To read part one of this post, click here!
Megan Smith of Meganotravels
Often times, life’s obstacles can ignite a passion inside of us and inspire us to live life on our own terms. For Megan Smith, this was absolutely the case. After spending years working in an unfulfilling industry, Megan reached her breaking point after going through a breakup and decided to embark on a plan that would change her life.
She spent the next year saving up money and preparing herself to take off on the exotic journey she’d so desperately been yearning for. In the late summer of 2013, she embarked on a trip across the United States before heading up north to Canada and jumping across the pond to Europe. Africa, the Middle East, Central America, and India are now under her belt, and she shows no sign of slowing down.
Megan told Buzzfeed,”it’s been an incredible experience so far–teaching me so much about myself, other cultures, the world, and how I fit into it.”
Jodi Ettenberg of Legal Nomads
Working as a corporate lawyer, and being able to get joy out of it, is no easy feat, and this is something Jodi Ettenberg knows all too well. After spending over five years within the world of corporate law, the Montreal-native decided to leave her New York City digs and eat her way around the world for a year.
Starting her blog, Legal Nomads, as a way to keep her mom updated on her whereabouts, it’s turned into a popular food-travel blog, ripe with photos of exotic, delicious, and colorful meals from all over. Jodi prefers to take things “one day at a time” and is able to fund her excursions through freelance writing and social media consulting, as Legal Nomads is unmonetized, meaning she has turned down sponsored links and/or ads.
Jodie told Buzzfeed, “I am thankful for the ability to have built a business around the foods and places I love, and never quit my job to ‘be’ a travel writer. If this doesn’t work out, going back to being a lawyer isn’t the worst thing I can think of. But it’s far less fun than what I am doing now!”
Some had a savings account to help get things started and others couldn’t afford to eat dinner the night they decided to pack up their things and live the life they had been dreaming of. But they had a two things in common: the vision to see themselves in foreign places, the drive to turn their dreams into reality.
Katharine Diane McCallum 