My desire for solo travel first started with my study abroad program called Semester at Sea. I lived on a ship, took a lap around the world, and had my entire perspective changed. SAS gave me a taste of nearly every continent and I began to understand just how large, colorful, and full-of-life this Earth is. Long stretches of days and weeks out at sea gave me an appreciation for the vastness of the ocean. I could finally conceive how the Earth’s surface is 71% ocean.

 

I made a promise to myself that after University, I would buy a one-way ticket to somewhere...anywhere, and go. I dreamt of it being alone and open-ended. I wanted to wander this world and to prove to myself that I was strong enough to do it on my own.

 

Two years after graduating from UCSD, I had worked hard at multiple jobs, saving, and after long consideration bought my one-way ticket to Thailand. There I backpacked Southeast Asia for 4 months before flying to Australia. I arrived in Australia, meeting two friends from Semester at Sea and 5 years later we had a reunion down under. (How cool is that!) I traveled around before settling down in Melbourne, Australia for about 9 months. After my time living and working in Melbourne, I began backpacking again. Seeing both the East and West Coast of Australia before flying back to Asia for a few months prior to making my way home.

 

Then, at the end of 2018, I embarked on another solo travel adventure through Latin America. I spent nine months wandering about; the majority of the time I spent in South America (about seven months) and the last two months I spent in Central.