About Me

Hi! I’m Tania, a 20something-year-old with a degree in Professional Writing and a desire to be a novelist, so naturally I work (worked) in retail. I want to make clear that I am definitely not a seasoned traveller. I spent over 5 years of my life with a fantastic luxury retailer, where I was allowed the opportunity to grow and expand my skill set, and for this I will be forever grateful. But I never allowed myself to think about what I really wanted to achieve in life and instead continued blindly through the motions, convincing myself I was happy and fulfilled.

My husband was wrapping up a four-year post-graduate program, and we knew there would be a limbo period between his graduation and the day he could start practicing, because he had to wait for his licence. We toyed with the idea of travel, but never settled on a concrete plan. As the time of our potential trip loomed closer, I had to ask for time off and approached it with great trepidation, knowing I likely wouldn’t be allowed to be absent from the business for the four weeks I was requesting. The request was unsurprisingly denied and I was forced to make a decision – keep working for a company that greatly valued my contributions but forego my tentative travel plans, or leave behind everything I had accomplished thus far to explore parts of the world that terrified yet excited me. I chose the latter.

Travel has not always been a passion. When I was in high school, I remember feeling a strong connection to my home city to which I had only just returned. Though I was born in Toronto, I grew up in Trinidad with my paternal grandparents, and only visited my parents back home during the summers or at Christmastime. My favourite phrase as a child was “I’m moving back to Canada soon.” And once I was back – 9 years later – I vowed never to leave again. I used to proclaim that my nightmare job would be a travel writer for Lonely Planet. Now it would be pretty close to my dream job.

I’m not sure when things changed for me, but I remember jealously poring over travel pictures online while daydreaming about visiting exotic locations. This transitioned to researching round-the-world tickets on airline sites, and actually plotting routes and itineraries and charting costs. I was never really serious about it, never really thought I could actualize these dream trips, treating the planning process as I would if I were building my souped-up fantasy BMW online.

My husband and I would occasionally take small trips (of the all-inclusive variety) and more frequently began to wander off the resorts and plan our own spontaneous outings. I was intrigued by the idea of solo exploration without the constraints of a pre-arranged tour, but I always harboured a nagging sense of anxiety and fear -fear of getting lost, fear of being mugged, fear of getting ripped off, fear of dying in a freak accident, fear of getting mauled by a wild animal, fear of contracting a fatal disease, fear of anything one could possibly be afraid of. This fear was mostly irrational, so I swallowed it all and forced myself to plunge (sometimes quite literally) into these new experiences.

I gained some confidence along the way, enough to start thinking about a bigger, multi-country trip, but I am still an inconsolable anxious mess when faced with the prospect of travelling somewhere new. My first big trip is to South East Asia. This is where the journey begins, along with this chronicle of my experiences.

About This Blog

Whenever I read travel blogs or browse travel accounts on Instagram, I get jealous and am filled with a great sense of longing. I quite simply want to be those people, live their experiences, but feel it is as unattainable as becoming an A-list actress. They seem so enigmatic to me, and I’m left wondering whether they have jobs, how they can possibly afford it, if they’re truly having a good time, and how on Earth they have the balls to pack up and travel the world.

It was important to me to start blogging and flexing my writing chops (pardon the cliché) once my husband and I started travelling, but it was also important to me to be entirely candid in my accounts. So that’s what I’m doing. Think of this blog as a public diary. This is partially for me, partially to let our families know we’re not dead, and partially to expose my readers to my experiences, which are those of a true novice.

Learn from our mistakes (there are inevitably going to be plenty), laugh while I freak out over non-issues, and see the world through my filter. I really hope you enjoy reading, and don’t forget to follow me on Instagram!

Maybe I’ll make you a little jealous too :p