About

I’m a college dropout with dreadlocks and no foreseeable future.  I live in my parents’ attic. I suppose this gives me the official title of hobo, which I’m really not that devastated about.  You know when you’re a senior in high school and they ask you what you want to be when you grow up so they can put your snarky quote in the yearbook you’ll pay fifty dollars for and never look at?  I told them I wanted to be a hobo. The principal responded by telling me that was not a legitimate profession and I had to pick something else.

I’m now in the process of proving my high school wrong and making hobo-ism into a viable profession. So far I’m doing pretty well, except for the “viable” part. But shh, don’t tell them that.

Hmmm, what else about me? I like to travel…duh…and after two months with no traveling I start to get the shakes.  I haven’t been in Michigan for New Year’s for the past three years, and habitually miss Christmas, Thanksgiving, and my birthday because I’m off on some last-minute roadtrip or in a different country altogether.  It happens.  I’ve spent Christmas for two out of the last three years in Spanish-speaking countries, oddly enough.  Feliz Navidad.

I created this blog originally to detail my first backpacking trip through Europe, (which are at best mildly interesting details, but ones you should read anyways) which took place from October 6, 2009-January 13, 2010.  It was the best three months of my life, and I cannot wait to get back out on the road.  While I was traveling and everyone back at home was warning me I would have to return to the “real world” someday, I came to the realization that there is more than one “real world” and the one my family and friends had in mind was not the one that I was satisfied with living.  Hence the spiel about hobo-ism and one woman’s personal quest to turn it into a profession.

Now that I’m back in the States for a few months, replenishing my funds, this blog is here to track my progress as I work towards my goal of moving to Budapest to obtain my CELTA and teach English for a year or two before setting off on further world-wide adventures.  In addition to traveling and working in Australia for a year, I’m planning on taking a year-long RTW trip – that stands for Round The World for those of you who don’t have BootsnAll set as your homepage.

It’s hard to keep a travel blog going when you’re not traveling, but far be it for me to let this one die.  I’ll always mostly be writing about the things that I learned on the road–travel advice and tips that I wish I’d known before I left.  Also as I learn more about what it takes to move to a new country and teach English, what it takes to do a RTW, and what you need to do a working-holiday visa in Australia for a year, I’ll be writing about that.  And then there are Fabulous Friday Photos and random crap that I just feel like talking about and so am going to subject you to.  Subscribe to my blog. You know you want to. You know you want to see how this whole hobo thing works out and where I’ll be in a year and exactly where I’m going and how I’m getting there and, since I’m such a fascinating person, you’ll probably want to tell your friends about me so that they, too, can share in the delights of my adventures.

Or, you know, you could go out and do it yourself but WHERE IS THE FUN IN THAT?  I mean, seriously. Who wouldn’t rather live vicariously through a snarky, unknown internet denizen who does not deny her hobo status? Tch.

Despite my entreaties to get you to read my blog, I’m not here just for traffic or money. It’d be nice if I made money off this thing, with how much time I put into it.  But that’s not likely. I haven’t even invested in my own domain name or server (yet.  Though I’m tempted and probably will sometime in the future.)  I am really here only because I like writing about traveling almost as much as I like actually traveling.  I like to feel like I’m bringing the world a little closer to the people who read this and if I can inspire even one person to take a trip, my work here is accomplished.  I believe that travel is the absolute best thing anyone can ever do to improve themselves and broaden their minds.  I’m sure you know the Mark Twain quote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”

It’s true, true, true. I promise.  Try it and see. You’ll be shocked at how awesome traveling is. The great affair is to put yourself in the way of adventure and open yourself to it rather than shut yourself away in a box where nothing can touch you.