uneventful long-haul as I’m nearing London’s Heathrow airport.
I’ve felt strange for much of the trip. It’s been a lot of fun, no doubt, and I’m really glad I went. A trip like this, with four major cities in a week, all separated by 8-13 hours of flying time to each city, reinforces the benefits and challenges of the peripatetic nature of my life. There’s always something coming and going. There’s always a project wrapping and another one (or five) to tackle next. What's the goal of life? Maybe it’s this: to live the life we’ve been given, to be kind to others, to do things that make us happy, and to give back (or whatever it’s called) as much as possible. Read More
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When we talked to Luke, he told us, “At the age of sixteen I wrote in my journal: 'Tonight, when I was driving home, I had the desire to point The Bronco in one direction and just keep going and going and going.'”
Many travelers will relate to his stories.
After I ditched my return ticket in Chile and took out a student loan to finance hitchhiking from South America to Alaska, people said, “You’re crazy!” I replied, “So was Columbus!” They insisted, “This is so financially unsound!” I cried, “So were The Pyramids!” I joke sometimes that eight years ago I went to South America and I never came back. Really, it means I performed some paperwork magic to graduate early and created a path that was there for me to take or not.Read More