The idea of travel use to be nothing more than just an idea. Something that I thought about. Something that I dreamed of. Growing up as an only child to a single mom, traveling never crossed my mind. I mean, how could it when we struggled with not having enough money for our daily life. Traveling was so far out of reach for someone like me. Those people in photos and on T.V that I saw laying on a tropical beach somewhere in paradise or sailing on a boat in the crystal blue waters, those people were rich. They must be. Traveling is too expensive. So I thought.
In my third year of university, I was sitting in an
international tourism course on the first day of class when we took turns going
around the room and sharing our travel stories.
Everyone talked about how they had traveled to 10, 15, 20 different
countries. The foreign exchange
students, the students who studied abroad, my fellow classmates who had been on
multiple family holidays, and even my professor who had an extensive list of
destinations. Then it was my turn. I quietly mumbled the number “3”. At that time, I had only traveled to three
countries but honestly, it was as if I had only been to one. That’s because all of our family road trips down
to Mexico to visit my grandma’s side of the family and the road trips up to
Canada to visit my grandpa’s side, I barely remember. I was too little to recall much of anything
back then. As for my third country, it
was a vacation with my mom, her ex husband, and my best friend to the Dominican
Republic. We stayed at an all-inclusive
resort that sheltered us from having an real authentic cultural experiences
because we never left the gates.
I wanted more out of life. I wanted to see the places that
others talked about. I wanted to swim in
the waters that sparkled like glitter on T.V and in videos that I saw. I wanted to try the local foods that I watched
on my favorite travel food shows. I wanted to make new friends who lived a life
completely different than mine. I wanted
to see cascading waterfalls, beautiful wild animals, and mountains reflecting
onto lakes like I did in photos. I
wanted to visit the places that others so passionately described with joy and
awe. I knew that there was so much out
there in the world that I wanted to explore and be a part of. I had no idea how I was going to get there, how
I was going to pay for it, who I was going to go with, or anything about traveling
all. But, I was going to figure it out.
And I did. I spent
the remainder of my last year and a half of university working as many flexible
jobs that I could and focusing on saving my money. Living and going to school in Chicago isn’t
cheap but I learned how to increase my income and limit my expenses so that I
could grow a savings to travel. I even
did things like found, fixed, and resold used furniture, painted and sold
crafts during the holidays to friends and family, and sold old clothing, and
only shopped at resell and thrift stores.
I knew that my desire to travel was far greater than any new phone,
expensive dress, new pair of shoes, concert, new car, or anything else that
wasn’t going to bring me a real sense of experience and growth.
I graduated in June and worked the remainder of the summer
to save any last amount of money that I could.
I put my $1000 a month studio apartment up for rent, I sold the majority
of my furniture and belongings, and I moved to my mom’s apartment in my home
town of Milwaukee. I then spent a few
months researching and planning for my very first backpacking trip which was to
Western Europe. I had no idea where
exactly I was going to go, where I was going to stay, how I was going to
navigate a foreign country, or anything else.
But, I wasn’t going to let any uncertainty or fear hold me back. I booked my first flight and packed my
bag. Off I went!
When I first started traveling, it was before all of the
technology, blogs, apps, resources, tools, and websites that are popular and
available today. I struggled in many
ways. Traveling got rough at times.
Navigating my way around. Communicating. Finding a place to stay.
Finding the cheapest deals. Keeping up with writing my blog. Staying on budget.
Even knowing what time it was. I had a
flip phone that didn’t even turn on abroad so I was walking around asking
locals for the time and trying to interpret their responses. Traveling as a solo female budget backpacker
for several years taught me a lot. I
faced various problems and roadblocks along the way that I had to find
solutions for. I once almost was
deported when flying from Qatar to Turkey because I didn’t know that Turkey
required U.S passport holders to have a full empty page in their passport for a
visa-on-arrival sticker to be placed.
Luckily I had just one empty page left!
I never made that mistake again!
I chose to travel because at 22 I had no concrete idea on
who I was as a person, what I wanted out of life, what my dream career was,
what my spiritual or life paths were, or what kind of lifestyle I wanted to
have. I made time my best friend and I
used travel to help me fill my life voids and find the answers that I was
seeking. Travel taught me so much about
myself, life, relationships, people, lifestyles, money, and the world. It helped me learn who I was as a person,
what mattered most to me, what wasn’t important in life, what my passions were,
what I was good at, what my skills and interests were, what I sucked at, and so
much more. Travel made me realize what
kind of freedom I wanted in my life and that I wasn’t going to settle for
anything less than what I desired.
Travel challenged me in many ways.
It made me face my own demons. It
made me feel. It made me deal. Travel also helped me heal. It made me
strong. It made me excited for my future.
You see, traveling isn’t always pretty, or easy, or fun. As someone who
has struggled for several years with an anxiety disorder, traveling took me out
of my physical and mental comfort zone. Traveling transformed me, my mind, my
soul, and my life.
The more that I traveled, the more experiences I had, the
more my passions grew, the more direction in life I had, and the more clarity I
got on what kind of life and lifestyle I wanted. Although I didn’t have the
answers to where I wanted to live forever, when I was going to find a life
partner and get married or have children, it was ok. I had time to figure all
that out and it would happen when the timing was right.
The only internal concern that I had that I couldn’t seem to
kick was what career I was going to have.
Despite having tons of skills and experience in various fields and a
degree in hospitality and tourism management, I didn’t want any typical job
that I had already known about, especially when it came to traveling. I didn’t
want to be just a blogger despite loving writing and sharing my travel stories
and experiences with others. I didn’t
was to work for a corporation that “paid me to travel” because I wanted to have
actual cultural experiences where I traveled to. I didn’t want to create an Instagram and fill
it with inauthentic travel photos just to be a “travel influencer” and brand
ambassador. I didn’t want to be just
another freelancer trying to stay afloat and compete in the saturated online
world of virtual assistants or graphic designers. Just like travel, I wanted
more out of a career.
After years of traveling to over 80 countries by the age of
30, sharing all of my travel stories, experiences, tips, and advice in my blog,
getting clear on who I am and what I wanted out of life and my future, I spent
months learning even more. I found
mentors, coaches, and successful entrepreneurs and studied everything about who
they are and how they did it. I studied
everything that I could about the travel industry and starting a business. I’ve always wanted to have my own business
but, just like my career, I had no clue what, when, or how. I studied my blog traffic and did market
research. I took all that I learned in
those months and mixed it with everything that I learned and knew about the
travel industry from my ten years of circling the globe. Over the years and after holding thousands of
conversations with people on planes, in hostels, on buses, on beaches, and
around the world, I saw industry trends and commonalities. People are quitting
their jobs to travel the world, people are wanting to travel more and spend
less, people are desiring more freedom and want to work remotely, people are
turning to travel to help them heal or fill voids in their lives and within,
and so much more. I realized the power
of travel.
That’s when it all clicked. I knew exactly what I was meant
to do. I became a Travel Coach. But, I then ran into another problem. How do
I become a travel coach and how do I start my own coaching business? Unlike the
busy online coaching world of life, health, fitness, and spiritual coaches,
there wasn’t anyone paving the path for travel coaches. So, the natural problem-solver in me figured
out a way and created the solution that I was looking for. I created the dream career that I was
searching for for so long and the ideal platform that I wish that I had when I
wanted to start a travel coaching business.
I founded and created The Travel Coach Network.
As a travel coach, I use everything that I know,
experienced, used, and love about travel that enabled me to travel as much as I
have and how travel transformed me and my life to help others achieve their own
travel goals. I put the power of travel
into the hands of the traveler by equipping them with the tools, resources, and
the know-how to design their dream travel lifestyles on their own while also
tapping into why they want to travel and how to use the power of travel to find
the answers in life that they are looking for.
As a travel coach, I also help wanderers and experienced
travelers, like I was, turn their travel knowledge, experience, skills,
expertise, stories, and passion into their own customizable travel coaching
business. I help others create the dream
career that I have created for myself.
Travel is powerful. It’s my mission to help everyone who
wishes to travel to be able to see the world on the budget and time frame that
they have and to help other travelers create their dream career as a travel coach
so they can love what they do, have the freedom that they want, and use their
own travel stories to help others.
