Prologue
I never imagined when I flew overseas for the first time that travel would become a lifestyle, and not a life event.
My kid brother was stationed 4,100 miles away in Bamberg, Germany, and I excitedly boarded a plane to see him after two years. I admittedly didn’t have a “love” for travel at that time — more a curiosity of other countries. Although it was a great trip, I spent an embarrassing amount of time inside.
The year after, my sister and I celebrated her high school graduation with a Caribbean cruise.
Next, I visited my sister in Spain. Inspired by the cruise, she’d studied abroad in Seville. During my visit, we joined a bus tour of Morocco and it was at this time that I fell in love with travel.
I finally realized the enormity of the world and the diversity of its cultures. And I craved travel like warm chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream. Maybe I crave travel even more than dessert.
Since that first trip to Germany, I’ve traveled to over a dozen countries on four continents. My domestic trips have grown so much that I spend more weekends away than I do at home.
All of this travel piques the interest of friends and family who wonder how I’m able to travel so often. For a while, I told them that I didn’t do anything special. I stopped spending on things like cable and lattes, and I put aside those savings to buy flights. I’d tell them that I got lucky with flight deals or flight vouchers.
And sure, those things definitely contributed to my travel. But when I really thought about it, those tips didn’t tell the entire story.
To figure out how I created a life of bathing suits and beaches, I had to go back to that very first trip and trace my steps.
What I found most interesting is that when I took most of the steps I’ll share with you in this guide, I had no idea how much they would contribute to traveling more often.
The steps were so small that I couldn’t have imagined them making a huge impact. But, when you put all of these steps together, you are left with the recipe for a delicious travel life.
It’s taken me years to get to this point and by sharing what I’ve done I’m hoping that you can achieve your travel dreams much sooner.
They say that the journey is more important than the destination, but hell, if you can get there faster, why not?
Huge, Daring Goals
When we have huge, daring goals like increasing travel by 1,000%, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. That’s why I’ve broken this guide into thirty days of small actions. Each action can be completed within a day and won’t take a ton of your time. (I’m sure you’re busy plotting your world takeover.)
Before you start, I want to leave you with this warning: Travel is super addictive. I’ve even frozen my credit card to stop from purchasing flights. (And it didn’t work because I could see the numbers through the ice!)
After your first few trips, people will bombard you asking what type of job you have and how you’re able to travel so much.
Go ahead and pass this guide to them. Not only will you gain some good travel karma, but you’ll also gain some travel buds, and they come in handy. Believe me.
All right, I won’t hold you up any longer. The world awaits!
