Well, hello. Thank you for stumbling upon my blog. First, an introduction:

I’m a 25-year-old former newspaper reporter and editor from Boulder, Colorado, who is ditching her dental package to embark on a worldwide adventure. Here you can read about my crazy misadventures as I travel through the Middle East, Europe, Asia, the South Pacific, and South America over the span of 2 years.

Though I have Midwestern roots (I grew up on seven acres of land in Ohio), I’ve lived in Boulder, Colo. since 2001. I graduated magna cum laude from the Univ. of Colo-Boulder and launched my career as a reporter at the Colorado Daily, where I voraciously read news about the rest of the world. After a couple years, I decided it was time to go see this big, amazing world firsthand.

No, I’m not working abroad, at least not at a full-time staff position. I write freelance stories for a variety of magazines and newspapers, which keeps me entertained and pays for part of the trip. The rest of the money that pays for this two-year adventure (its ok, everyone asks) comes from old-fashioned savings. I starting socking away my part-time wages when I was a 20-year-old college junior; four years later I was ready to roll.

Here's me back when I used to have a job!

Here's me back when I used to have a job!

My travel companion on this journey is my boyfriend, Will, a 29-year-old lifelong Coloradoan. After earning a civil engineering degree at the Colo. School of Mines, Will promptly put his education to work by purchasing an old school bus at an auction, converting it to run on biofuel, and driving it around the western U.S. When he finished that adventure, he decided to do some good for the world and launched a solar energy company, Sunflower Solar, here in Boulder. He and his co-founders later sold it — it’s now known as Standard Renewable Energy — and he worked for the company through the transition to its new owners, then quit to travel the world with me. But shhh!, don’t tell my family we’re on this trip together. I come from a family of conservative Hindus who have arranged marriages; dating boys is a strict no-no, even at age 25.

My last day in the office was Friday, April 4, 2008 — more than 1 year ago. To keep true to the title of this blog — Around the World in 800 Days (ok, I estimate I’ll be globetrotting for 2 years, which is 730 days, but who’s counting?) — I’ll spend the next two or three weeks rapidly posting stories that tell the highlights, and lowlights, of the last year. After that, you and I will be “caught up” on stories … and then I’ll start posting current updates.

In case you’re wondering, I’m writing this from Thailand, but I plan on heading to Malaysia tomorrow. By the time I’ll filled in some backstory and you start reading my “current updates,” I’ll be in Indonesia.

Enjoy the first chapter!

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