ESLVentures Round Two: A One-Way Ticket to Adventure

Greetings everyone and welcome back to my travel blog! 😊

If you haven’t followed me before, I’ll catch you up to speed. Basically, in 2014, after 25 years in the US and an ever-increasing desire to travel the world, I moved abroad to teach ESL. I wasn’t a teacher in the US, so I decided to pursue a CELTA teaching qualification, which helped me find jobs in Turkey, Thailand, and Mexico. This expat life also enabled me to travel to over 60 countries and led me to begin a master’s program in Spain.🌎 ✈️

Well, after over four years of ESL adVentures and countless bucket list items ticked off my list, I was feeling  incredibly accomplished, but also feeling some MAJOR travel fatigue. 😪

I had traveled to over 60 countries at that point, and I was a bit overwhelmed by so many experiences. The nomadic lifestyle has so many positives, but some of the downsides would be the lack of stability, the lack of a feeling of connectedness to any one place, and the ever-increasing longing for familiarity and family. Change begins with choice, and in that case, I chose last year to move back home.

What a year it has been! It provided me the time to self-reflect, connect with family and friends, and really visualize where I’d like to see myself in the future. I’ve realized that I cannot be content without travel in my life. I feel that the open road is calling again. Not everyone has or can understand this wanderlust that I possess, but for those of you that do, you’ll know that it’s something that cannot be tamed. I constantly dream of faraway places, about the excitement of a foreign land, and the potential for a new adventure. After a year of minimal travel, I feel reinvigorated and ready for round two of ESLVentures!

Now I’ve always been more of a doer rather than a dreamer. I set goals, make a plan of attack, and aim to achieve. In this case, I’ve made the choice to move abroad again and start a second round with the expat life.

"You must make the choice to take the chance if you want anything in life to change."

I bought a one-way ticket to Spain starting in June, and I plan to spend the summer backpacking through Europe before beginning a new job search overseas. 🇪🇸 👩‍🏫

As I absolutely love documenting all of my travels, with blog posts and pictures, of course I’ll be sharing everything with all of you.📷 💜

Until then, I plan to put together a pre-depature post with packing tips and my intended itinerary. I’ll also be taking a spring break trip to the Dominican Republic next month, so stay tuned for some insights on how to travel there on a budget, with relaxation in mind. Lots of exciting things to come! Thanks for following along!