MY STORY
Once upon a time (about 15yrs ago), a page in a travel brochure on Asia captivated me on a life-changing level. The stunning images, the exotic names, the promise of something and somewhere different, they completely captured my imagination.
Then I turned the page and turned it again, revealing more and more extraordinary parts of the world I’d never seen or heard of.
I was hooked from that moment. I wanted my life to have pages filled with new destinations, adventures, experiences, places and people.
My dreams were filled with striking colours, mysterious languages and tempting cuisines. I swooped over dusty rooftops, waterfalls, lakes and mountains. I travelled on trams, drank rough country wine and heard the call to prayer under a humid sunrise…
And then I woke up (literally and figuratively).
Seeing new parts of the world on annual holidays was OK, but I was toiling away in a day job that didn’t match my first love. I felt as though I was cheating and while paragraphs may have been written, there were no completed pages of memories to keep, share and inspire others.
LIVING THE DREAM
I wondered if there was a way to combine the need to earn a living with my dream to experience more of the World. Eventually, with a sense of liberation, I turned my back on a 12-year career in marketing to throw myself heart and soul into travel, by starting my own travel agency franchise business.
I can’t think of a better job that allows me to control my income, have the flexibility to work around my travels and blogging and provide constant education on the topic I love most at the same time. It also means I have a clean blog site that isn’t riddled with distracting banners advertising brands I don’t actually advocate.
Not only do I have the joy of travelling regularly myself but through my work, I derive enormous pleasure from helping other people fulfil their travel dreams too. Along the way, I receive fantastic feedback that helps me fine-tune the places I want to discover and help inspire others through my blog.
Thanks to my business I’ve been able to create new pages of travel tales for myself and for clients, but there are still many unwritten stories. If you go to my Travel Goals page you’ll see I have the chapter headings, my bucket list of the places I want to visit and my plans for when I get around to fulfilling them.
Reading my travel goals you’ll discover that I love road trips and cities, great food finds and any excuse to capture awe-inspiring views with my drone. Then every time I fulfil a goal I blog about it, giving an honest account of the places, people and cultures that inspire my continuing love of travel – and a few that don’t!
For this blog, and myself there are so many journeys still to take, destinations to be reached and places to discover. I still have many more pages of my book to write, and I hope reading the stories as they unfold inspires your passion to write the travel pages in your own book too.
READ MORE ABOUT ME
Marie Rowe . Travel Blog 