A Girl from Small Town Ohio Dreams of Something Bigger….
People have always asked me how everything started. While I think they sometimes are wondering how I ended up “this way”, I welcome the curiosity. I want to inspire other women to take “the road less traveled” and to forge their own path in life. So here is my story from the start to the present…….
Since I was a little girl, I always loved travel. I loved the idea of packing my bags and heading off to somewhere new. Although my travel experience was limited to domestic trips to Florida and California until I was in high school, I still remember the joy that I felt when getting my assignments from my teacher for the following week and then getting all of my schoolwork done on the plane ride so that I would have a proper holiday. Although both of my parents were some of the cheapest people alive, I still got to experience wonderful things.
My First Steps Into the World of International Jet Setting….
During my freshman year of high school, I went on a school trip to Greece – my first international trip (see Greece section for further details). My next trip went slightly better when my mom took me to England to visit my uncle who was living there at the time. We managed to squeeze in a day trip to London and even took an overnight ferry to Calais and then traveled on to Paris. I was taking French at school at the time and was super excited to practice my new language skills. Unfortunately, the Parisians were not interested in my ridiculously poor language skills and I left the country feeling devastated. My interest in French took a major nosedive afterward but luckily, the wheels were in motion to create the ultimate travel-lover.
I took a few trips to Italy over the next 4 years after my sister moved there for university and my fate was sealed. Gone were the days when a trip to Europe every few years could feed my hunger for travel. In college, I chose to study abroad in Austria and Germany and even completed a two-year certificate program on top of my Bachelor’s which enabled me to travel to Bangkok and Hong Kong for business-related internships. Instead of spending spring break of my senior year partying in Cancun like many of my fellow American college students, I traveled back to Florence to visit my sister with a few friends. I knew then that I wanted to find a way to live in Europe after graduation.
Starting a Life Abroad….
Upon graduation, I took advantage of working holiday visas available for the UK and Ireland and spent six months in Edinburgh and Dublin.
I loved Ireland but I knew my time there was limited. But where to go next? While I was walking down the street in Dublin one day, I saw a store advertising their different locations around the world. Auckland was one of them. I had absolutely no idea where the hell that was but decided to check into it. I quickly found out that Auckland is in New Zealand and that New Zealand offers 12-month working holiday visas to young Americans. New Zealand sounded pretty nice so eureka! I had found a place to go. I applied for a visa online and got it five days later. Auckland – here I come!
I boarded a plane in New York after driving there from Ohio with my dad and spending one very drunken night in Manhattan with my friend Matt. I was scared shitless at the time and had no idea what awaited me. Would I be able to find a job? An apartment? Friends? Would I be homesick? Why the hell did I book a one-way plane ticket for somewhere that was so far away?????? Why???????????????????????
Little did I know at the time but New Zealand ended up being a game-changer for me. I managed to land a fantastic job working for a convention bureau and actually got paid to travel all around the country meeting hotels and other tourism providers. After spending my time in Edinburgh working as a waitress in a hotel, it was amazing to find the tables had turned. I was now the hot-shot meeting people at a hotel and somehow else waited on me – and I got paid for it! I met my would-be husband there and stayed for nearly three years.
Heading Back to the Big Apple….
Leaving New Zealand was a hard choice for me but something was calling me back to New York. After some immigration-related mishaps, I decided that it was time to go. I married my British boyfriend, sponsored him for a green card and we moved to New York City together.
News of my romantic sojourn in New Zealand and subsequent dramatic green-card wedding filled my friends and family with awe, admiration, and jealousy. Just kidding – most people thought I was insane. A characteristic that has followed me around since by the way. I fell in love with my own “love” story and settled back in New York showing off my cute British husband (BH). I worked my ass off to build a life in the city and soon had some great friends, an awesome apartment in Hell’s Kitchen, and a wonderful job to show for it. Reality soon set in on the relationship front and the little habits that the BH had became less cute and more annoying as time went on.
Rather than admitting to myself that I may have gotten married too quickly and had made a mistake, I decided to throw myself into all the great things that New York has to offer. I learned everything I could about the city, knew where to get the cheapest beer, and how to get discounted tickets to virtually everything (See the NYC page for some great tips and tricks!). Although not perfect, my time living in New York was certainly fun and I felt like I had finally made it.
Then came the sad part….
Of course, all good things must come to an end and the NYC-related euphoria soon disappeared one horrible morning in November 2010. As I stumbled to the bathroom, I happened to glance at my phone which was charging in the kitchen (aka hallway – gotta love railroad-style apartments). I had several missed calls from my sister. She was seven months pregnant at the time and I automatically feared that something had happened to the baby. I never expected to hear the words that I did. “Krissi, Krissi – Dad died last night”. That was the exact moment that my life changed forever. Although not a picture of perfect health, my dad was still extremely active – we had booked a trip to India the night before – and seemed to have any medical issues under control. At least until he dropped dead while out drinking beer with his friends.
Losing my dad was absolutely devastating and for months, I felt like the light had gone out of my life. I couldn’t accept the fact that I would never have a father again – that I would never hear his voice or be pressed against his chest in a big bear hug that only your dad can give you. We wouldn’t go to India together. We wouldn’t have breakfast at our favorite NYC diner together. He would never “wow” my friends with his dirty jokes again. We would never get to do anything together ever again. I couldn’t sleep and I drank too much alcohol. It felt better to be hungover than to have no feeling at all – or even worse, have the feeling of grief overwhelming me.
Time for a change….
Rather than following the normal grieving process, I did instead what I do best. I moved to another country. My company was trying to open an office in Hong Kong and I jumped at the chance to relocate. I already knew that I loved the city after spending time there in college and it would be a great way to keep myself occupied while I healed. Everyone knows that you can hide from pain forever and after getting settled in, the despair quickly caught up with me on the other side of the world. After a lot of hard work, both mentally and physically, I felt like things were finally getting better for me emotionally. However, managing Hong Kongers was much more difficult than I originally thought it would be and after 3.5 years in Hong Kong, I knew that I finally needed a break.
Time for an even bigger change…..
Knowing that I could never go back to the life I had before, I decided to make a series of life-changing decisions. I told my husband that I needed a break to sort myself out, quit my job, and left Hong Kong. In the end, I spent 18 months traveling around the world and eventually moved to Prague to start working on my Master’s degree in geopolitical studies. During this time, I worked as a tour guide and freelance writer for travel companies. I became more and more passionate about international relations (maybe because I learned more about it?) and began to gain a much better understanding about the world around me.
My Fate was Sealed……
Grad school and 18 months of backpacking the world proved to be a “lethal” combination. Not knowing how I would survive again in the corporate world and having a strong desire to feel like I was making a difference in the world, I began applying for jobs in the social/NGO sector. I was fortunate enough to land a job at Reality Tours and Travel in India. I spent two incredible years in India. I worked in a slum and finally felt like I was making at least a tiny difference in someone’s life.
While I was working then, I tried to hire as many female tour guides as I could and create a number of different tour products for the company that I worked for. I saw young women gain confidence in themselves and blossom (yes, I hate that word too but it is very fitting) into strong women who were proudly leading international visitors to all corners of India.
During my time there, I learned a lot about this incredible country, about myself, and about an expat world that was bigger than just a bunch of corporate employees and teachers (which was all I knew in Hong Kong). I was going to parties with UN staff and getting invites to embassies. We would drown ourselves in champagne at Sunday brunch and I would then go into the office on Monday, feeling a little bit like I was leading a double life. It was a very strong reminder of how unfair the world can be. I was lucky enough to be born at the right place and at the right time which eventually led me to be sitting in the backyard of the Australian Embassy in Delhi having Sunday tea.
A Life of Nomading Begins….
As we all know, life as we know it came to a screeching halt back in March 2020. I ended up spending a year in Mexico as a result of COVID and traveled extensively throughout the country (or at least as much as COVID restrictions would allow). Although I had been to Mexico many times before, my time there during COVID made me fall head over heels with the country. I decided to get my permanent residency there so that I could be confident in the fact that it would always be an option of a place to go long-term.
As COVID restrictions began lifting around the world, I began a digital nomad experience unlike any other. I began revisiting countries in South America that I had loved on previous trips while slowly building up my own digital marketing and copywriting business. I started adding more and more countries to the “finished” list. And finally, after some coaxing from a friend, I realized that there is actually a chance that I could visit every country in the world. So that is what I am now attempting to do. I currently work full-time for a digital marketing company in the US and luckily, my boss is pretty easy-going with my constant movement. I am not sure if and when I will do it but everyone has to have a goal, right?