about me.

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And you are the one who’ll decide where to go!
-Dr. Seuss

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My life is a complicated series of one-way tickets.

I’m a hobo. A ragamuffin. A vagrant. A vagabond. A bum? Call it what you like; I call it an unconventional way of looking at life. A really great way to be broke. ;)

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.”-Kurt Vonnegut

What makes you come alive? If you are anything like me, there are probably many things that fall into this category… but travel is certainly near the top of my list.

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. ~Howard Thurman

I don’t have a lot of money. I’m not rich (quite the contrary!). I don’t have any wealthy benefactors. All I’ve done is made the decision to modify my lifestyle so that I can do the things I really want to do in this life – travel, experience the cultures of the world, immerse myself in situations unlike anything I could find at home, throw myself well out of my comfort zone, and toast marshmallows on lots of different beaches. I want to be inspired. I want to live.

“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.” – Alan Keightley

Also, key point: Traveling around with a backpack is fantastic. I mean, it’s actually liberating. You learn you don’t need all that stuff. It also means zero to no wardrobe decisions. As a girl with zero to no fashion sense, nothing beats it. Backpacking also means you save more. Or, more accurately, spend less money. Because if you only have a backpack, you won’t have room for that statue of Genghis Khan you found in Mongolia, or that cute shirt you really liked from the Canary Islands. If you really want it, it means you’ll have to throw something out. And more often than not, isn’t that a waste of money? I’d rather fly to Madagascar than wear the latest Louis Vuitton pumps. But that’s just me.

I digress! My aim here is to share my stories as a solo female traveler – and hopefully encourage a few of you to reconsider your lives and join me abroad (just kidding. But seriously!). Solo travel is easy (a lot easier than you think). It’s liberating. It’s fun. And it’s even safe (assuming you’re not clinically defective).

And to be honest, life is just too damn short to be boring.

“What I find is that you can do almost anything or go almost anywhere, if you’re not in a hurry.” – Paul Theroux

I was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. I love Vancouver. I’ll go back one day (maybe).

I blame my parents for the vagrant strain in my blood and whatever chromosome they gave me that has resulted in my obsession with airplane food. This genetic disorder brings me to many places, so I created this blog as a way to document my adventures and share some of the stories as I mess up along the way. If you like, you can subscribe to my RSS feed, follow me on twitter, or check out my facebook page!

Thanks for reading!        

      Kristina :)

“If the clock appears to move faster than it did in sixth grade, it’s only because we haven’t actualized our power as adults to set our own recess schedule.” – Rolf Potts