Growing up
Like most people I was taught to work hard in school to get into a good college, decide what you want to do for the rest of your life by the age of 18, get a job in decided major, get married, buy a house, adopt a dog, have kids, and live happily ever after by the time you reach 30. For some people, this is exactly what they want to do! However, I felt like I was doing what I was supposed to do without even really thinking about what I actually wanted to do.
Until, my life changed forever.
My childhood best friend passed away at the age of 21, during my junior year of college. Brooke’s death opened my eyes to the life I was NOT living and how short life truly is. So, I decided to live my life to the fullest, for the both of us.
“You’re going to do what?!”
I graduated from Penn State University with a major in Broadcast Journalism. So, the natural next step: I moved to South Florida and became a Stewardess on super yachts!? (My mom was not very pleased). But, I had made the decision to start following what makes me happy and not just follow the rest of the world.
Following my gut.
I had traveled as a kid, always going to different islands and beaches (I had no chance not becoming a beach baby. My mom drove me down to the Jersey Shore every weekend in the summer starting when when I was in diapers). But those were more like vacations. I really began traveling during my first trip to Europe in college. It was like a little sparkler started glowing inside of me! Every time I travelled to a new city or country, I couldn’t wait to explore the local culture, eat the local food, and thanks to my mom, anyone who knows me knows; I MUST find the local beach!
Finding a Way to Travel and Make Money
So, after college, I thought,
“Why not work on a boat and get paid to travel the world?”
So, I spent the next the next 7 years working and traveling the world as a Stewardess on Superyachts. To answer your questions: I see the reality t.v. show Below Deck the same way I see growing up watching Jersey Shore. There’s a storyline there for a reason. Does everything happen exactly as it would without cameras around? Probably not. It’s realty t.v., not a documentary. But, it’s interesting and entertaining and people love it! I wasn’t worried about people thinking I’m Snookie, so I wasn’t worried about people thinking I’m Kate either.
Yachting was great
I got to travel the world, from Eastern Europe to the South Pacific. Any time I had off I would go and see as much of the area as I could. It was such a privilege to get to explore places by sea. I’ve crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the U.S. to Europe, the Pacific Ocean from California to Hawaii and then Hawaii to French Polynesia, gone through the Panama Canal, up and down the East and West Coast of the U.S., and all over Europe and the Caribbean all by boat! There’s nothing like the stars at night when you haven’t seen land in a week or seeing dolphins jumping in the wake of the boat as you cruise along the shoreline. I truly am blessed to have been able to experience travel in such a unique way.
Everything has a beginning and an end
However, always being on someone else’s schedule takes a toll after awhile (at least for me!). So I decided to leave yachting full time and start a new chapter in my life! Part of that new chapter is to start a travel blog! People always asked me about my travels and tips and tricks about traveling, so I’ve decided to share what I’ve learned over the past decade of what to do (and not to do) in this travel blog. Now I have more control of where I go and when so I can spend more time traveling (and blogging!)
Now it’s your turn!
I hope to sharing my adventures encourages you to get out there and explore the world! There’s SO much out there to learn and experience that simply cannot be taught without getting out there and doing it yourself!