‘Round the World Travel

My three-year journey around the world.

I didn’t grow up traveling. My family didn’t take vacations other than two road trips to Disney Land and Disney World when I was too young to really remember. I didn’t board an airplane until I was 18, the summer before starting college. I didn’t get a passport until I was 25, when a friend asked if I wanted to join him on a three week backpacking trip around Europe.

That’s when I first heard people talking about year-long or longer ’round the world trips, and I thought both, “I would never want to do that,” and, “I could never do that.”

Five years later, in July 2011, at 30 years old, I quit my full-time job and bought a one-way ticket to Berlin. The plan was to travel “around the world” for a year but, especially after spending my first few weeks in tears, no one thought I would make it past three months.

Fifteen months later, after backpacking through Europe for four months and Asia for eleven, I returned home. Briefly.

A few months after that I bought another one-way ticket. This time to Guatemala. Over the next seven months I traveled south towards Colombia. And, after that, traveled to Ireland and spent the next two months there and in the United Kingdom.

After another brief stint in Chicago I went back on the road, spending another four months in South America.

I never dreamed I’d last more than three months backpacking the world, but well over three years later, I returned to Chicago “for good.”

Now, to see how long this “for good” lasts…

Explore Destinations

In three years I traveled to 30 countries across Europe, Asia, North America, Central America, and South America?

Where do you want to go? Pick a destination below.

‘Round the World Trip Highlights

Travel with me through my favorite stories from three years of backpacking around the world.