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Have you ever followed those travel bloggers on Instagram and thought “what a luxurious life they live?” or “I would love to do that!”
Many of my followers and Facebook friends have watched me move from one blog to another. Some saw me while I was a struggling high school writer that had no direction in life. Most of my Facebook friends saw me as a travel blogger. I LOVED travel blogging, exploring new places, and the continuous adventure. It was always exciting to plan my next trip.
Traveling by myself took me out of my shell and forced me to be someone different than what I was used to being. It took me through the ups and downs of traveling. From smiling and laughing at all of the new, beautiful places I had discovered. Then to crying in a smoky hotel room because I was alone in the middle of nowhere and my mom was going into surgery at noon the next day and I was 2,000 miles from home.
Solo traveling was probably one of the greatest experiences I will ever have and I hope to do it again in the future. Traveling is something that I want to continue to do constantly. It forced me to grow tremendously as a person. If I have kids, they will be well traveled from a young age. I truly believe there are things you learn from traveling that cannot be learned any other way. I still love traveling.
What I didn’t love were the costs and sacrifices that comes with travel.
I am not only talking financial costs. Money is a big part of the reason why I am putting on a new hat. Financially, I need to get a lot figured out before I do more traveling. I carelessly spent well over $3000 on travel expenses this year when I have $34k in debt that needs to be paid off. I am currently taking Dave Ramsey’s class AGAIN.
But bigger than the money, the ultimate reason is something mentioned above. My mom found out she had kidney stones and was going into surgery the next day. Meanwhile, I was in the middle of nowhere, Utah (literally). While it was a minor surgery and there wouldn’t have been anything I could have done to help, it made me realized that I am comfortable being close to my family. This is what led to me crying in a smoky hotel room in the middle of nowhere during a thunderstorm.
My family, especially my mom and dad, mean the world to me. Being in the military is hard enough sometimes, I can’t imagine being away from home for long periods of time for travel as a career.
I want to travel and see the world, but while I was traveling, I struggle to actually get my thoughts on paper. It wasn’t until I returned home that I could actually process everything from the trip. My comfortable writing space is at home. It is me at my desk or in my living room with my blanket. Curled up with Pandora playing in the background. It takes so much effort for me to write in a hotel room along the road.
I will be the first to admit that I fell off of writing right after my trip to Texas without a lot of explanation. On the way home from my trip, my relationship of 6 months ended. While 6 months is not a terribly long time, if you know me at all, it actually is. I am terrible at relationships. Maybe it is because I am so free-willed or maybe it is because my dad set the standard very high with my mom and his relationship. Either way, the relationship had come to a close and it was time to move on. (Update 1/17/2021: I have since grown up, got engaged and started a family. A lot can happen in 4 years!)
After it ended, I spent a lot of time thinking about life. I thought about my church that I need to go to more often. My career, jobs, business, military experiences. My family and friends. I spend a lot of time thinking about the man that will eventually come into my life at just the right time. I thought about my financial plan for my future.
Being real with myself was hard, but it was time for a change.
I sat down and laid out the things that I wanted from my life. What better time to make a change than right before the new year! Traveling has actually been one of the things I gave up to pay off $15,000 of debt in one year.
I had romanticized travel blogging so much that I had to sit down and really look into the possibilities. The more I read other travel blogs, the more I didn’t envy them. As much as I am adventurous, I am also a home-body. My guilty pleasures include curling up in a chair with a book, writing until I don’t know what else to write about, and spending countless hours on Pinterest. As much as I like exploring new things, I like completing my to-do lists, running on the same bike trails, and going to the same restaurants. I want to be a regular at a coffee shop. Just sipping my coffee and writing in the corner booth for hours.
I have very little desire to travel other countries by myself, which is a lot of what travel bloggers are doing. While it will not be my full time career, I still plan to travel to all 50 states. I have actually decided that I look forward to having a home and a routine. My plan is still to write. I will build my writing career, but I will be doing it from home.
Even on my financial journey, I was able to go on a cheap getaway! Turns out, my ideal vacation right now is hiding in a cabin for a few days and unplugging and unwinding!
When one door closes, sometimes you have to look out the windows to decide what is next.
Update in 2021:
While travel blogging is still not for me, we are running towards financial independence. I have loved this finance blog. When I wrote this blog post, I really didn’t know what would come of this blog. I had NO idea that I would end up in the finance world, especially since I actually have no financial background. What a blessing this blog has been! Someday, we will be able to travel all over with our finances all taken care of! I can not wait to show Carter the whole world.
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