Hi everybody, my name is poppy, and this is my story. My third begins one year ago and the good old US of A in the beautiful state of Colorado, where I just graduated from University with a degree in journalism and French.
I don’t, know what I want to do in life. But I knew I didn’t want to head down the usual path of settling down starting a career, and essentially everything that goes along with it. It just didn’t feel right to me.
I felt rough and honestly don’t share of what I actually wanted to do in life. So I may have promised myself to travel to keep that promise. I bought a one-way ticket on August 11th. 2016. I was excited overjoyed actually, but I’m.
Not this scared, as hell and sad to leave my friends, family and, most importantly, my boyfriend. How could I not be I had lived abroad, so I didn ‘ T know that I could do this, but I also knew how challenging lonely and exhausting it with me.
My first stop was Costa Rica. I have a few small connections there in my very first work white position at an organic farm in the jungle. It was certainly an eye-opening experience. I was definitely out of my element.
I learned a lot make some friends and start to feel more comfortable traveling on my own after a series of run-ins with scorpion ants infestations and the forced vegetarian diet I have to endure. I was ready to move on.
I applied for my next work away, job at a hostel in the beach overall. It was a positive experience, but I never really felt like I belong there. So when a fellow traveler recommended I go to Guatemala, I quickly bought a ticket and said adios Costa Rica.
Voila was amazing. I had it straight to a language school to improve my Spanish stay with a host family and that many beautiful people after I felt like I had a good grasp on my Spanish. I braved the infamous chicken bus and headed to like a salon for another work.
White position, this time making videos for an advert tourism company, the surroundings were breathtaking, but, most importantly, it’s the place. I would meet two of the most influential friends in my life hi guys today.
I am here with my friend poppy again, Jordan or as some as you know, her travel life yeah, namely trouble. I actually. My name is Jordan and her boyfriend video. We’re, also working for the tourism company and we work long hours together, making videos and exploring Guatemala buy powder board bike and even rock climbing.
Before we parted ways, Jordan actually influenced me to start blogging. My travels, I decided, try video blogging. I know that my first time – and this is honestly probably really awkward and things really weird.
She is actually just starting a new series without travel on her channel and it seems in the videos – and they are really awesome. If it turns out pretty bad, then you should probably blame them from Guatemala.
I salute a Playa del Carmen where my boyfriend, who I hadn’t seen in three months, was meeting me. We had an amazing time, so he had no say standing on the beach and exploring southern Mexico was just paradise until our backpack was stolen per month.
The thieves took my friend new camera, our wallet cell phone and even my clothes leaving us stranded on an island dripping wet and her swimsuit. I was devastated and honestly I felt like I failed in the traveller.
My original plan was supplied from Mexico to Brazil, but I didn’t have a camera, I didn’t have money and to top it all off my laptop decided to finally take the bucket. Essentially, I would have been alone in the middle of Brazilian Amazon, with no computer, no camera and no access to money.
Instead of getting on my flight to Brazil, I went back to the state. I knew I needed money near a plane, home, electronics and ultimately, my travel spirit was just crushed. I moved in with my boyfriend in Denver, got two jobs a cafe in the morning and a restaurant at night and works 70 hours a week for two months.
I was, but I was making the money in unis to replace my things and hopefully you know spirits continue my travels, but it wasn’t easy, even though I had a few friends and loved ones around. I just got really depressed because I felt like I have failed.
All I wanted to do was get back on the road. I talked out the long work hours and sleepless nights, so I could continue traveling, but not without saying goodbye. First, I went on to San Diego for weekend to see my friends and family.
They means the world to me and I don’t, get to see them often cause my parents in the middle of moving out of my childhood home. So it was an opportunity to say goodbye to San Diego one. Last time from there I put a box in to visit my brother Roy Roberts.
Oh Scott, you go to school there, okay and I had never been born. We spent a few days explore the city and catching up the reinvigorated spirit thing, my encouragement from family and friends, a new camera and laptop and a decent life savings from two months hard work.
I was ready to travel again this time instead of heading south. I went my first offered one one of my best friends. Alejandra was living there at the time and had been too long since I had last seen her.
It would be the last trip hanging out with people. I know in a country where I actually speak the language, so I made the most of the comfort in the good time, knowing the difficulties ahead. Romania was my next destination and honestly I had a plan for any travels after it.
Far as I was concerned, I was moving there and I didn’t know when I would leave my dad’s Romanian, and I wanted to go there to learn more about my family’s, culture and also to learn The language I knew it was a Romanian couple in Bucharest, enroll in language school, as well as private tutoring sessions and tried my best at assimilating to the culture you eat that sauce, okay, [, Music ].
It was perhaps the most difficult time of my life. I didn’t, take the language at least not very well, I don’t want the home, speak Romanian, stop being it, and I’m still traveling alone, so making friends and keeping busy was difficult.
Sure I had some memorable moments: attending government protests and book read and going on a ski trip and eastern Romania, but I still felt so long and kept feeling lonely and depressed. Thankfully I vented made a few friends who owned a hospital in a tea house in central Bucharest and actually offered me room and board in exchange for video production for promotional videos for the business.
Just like that, I felt at home in Romania. I had a purpose now and a small community of people to talk with and learn from. It truly changed the way that I thought about traveling. I came to this conclusion that you know maybe the bike ride in life, though wasn’t for me.
I need a stability I needed a purpose. I needed a community and a place to essentially call home and my life shelf simply wasn’t provide me with any of them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t, say as a hostel forever and I was getting really tired, the Romanian winter, with a new mindset and a bright outlook on the future.
I had a difference for a couple short weeks before heading somewhere. That would change my life forever. My boyfriend, let me impaired, but this time would be different. He wasn’t just visiting me like he did last time in Mexico.
Instead, he was actually joining me on my travels. Suddenly I wasn’t alone and all the members of the moments I had while traveling could now be shared with someone I care about. I love friends. I lived there for your own younger, so I always felt at home, and a to trip spent between Paris and Aries was exactly what he and I needed in order to reconnect and prepare for our next journey.
We flew from Paris to Hong Kong, a place where we were sure to feel completely out of our element, but a place that would at least be somewhat of an easier transition from our old life into our new one.
We’re in Hong Kong. Together Chinese visas process and getting ready for our move to Shenzhen and mainland China, just across the border from Hong Kong, one of my friends in Bucharest, they told me that he had lived in Shenzhen for a short time and how much he loved it.
From his description, it sounded like another great adventure, but also place where I could find a little stability, build the community find a purpose and still have an opportunity to travel. When I wanted to do so, we took a leap of faith there’s.
How much I can say about my experiences in China, except that in no way shape or form is China at all what I was expecting as a foreigner. I learned very quickly that the medium which had built the foundation in my opinions of China failed to display or highlight many of the things that make it such a beautiful and interesting land.
I’ve, fallen in love with shy, Shen and his people. Sure, like every other place in this world, China has problems and things that I do not like. But process outweigh the negative to me and I honestly couldn’t, be happier to call this place.
My home, one of the biggest positives about living in Shenzhen, for me in this location here, is Hong Kong. So there’s, the ferries that are just right this way all the boats are here and you can just hop on it and go to Hong Kong and therefore its accessibility to travel.
Unlike the kind of traveling I was doing before, where one destination led to another, I’ve, now traveled and returned home to Shenzhen it ‘ S allowed me to start exploring Asia without going too far from home or spending much money to get there.
Just recently, I was able to travel to Malaysia for a volunteer gym. I made a lot of friends and amazing cultural experiences and felt like I actually made a difference before heading home to China. I was able to explore southern Thailand for a week, so, yes, the Sun, exploring the beautiful island of Koh Lanta.
Now that I’m back in Shenzhen, I couldn’t, be happier a war site about what’s to come. I also can ‘ T believe that I’m travelling for a year now. I’m very honest with you. This year has been difficult the hardest year of my life.
Actually, with every up comes it down. I’m, constantly missing my friends and family and often questions what life would be like. Had I not embarked on this adventure at all, you might be wondering why keep traveling well that’s, an easy answer, because I can I found that it’s, easy to focus on the negatives of and experience a person of place, But if you’re willing to put in the effort to see the positive and see the light in dark situations, you will be rewarded to seeing the beauty and things that’s.
What travelling is all about. I don’t know how long I’m, going to travel for or where I’m going to go next. I guess it just means you’re, going to have to keep checking in to find out where’s poppy.