Who Am I?

Wow I’m so flattered you asked! I’m Amanda, & as I’ve mentioned before, not a writer at heart, so lemme explain some deets about me through my fave, bullet points:

  • Dog mom to the best cockapoo, Theo Kramer Brown (yes, like Seinfeld)
  • Married to a stud, Austin
  • Austin & I took an extended leave of absence from our corporate jobs to travel full time
  • We’ve been traveling full time since February 2021
  • We are both UNC Chapel Hill alumni & basketball fanatic
  • Motivated by traveling & carbs (literally Austin bribes me with trips & donuts)
  • Addicted to guacamole and all things avocado, because see below:
  • Late bloomer into lactose intolerance, recovering queso addict
  • Inspired by personal development material – books, podcasts, blogs, you name it
  • Pension Actuarial Consultant (it’s okay if you have no idea what this is, no one usually does)
  • Lover of hard seltzers
  • Blessed with an amazing group of inspiring friends
  • Always down for a laugh-till-you-cry session
  • Terrified of spiders
  • Passionate about getting 8 hours of sleep
  • Believer of drinking iced coffee year round, but am a hot-coffee-in-the-morning type of person
  • Sucker for a good pun
  • Have a continuously growing list of bucket list travel destinations, so send me your faves!

Why I Left to Travel Full Time

A few years ago, the lottery was SUPER high. A co-worker asked me if I won the lottery, would I still work? I said I definitely think I always need to work, but I’m not sure I’d do THIS. Don’t get me wrong, I like my corporate job, but if money wasn’t a factor, I said I’d travel the world and write about it for fun. After that day, I couldn’t get it out of my head.  

If that’s what my heart really wants to do, why is my head telling me it’s not an option? After a few years (and a set of circumstances that made it the right time), my husband and I had the savings and flexibility to do what we thought was only for “influencers”. We wrapped up projects at work, sold our condo, put our stuff in storage, hugged (and hugged and sobbed and sobbed some more) our beloved Theo goodbye while he stayed with Austin’s parents, and bought one way tickets to Mexico.

I don’t make any money while we travel, every single dollar we spend is coming directly out of our savings. I have no intention of being an influencer or full time blogger, it’s all just something I’m truly passionate about and enjoy doing! If there’s something you love to do, figure out a way to prioritize it! It doesn’t have to be as drastic as leaving everything you know behind, it can be setting aside 15 minutes a day for yourself and your needs. Don’t tell yourself why you can’t, just make it happen!

My Travel Style

My style of travel won’t be for everyone, but I am positive there is useful information for anyone, even if your biggest trip is to Costco on a Saturday morning.

Budget

We aren’t afraid to spend our money when we travel. On the contrary, we usually spend the majority of our flexible income on our trips. We believe in investing in ourselves and our experiences together. That being said, in no way are we luxury travelers. We fly coach and eat at local cheap restaurants (think of your fave hole in the wall, that’s the kinda stuff we seek out).

Now that we travel full time, our travel budget varies WIDELY. One day we will stay in hostels for $16 and eat for $7 for the whole day, others we will spend $3,000 on a 6 day catamaran in the Galapagos, it’s called balance. We save hard so we can splurge hard on those life changing experiences!

Locations

LITERALLY ANYWHERE. If it was safe everywhere in the world, I would go there. If you tell me “oh idk if you want to go there, I’ve heard people hate it”, I’m 100% going to be like “hell yeah now I def wanna go”. I’m not afraid of being out of my comfort zone and I seek to understand more about the world around us. I love the touristy spots, but the less touristy, the more I am going to seek it out.

Accommodations

Uh yeah, my travel style varies A LOT when it comes to where we stay. We’ve stayed in the 5-star luxury resorts on safari in Kenya, and then a week later in hostels for <$20 in Egypt which funky smells & shower shoes. The location of where our accommodations are located is my first probably (after safety of course). When picking a place to stay, I usually have +/- 26 tabs open at the same time before making Austin look at my top 2 or 3 so he can tell me to pick “whatever I think”.

Here’s what I typically look for in our lodging:

  • Local! We typically avoid chain hotels & prefer to support the local communities we visit
  • For Booking.com, I won’t even look at it if their rating is below an 8
  • For HostelWorld.com, I prefer to stay at places with a 9+
  • Priorities in order are: safety, location, cleanliness
  • Walking distance from main things we want to do, or at least easy access to local transportation
  • Character. I love a good boutique hotel with lots of character, either through the architecture, decor, layout, cafe, or even their level of intentional hospitality
  • COVID-19 NOTE: given the huge gap of travel in 2020, I only will stay at places that have had reviews since at least the fall of 2020. Things can change a lot in a year and just because they had great reviews pre-pandemic doesn’t mean that holds true now

Activities

This is super broad, but it feels important. I am absolutely not interested in traveling somewhere to not leave the resort for 7 days. If that’s your thing that’s freaking awesome, I just can’t sit still that long! We see a few of the main attractions, but try to balance those with local experiences. Our trips are usually split between food, casual strolling through shops, tourist hot-spots, nature adventures, and unique local experiences.