I may not have ventured far this past weekend, but anyone who says that Coney Island, NY isn’t an adventure is ill informed.  The beach was a jungle on its own accord, but I had a great time on my first trip to the NY Aquarium :)

I came across a great article on huffingtonpost.com from Lee Abbamonte, the self proclaimed “youngest American to travel to every country”.  Since the moment I started talking to family and friends about my upcoming trip the #1 reaction is concern that I will be traveling alone.  As a single, young woman no less!  While I appreciate the trepidation, I see it more as a challenge than a concern.  I’ll share my favorite excerpt from Lee’s article…

“Solo travel almost forces you to talk to people, whether it’s locals or other travelers. It forces you to come out of your shell. It forces you to take charge and learn about where you are, where you’re going and where you’ve been. It forces you to be uncomfortable with your surroundings, which is a great thing. Being uncomfortable means you will go out of your way to feel comfortable by meeting people and getting to know the city you’re in. That feeling of being uncomfortable and thriving at overcoming it is what separates travelers from tourists.”


One of the main reasons for this trip is to take me out of my comfort zone and see what I am really made of. Of course, a certain amount of common sense and caution is needed, but that is true for any traveler, not just women.  Another point that Lee makes is that he has met plenty of solo women travelers all around the world, but most of them are not Americans.  While we have obviously come very far in this country, as far as women equality, we still tend to coddle our women to a point.  Traveling alone is discouraged more for women than men.  Men can take care of themselves while women are susceptible to panic, deception, and  god forbid, rape.  The truth of the matter is that traveling in unfamiliar places can be dangerous for anyone.  But it can also be enlightening and empowering if you go into your trip with a positive attitude and confidence.

Thanks Lee for a wonderful article :)

A few pictures from my hike this past weekend.  Went with Wilderness Rocks again as our guide, this time along the Appalachian Trail we hiked past Fitzgerald Falls and Mombasha High Point

Yesterday I mentioned that I was making my twitter account more travel focused, and it got me thinking…why don’t I rebrand my Twitter and Tumblr account and try to turn this endeavor into something more than an online journal.  So, here it goes! 

My new travel deals/tips/advice brand ‘IMA Wanderer’ is born! My mission is “Live. Laugh. Love. Travel. Experience everything the world has to offer and bring others along for the ride.”

So take note of my new Logo, Tumblr URL https://ima-wanderer.tumblr.com and my new twitter handle @IM_A_Wanderer

I’m really excited!  Next Step may be to push this to an real domain.  Stay tuned :)

I have decided to convert my personal Twitter account (which I hardly ever use) into an outlet to share the travel deals and tips I come across on a day-to-day basis.  Come follow me @K_Fav. I may end up changing my handle eventually, but if I do I repost.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately…well, let’s be honest….I’ve been worrying a lot lately about my travel budget and whether or not it will be enough to get me where I need to go next year.  It’s looking like I will have around $8k in savings by the time I am ready to go, and I’ve already resigned myself to taking out a loan to cover the remainder.  But how much will that remainder be? 

I’ve been lucky enough in my life not to accrue much debt.  My mortgage and a small credit card balance (on a 0% APR) about sums it up, and I am hoping to rid myself of both before I leave.  So, it goes without saying that I am not psyched about taking out a loan and owing interest on that loan. It’s going to happen, but I’d like to do my best to limit it. This brings me to the the main topic of this post, and my biggest travel expense by far…flights.

I may not have my whole trip planned quite yet, and am really not looking to have a fully baked itinerary every step of the way, (A little spontaneity will make it all the more exciting!)  but what I have been trying to do is plan a basic course and see where I will have to fly and about when….see my fun little illustration below

NYC > Nepal > Thailand (travel by land to) Singapore > Bali > Australia > India > Italy > Morocco > Back to NYC

I checked out a few different sites starting with the Bing Flight Tool, using the multi-city search option and then AirTreks, which is another great multi-city search engine, which unlike Bing has personalized service agents which allows you to customize your trip a little easier.  I would also like to get a rate from Orbitz.com because they are my favorite travel site - due mainly to their price insurance checks (I got $109 back on a trip to Vegas last year), but they will not predict prices more than a year out, so I’ll have to wait for them.  Basically I found that the total flight cost will be somewhere between $2600-$4000.  So at worse case scenario, that 1/2 of my budget already gone.  Now on to all of my other expenses…shelter (hostels mainly), and there’s travel insurance, land travel, food….lots to think about! 

To be continued…