MY BACKGROUND
Travel has always seemed to be intertwined as part of my life.
It's a good idea to know a little about me so that you understand the angle with which I travel. I am a 40 year old male, originally from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania suburbs, who has been traveling since a relatively young age. My mom was a teacher so during the summer she, my brother, and I would take day trips around the region. My parents put an emphasis on annual vacations and for one week each summer my dad also enjoyed time off. Vacations started basic at first - trips down to the South Jersey shore - but gradually expanded to farther destinations reaching a zenith with a San Francisco to San Diego vacation the summer before my Senior Year of Highschool.
I attended university in the South and my travels came to a bit of a halt during my college years. Regrettable I did not study abroad - I majored in Accountancy which had a fairly rigid prerequisite course load and my international experience in college was limited to a three week "Accounting Tour" of Western Europe. Since college, I feel like I've been making up for lost time with my travels and in a certain sense, I think not studying abroad has made me more appreciative of travel. I also never did the standard post college European Backpacking trip. Alternatively I spent six weeks driving my Ford Ranger cross country - starting in St. Louis, heading north to the Badlands, south through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, all the way over to Yosemite, then started back to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, a loop through Texas (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston), then back home to Philadelphia.
During my brother's senior year in college he studied abroad in Australia. After accounting busy season I had accumulated about four weeks in vacation time. We were entering a slow season at work and I was allowed to use all my vacation time for a one month trip through Australia. Shortly after my return a recruitment agency called me, and in an attempt to blow them off, I replied I'd only be interested in a position that would allow me to travel around the world...completely unaware at the time...that is the role of an internal auditor - to travel around the world and perform financial reviews of operating companies. Within a month I was on my way to Ireland for the start of an audit engagement. It's odd how things work out...I majored in Accountancy because I was good with numbers and thought the degree would allow for career flexibility across multiple industries - I didn't fully grasp that it would also allow for career flexibility across multiple countries.
Between work assignments I managed to take vacation to the few remaining U.S. locations I did not cover in my college cross country trip. I began to run out of U.S. destinations and started to look into taking an extended leave from work and travel around the world. Instead I decided to take a job with the local cable company, even though that meant there would be no more international assignments. Shortly after joining, the cable company acquired a major entertainment company. My department opened a satellite office in Los Angeles where the bulk of the entertainment company's operations were performed - I relocated to Los Angeles to help establish the new office.
For three years I was living the dream in Los Angeles - I had an apartment on the beach and worked at a movie studio and visited three to five new countries a year. The toughest decision I faced was whether to bike up the beach to Santa Monica or down to Redondo Beach. Then one morning at work I learned the division I worked in would be rebranded - I'd need to take another position elsewhere in the company or move on. I selected the move on option which turned into an around the world trip. I spent November / December 2013 in Patagonia then started 2014 in India. For the next nine months I traveled through Southeast Asia, Nepal, China, and Japan before settling in Hong Kong. The plan now is to fulfill a career goal and work internationally from Hong Kong. While the traveling has come to a temporary halt as I search for a job, the free time allows me the opportunity to intimately explore Hong Kong and build out this website documenting my travels.
I've documented my experiences in detail but for a summary point I'll say that I've never felt more confident with my life direction and the role that travel plays within that decision making process.
It's a good idea to know a little about me so that you understand the angle with which I travel. I am a 40 year old male, originally from the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania suburbs, who has been traveling since a relatively young age. My mom was a teacher so during the summer she, my brother, and I would take day trips around the region. My parents put an emphasis on annual vacations and for one week each summer my dad also enjoyed time off. Vacations started basic at first - trips down to the South Jersey shore - but gradually expanded to farther destinations reaching a zenith with a San Francisco to San Diego vacation the summer before my Senior Year of Highschool.
I attended university in the South and my travels came to a bit of a halt during my college years. Regrettable I did not study abroad - I majored in Accountancy which had a fairly rigid prerequisite course load and my international experience in college was limited to a three week "Accounting Tour" of Western Europe. Since college, I feel like I've been making up for lost time with my travels and in a certain sense, I think not studying abroad has made me more appreciative of travel. I also never did the standard post college European Backpacking trip. Alternatively I spent six weeks driving my Ford Ranger cross country - starting in St. Louis, heading north to the Badlands, south through Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, all the way over to Yosemite, then started back to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, a loop through Texas (Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston), then back home to Philadelphia.
During my brother's senior year in college he studied abroad in Australia. After accounting busy season I had accumulated about four weeks in vacation time. We were entering a slow season at work and I was allowed to use all my vacation time for a one month trip through Australia. Shortly after my return a recruitment agency called me, and in an attempt to blow them off, I replied I'd only be interested in a position that would allow me to travel around the world...completely unaware at the time...that is the role of an internal auditor - to travel around the world and perform financial reviews of operating companies. Within a month I was on my way to Ireland for the start of an audit engagement. It's odd how things work out...I majored in Accountancy because I was good with numbers and thought the degree would allow for career flexibility across multiple industries - I didn't fully grasp that it would also allow for career flexibility across multiple countries.
Between work assignments I managed to take vacation to the few remaining U.S. locations I did not cover in my college cross country trip. I began to run out of U.S. destinations and started to look into taking an extended leave from work and travel around the world. Instead I decided to take a job with the local cable company, even though that meant there would be no more international assignments. Shortly after joining, the cable company acquired a major entertainment company. My department opened a satellite office in Los Angeles where the bulk of the entertainment company's operations were performed - I relocated to Los Angeles to help establish the new office.
For three years I was living the dream in Los Angeles - I had an apartment on the beach and worked at a movie studio and visited three to five new countries a year. The toughest decision I faced was whether to bike up the beach to Santa Monica or down to Redondo Beach. Then one morning at work I learned the division I worked in would be rebranded - I'd need to take another position elsewhere in the company or move on. I selected the move on option which turned into an around the world trip. I spent November / December 2013 in Patagonia then started 2014 in India. For the next nine months I traveled through Southeast Asia, Nepal, China, and Japan before settling in Hong Kong. The plan now is to fulfill a career goal and work internationally from Hong Kong. While the traveling has come to a temporary halt as I search for a job, the free time allows me the opportunity to intimately explore Hong Kong and build out this website documenting my travels.
I've documented my experiences in detail but for a summary point I'll say that I've never felt more confident with my life direction and the role that travel plays within that decision making process.