Hello Reader ,

Twenty years ago, on September 8, 2006, I stood in Penn Station with a one-way ticket to Africa and a plan to travel for one year. I thought I was starting a new chapter.

I had no idea I was starting an entire novel.

I want to take a minute today, before I send you into the actual celebration, to just say it plainly: thank you. Thank you for reading my travel advice and actually using it. For coming on a tour with me. For telling a friend about that one post that talked you into finally booking the trip. For being supportive of building my entire adult life around a plane ticket.

I never had a wedding day. I never had a baby shower or a nursery to paint...all by my choice. For a long time I assumed that meant I just wouldn't get one of those big, obvious, everyone-gather-round milestones in my life. Turns out I was wrong. This is mine. Twenty years, one blog, one very strange and specific career I never planned on having — I spent 14 years in corporate IT before this, and I have now spent 20 years doing the thing that replaced it. I can hardly believe it sometimes. So today, I'm celebrating. Loudly. And I want you here for it, because you're the reason there's anything to celebrate at all.

The whole story, today

Every few years I sit down and write one of these "this is me" posts — a real, no-filter accounting of who I am and how this life has changed me. I did it when I started, at 15 months in, at 4 years in, at 6 years, at 9, and at 13. I just wrote the 20-year one, and it's the longest one I've ever written, because there was the most to look back on.

It's not a highlight reel. It's the whole thing — including the era I almost left out of the first draft entirely, a career-break movement I co-founded that got written up in the New York Times and then quietly and sadly died off; the years I watched other travel bloggers pass me in traffic and income because I refused to write like everyone else; the flight home that gave me three blood clots in my lungs and very nearly ended this whole story for real; and the thing I've never told you before about the book I almost wrote and then walked away from...because I was scared.

It went up yesterday, September 8th. ​
​Read the full 20-year story here​

It's long. It's worth it.

A giveaway, because 20 years deserves one

I couldn't have done any of this without gear that actually held up to the life I was putting it through, so this month I'm giving readers a chance to win travel products from some of my favorite brands — the ones I actually pack, not the ones who just sent me something once:

• OBOZ (footwear that has survived more trailheads than I can count)
• Thule (bags and packs I've dragged through more airports than I can count either)
• Vim & Vigr (compression socks — after three pulmonary emboli, these are non-negotiable for me on every single flight)
• Royal Robbins (the clothes that actually work for travel, lightweight, wrinkle-free, and sustainable)
• TESSAN (the adapters and chargers that have saved me in more countries than I can name)

​Enter the giveaway here​

The other people who made this possible

I also want to say something to the tour operators, brands, and destinations who took a chance on me back when "travel blog" was a made-up job and "influencer" wasn't even a word yet. A lot of people said no, or didn't understand what I was asking for, or wanted nothing to do with someone writing on the internet for free travel. The ones who said yes (there are way too many to list) — and especially the ones who are still saying yes 15 and 20 years later — built this with me as much as any reader did. You know who you are, and I hope you know how much that early trust has meant.

Let's actually raise a glass

I don't want to just say thank you into the void of an email. On October 4th, 5 PM MT, I'm hosting a video call for anyone who wants to show up (Please someone show up!!!) — readers, past tour guests, fellow travelers, people who've never met me but have been following along for years. No pitch, no agenda. Just travel talk, ask me any questions you may have, maybe have a conversation about making the big, scary decisions in your own life, and a chance to actually raise a glass together with people from all over the world who've been part of this in their own way.

And in my habit of being transparent - I nearly canceled this idea 3 different times because I was afraid no one would show up. But I decided to keep it because...f#$ck it...I want to celebrate. Yes, it's a weekend, it's football season, you all have a million other things to do - but just pop in and say hi if nothing else. Plus, I told myself the worst thing that can happen is that I'm sitting in front of my screen with a cocktail for an hour...lord knows I've done that a thousand times!

​RSVP for the October celebration ​

If you just read one thing, read this...

Twenty years ago I left Penn Station terrified and had absolutely no idea what I was building. Turns out I was building this — all of it, all of you. If you told me then that I would be traveling for 20 years and help start an entirely new industry and career path, I never in a million years would've believed it. NEVER.

A kid who was scared of everything turned accounting student, turned IT professional, turned travel writer, turned tour operator, turned crazy cyclist? NEVER. But this is what can happen if you get out of your life routine, where you blindly follow everyone else because you think you should. You get out and see new things and different ways of doing things; you are open to change, and you say "Yes!" to things that might scare you, but you face that fear and do it anyway. You just might get the life you are dreaming of, or a life that you didn't even know was possible. A life that is entirely your creation.

Thank you for 20 years. Let's go do 20 more!

Happy Travels!

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