In 2010 I made a thirty day trip to Europe. My first stop on the trip was Barcelona, Spain. I stayed in a cozy hostel named “Itaca” in the heart of the city, a minute walk from one of the city’s most famous cathedrals, Main Façade. One morning in the hostel I was looking for table to eat breakfast at, I asked a fellow traveler if she minded if I joined her. Little did I know how much that one breakfast would have an effect on the rest of my life. She politely accepted my request to sit down and join her. We began comparing trips and I told her how I was going to take a cruise along the Mediterranean coast and then backpack some of Eastern Europe. She then told me how she had saved up $25,000 and was taking a trip around the world hitting every continent over the course of a year. I couldn’t believe my ears. How could she save up that much money, leave her life back home, and leave her family and loved ones? It sounded like the ultimate adventure of a lifetime, a dream, and nearly impossible.

Fast forward a few years. I was about to graduated college and was at an all-time low. I had just come out of the closet to my family and slowly coming to terms with my sexuality. It was a very difficult time for me and needed something big to look forward to. I remembered that breakfast in Spain with the solo female traveler at Hostel Itaca and I thought to myself, why not? Why couldn’t I plan an adventure like that? I brought the idea up to my best friend Maggie and of course she was on board. We had always discussed making a big trip together since middle school. So, we started out thinking we would make a three month trip, then it got extended to six months. Eventually, we decided if we were going to quite our jobs for a six month trip, we may as well do nine months. But really, who does a nine month trip? So we rounded it up to a full year. A year around the world hitting every continent (except Antarctica, not a big fan of the cold).

We began planning and budgeting for almost two full years. We shared a basement apartment that had un-painted wainscoting on every wall and ceilings made of aluminum siding. It was basically a wooden box, but we had a blast living there while saving a ton of money and it only flooded three times. Our friends named it “Wains World”, after the wood paneling on the walls. It was my home for a year and a half and Maggie’s for a year.

After all our saving, planning, quitting our jobs, selling our cars, and moving out of our apartment, the day to leave finally arrived. After a very teary eyed goodbye to the love of my life, Garrett, and my immediate family at the airport, I hoped on my first flight to Barcelona, Spain. It was a strange day of all emotions. My first stop was that exact table in Hostel Itaca where I ate with the woman that helped inspire this trip. I couldn’t tell you her name and I might not even recognize her, but I thank her from the bottom of my heart for inspiring me to go on a trip that most people only dream about, a yearlong trip around the world.