Hello all! I can't believe it's already been 2 years since I began my journey of healing, self-discovery, and self-love.
As I reflect on my personal growth and experiences over the past two years and what lies ahead, I wanted to give an update and some background for those who have started following my journey along the way.
Last week, I started a full-time position as a project manager for a utility in New York helping them implement technology that will help them automate and manage their grid of the future. My plan is that once the project is completed, I want to take some time off to backpack through South America, hopefully in late 2024/early 2025!
Despite having been privileged enough to able to live my life on my own terms and being much happier than I've ever been since I caught the travel bug studying exchange in Singapore in 12 years ago, I still have a lot of healing to go and more therapy and self-therapy to help me get there. But I have come such a long way from the emotional trauma that pushed me to start this journey in the first place, which was a blessing in disguise and am grateful to be alive and healthy on this journey!
Here's a quick recap of my travel adventures:
• I went on an amazing 4 month road trip across the US where I visited 21 national parks, 5 national forests/monuments, hit all 4 corners of the continental US, and drove just a little over 20,000 miles through 36 states (many of them for the first time!).
• I went on several domestic and international trips, mainly solo trips to visit friends and family and a few spontaneous solo adventures using my Frontier Airlines all you can fly pass, but I also went on my first group trip to Galapagos with 10xTravel Insiders (where I learned how to pay for travel using credit card points and miles by being strategic with which credit cards I use to pay for my expenses without changing my spending habits).
• I logged close to 100,000 flight miles over 48 flights, spending almost 9 days in the air, visiting 30 airports in 11 countries, and taking 15 different airlines.
• I hiked to the top of Mount Washington with a new group of friends I met and chased the New England foliage from the White Mountains in New Hampshire down to Bear Mountain in CT.
And in terms of work:
• I worked as a staff accountant part-time for a small CPA firm and worked two tax seasons helping many minority and low income individuals and families with their taxes as well as non-profits and churches with financial statements.
• I also picked up another part-time job as a principal electrical engineer with a large infrastructure and defense engineering company (Parsons Corporation) helping them grow their utility business.