As I traveled further in South America, I ran into more fascinating women willing to share their stories.
CHLOE
I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none which is one of the problems with enjoying travel because I get up and go whenever I feel like traveling and I don’t have time to really settle into a career. Most of the jobs I’ve done as a traveler have been in hospitality, working at hostels and things like that.
Finances are definitely something on my mind, but it’s something that I thought about originally when I started traveling. I just decided it was worth sacrificing. I’d rather be happy than rich and traveling is what I enjoy doing.
The sacrifices that I think I’ve made is missing things at home. I was traveling for my father’s 50th birthday, my mom’s 50th birthday, my mom’s 60th birthday. I’ve missed lots of family stuff, friends having babies, missing my pets. Just being away from people that I care about but hoping they’ll all still be there when I get back.
Seeing amazing things is what compels me to travel. I want to do it while I’m young. The most amazing thing I think I’ve seen this time is Angel Falls in Venezuela. They’ve all been geographical and animal. I got to hold an anaconda and went on a boat trip in the Amazon.
I think there can be a backpacker culture. I think there are different types of backpackers, whether you judge that on age or whether people just want to go and party or whether people want to see the sights.
Stereotypical backpacker culture I would define as probably early 20’s, want to see amazing places but also want to spend a lot of their time getting drunk. I think everyone changes as they get older but I think backpackers generally speaking appreciate the geographical aspects of a new place rather than partying in a new city.
I think if you want the “American Dream”, fantastic, go for it. I have a two sisters and a brother and that’s what 2 of them want and that is fantastic. Everyone should do what they want to do. That’s not for me or at least not yet.
Living outside the box means getting to do things I wouldn’t get to do if I lived in the box. The box is going to be there to back to, so I might as well be out exploring other things.
I don’t think traveling has hindered my personal relationships because I always make it really clear to anyone in my life about what I’ll be doing at that time and I don’t think that I could have anyone in my life who didn’t accept that or want to be a part of that. So if it did potentially have an adverse affect on any of my personal relationships then it probably wasn’t much of a relationship anyway.
I don’t have any real schedule. If something motivates me to get up and go then I try to earn some money and go whether it’s 2 years between traveling or 6 months. Actually for this trip it was my boyfriend who motivated me. We had been traveling between England and Oz because he is English but he wanted to go to South America and I’d always had it in the back of my mind so he said let’s go and we’re here.
I think my family wasn’t over the moon when I started traveling ten years ago because they didn’t think I’d come home. I didn’t think I’d come home, but I do keep going back and they know that I will. They now accept that this is what I want to do.
confessionsofamiddleagedwomangonewild 