Welcome to Your Email Won’t Find Me

It’s October of 2023 and I’m escaping the heat in one of the few air-conditioned cafés in Ubud. I’ve been sitting here for hours trying to figure out where to begin with this travel blog. I thought I’d start with how I ended up here in the first place.

Two months ago, I quit my high-paying corporate job and sold nearly everything to begin my journey of traveling full-time. While I had what many people would consider a dream life with a $200k+ salary, a nice apartment by the beach in Manhattan Beach, CA, and a great work-life balance allowing me to take multiple vacations a year, I didn’t feel like I was living my dream life.

I Needed to Make a Big Change

Over the past few years, I too often felt disenchanted at work, questioning my purpose in life while counting down the minutes of another meeting that could have been an email. Was this really how I wanted to spend the rest of my life? If I found out I was going to die tomorrow, would I be happy with how I spent my time? Would I be proud of what I contributed to society?

I honestly didn’t know the answers to those questions. Don’t get me wrong, I worked for some great companies and was very fortunate to have the life I lived. But I felt like I was stuck in place, unable to find time and space to figure out what was next for me. Not only had I gotten too comfortable and stopped growing, but I was starting to feel depressed. I needed to do more than make some changes in life, I needed to upend it completely. I had to force myself into an uncomfortable situation, one that allowed for the time and space to find some answers.

Travel Gives Me Life

For the past decade, I spent most of my free time and disposable income traveling as much as possible. My biggest hobby became “travel hacking” (traveling for free, or significantly discounted, thanks to reward programs and credit cards). The one thing that kept me going was looking forward to that next trip. Especially when I was taking trips that would cost thousands of dollars for next to nothing.

Traveling brought me unmatched happiness and gave me the mental space I needed to figure life out. So, I decided to significantly ramp up my savings for a bit so I could leave my job, sell everything I owned, and spend at least a year traveling solo. I plan to live on less than $75 a day while only volunteering, working on myself, and figuring out who and what I want to be for the rest of my life. I decided to start this travel blog, Your Email Won’t Find Me, to share this journey with you, inspire you to travel, and share travel tips, hacks, guides, and other resources to help you travel the world too!

What to Expect From Your Email Won’t Find Me Travel Blog

Ok, that’s enough about me. Let’s talk more about what the Your Email Won’t Find Me travel blog is all about.

Yes, I’m going to share stories, lessons, and tips from this year-long journey I’m currently on. But this blog will include MUCH more than just my current experience.

People are constantly reaching out on Instagram asking me for advice with booking their trips. What are the best hotels to book? Which restaurants to try? How to avoid the tourist traps? Where to even start when it comes to points and miles? These are just a few of the questions I frequently get. If my friends and followers have these questions, maybe you do too.

Besides this journey, I’ve traveled to around 40 countries across five continents over the past 15+ years. I’ve also been travel hacking (booking free travel with points and miles) for nearly as long as I’ve been traveling. So, I have a wealth of knowledge and experiences to share with you. I really started Your Email Won’t Find Me to share travel tips, hacks, and guides to help you plan your next trip!

I’m Also Hoping This Travel Blog Inspires You

I’m also hoping to inspire you. Not just to get out and see the world, but to find your path and prioritize happiness. You only get one life to live, and if you’re lucky, you get about 80 years to live it. Subtract the years before you start earning an income and the years when you may not have the health or energy to chase your dreams, and your window shrinks to about 40 years.

If you’ve been putting off pursuing your dreams or even something as small as just booking a trip, just remember that there is never a right time. There will always be good reasons not to do something. Believe me, I know. But I hope my story will inspire you to find your reasons TO do something, whatever it may be!