I grew up in a bustling city with two first-generation immigrant parents, who thankfully made it their mission to teach me about our roots. I can’t believe I used to be envious of my peers going off to summer camp while I was flying to Africa and Europe to visit my families. Being thrown into a completely different, yet familiar, culture every summer allowed me to achieve proficiency in my parents’ native tongues and build a strong relationship with my extended family. The gift I didn’t foresee this giving me was exposure and comfort with overseas travel, spending extended periods away from ‘home’, and adapting to new cultures quickly.

After I graduated from high school and transitioned to college my airfare was on my dime, of which I didn’t have two to rub together. I went until my senior year without leaving the country for an extended period. This feels like a good time to mention that I know how extremely privileged this sounds. Boo hoo, you didn’t get to fly around the world. Trust me, I learned the value of a dollar in those years, so a lesson was learned here. Spending my summers working or interning left me missing my travels more than I could have imagined. Finally, in my senior year, doing a semester abroad reinvigorated my passion and love for discovering new places, meeting people different from myself, appreciating new cultures, and my version of freedom. I returned from my semester abroad filled with purpose and that ‘spark’ with only one term left until graduation. With my salvation from the American higher education system just a few exams out of reach we all know what happens next, the ~unprecedented times~. The world froze and my life followed suit, along with billions of others.

This blog is inspired by the story of how I went from being a hopeless 2020 graduate to building a life centered around international travel just a few years later. Stick around if you want to learn more about how I got started and the amazing places I’ve been able to visit since.