My Life’s a Travel Movie – 3 Continents in 3 Weeks

by Alyssa Ramos

I am definitely one of those people. One of those people who are constantly bombarding your newsfeeds with photos by the pool or in random travels. One of those people who no one is really quite sure of how they manage to be all of those places because it seems like they never work, and would never have the money to do any of it, unless someone else was paying for it (which is what many ignoraties assume). Well, one thing’s for sure. I’m sure glad that I’m not one of THOSE people who has to question why or how someone else lives their dreams, and that I am one of those who just does it. And I’m really glad that there are an entire rare breed of those-es who are doing exactly what I’m doing right now. Working from a laptop so that I can be wherever the hell I want to be. Which is why I’m currently 30,000ft in the air, on my way to a 3 week trip around the world. That I paid for.

It all started with my genetic predisposition to travel and volunteer. My mother traveled the world as a flight attendant for ten years, then settled down and took a job working for the Foster Children Association where she ended up fostering and adopting two children; my older brother and sister. Although we didn’t always have the money to travel, she’d encourage any opportunity that came up. The travel bug hit me hard about five years ago after taking a college eurotrip to 16 plus countries in 36 days, and has ceased to stop ever since.

It was when I moved to LA three years ago that I discovered that I wasn’t meant to be confined to the four by four prison of an office, and that I could use my computer and writing skills to make money just by doing what I’m good at on the computer – SEO content writing and social media marketing. A lot, and by ‘a lot’, I mean the majority of people have 0% idea what I even do, because it’s not as simple as, “I work for blah blah blah”. Well, sucks for those people for being simple-minded. As I intended, and as a lot of other wanderlusters also do, I saved up for months for a trip I knew I could actually take because I could work from wherever I was.

I’ve been feeling a pull towards Africa since last September and have been researching volunteer programs there ever since. I even thought I was crazy at first, but with a little push from my mom (you can’t not go to Africa when your own mother tells you to just go), I applied for the Childcare and Teaching program in South Africa through International Volunteer HQ and booked a one way flight to Cape Town.

Cue my next crazy idea. To visit all 7 continents by the time I turn 27. Realizing it would be cheap to fly once I was already in Africa, I searched flights to my final continent destinations and before I knew it, I had one way tickets to Thailand and Australia too. I decided not to count Antarctica. Antarctica sucks because it’s impossible to get to without spending over $5k. Anyway, I booked a trip that would go one full revolution around the entire world, from LA to LA. (Tip: I also chose flights with long layovers in places I wanted to see as well, so it was like a free min-trip – I just went to Dubai for six hours!)

Although I’m well aware that my one week of physical volunteer work won’t make a massive impact on the kids in Africa, what I do know is that I have the resources to spread the word to people who can help more than I can. I’m thankful that just by blabbing non-stop about it, I was able to recruit two friends to join my volunteer journey as well, and hope to encourage many more to do the same.

So now I had some friends for the first part of the trip, but I really wanted to make some connections, and find out what the best things to do in each place I visited were. Of course I scoured the internet like the Google and plan-making addict I am, but then my ever glowing little lightbulb in my head shined so bright that it almost exploded! I thought, why not reach out to bloggers in each country, who write about it for a living and feature them on my blog? Geniussss.

After a little stalking, and reaching out on some long limbs through Twitter, I gathered about ten bloggers across the globe who were interested in my project that I’m calling, “Blogger Guides”. I sent them interview questions via email asking things like what the best touristy and non-touristy spots were, fashion and safety tips, etc, and one question that will be part of another project, “If You Could Tell The World One Thing, What Would It Be?”.

I am so beyond grateful on so many levels for the opportunity to travel, learn, and share, and for the incredible people who have supported me and helped make this trip happen. My mom for sharing the gift of wanderlust and giving, and for supporting all of my crazy ass ideas, and being the only one who reassured me that I’m not going to die on Malaysia Airlines. My boss and my clients for not having a problem with me working in a timezone 8 hours ahead…but thinking I’m crazy for taking the Malaysia flight. My amazing friends who are both excited for me and also worried about my safety (mostly ebola and Malaysia Airlines), and especially the awesome friends who not only are babysitting my Cat and Oscar, but volunteered to do so (Lisle, Alicia, and Stacey). I am also very grateful for Jonathan and Daniel, who listened to my crazy idea and signed up for it, and for my amazing bloggers who not only helped give me insight about their hometowns, but a deeper insight about how interconnected we all really are as well. Oh, and let’s not forget all of my awesome readers who have inspired me to keep up with my passion for writing (and the haters who show me that I must be doing something awesome!).

So without further ado, I present to you, the onset of my trip around the world – 3 continents in less than 3 weeks, my Blogger Guides, and my attempt to make cool YouTube videos using a GoPro. Bon Voyage!