You Only Live One Life

To me travel is the best education one can receive. I pride myself on living my life without regrets. This is why in 2012 I quite my job in San Diego, sold my car, moved out of my apartment and bought a one way plane ticket to Taiwan. I needed a drastic change in my life and I knew this could possibly be it.

After six weeks of winding through narrow streets, trying to find my way to one teaching interview after another I landed a job as a preschool teacher. Keep in mind that at this point in my life I had only taught at the college level. Now I was teaching three year olds who up until coming into my class only spoke Chinese. Talk about "culture shock" for myself as well as the little children I was teaching. For the first six months I wanted to quit every day. Everything was so different than what I was used to. I held on in hopes that it would get better.

Outside of teaching I was having a fantastic time, meeting new friends, exploring the Island and living the Expat life. I knew that if I could just become comfortable with my job that I would be accomplishing something huge.

Just like anything in life if you stick with it, teaching these young children became easier. Going to work every day was more enjoyable and I actually felt good about the impact I was making on their lives.

I ended up living in Taiwan for 18 months, it absolutely changed my life forever. I was able to travel al over Asia taking trips to Vietnam, Philippines, Bali and Thailand. My passion for travel
grew exponentially during this time.

After my teaching contract was over I moved back home, not knowing what the next step would be. I was just as scared to go home as I was to leave, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I moved back in with my dad at the age of 35. The one thing that I was for sure of was that I did not want to work for corporate America anymore and that traveling had to be a part of my life. During those first six moths of being home I almost moved back to Taiwan on several occasion. You see I had something they call "reverse cultural shock". I was lost and not sure of anything. Slowly I started doing admin for my dads company "Sprit Tours". Eventually I was able to try my talents out leading tours. After two tours in Bali and one in Costa Rica my Dad and Brother said that I was "indispensable". The rest is history.

I know that if I hadn't taken the leap to move to Taiwan, I would never have had the chance to work for the family business. I absolutely love what I do and I am so grateful for all of my experiences. You only live one life, take chances, be happy and have a positive outlook. All of these things will lead you to your destiny.