You would think it’s la vie en rose by the way these travel blogs flippantly speak to saving money for their adventures. The retrospective blog posts about squirreling away cash hardly attest to the emotional hardships of hustling for a dream that alternates between feeling at once attainable and impossible.
When I started this blog it was with the sole promise to address the hard-hitting issues that other blogs skim over and, as is the case with most things, money is one of them. For readers out there that are inundated with idyllic Instagram photos, wanderlust-inspiring articles and how-to guides to traveling, it must feel as though you’re missing something that seemingly makes it so easy to break routine and globe trot. You’re not.
Underneath the 400 word blog posts of idealistic imagery and description there is a real drive and hustle unfolding—especially for budding travel writers (like yours truly) that are caught somewhere between the constraints of routine and the freedom of travel writing. While most of my posts will regale my readers with details of freshly baked empanadas in Buenos Aires or visiting native tribes in Panama, that really is showing only one fraction of the larger picture.
To save money, to break routine and to boldly go against convention in pursuit of a dream is something that both tests and inspires. In a city like New York where dollars slip through my fingers like water, saving money is the ultimate balancing act that is paved by way of odd jobs, missed social outings and cutting expenses. Even with all these measures taken (and a full-time job), there are days where I hit the pavement and hustle to not only make ends meet but to fund my passion behind The Pin the Map Project.
Often in life we are brought to that most cliche of sayings-the fork in the road, where we have the option to continue forward or to veer off course into the unknown. It seems I have found myself at such a crossroads where I am met with the decision to stay in New York and stick to a career in media planning or to accept a graduate school opportunity in London, dedicate myself to pursuing a master’s in journalism and focus entirely on my passion of travel writing while abroad. When laid out like that, even I think it’s a no-brainer! Yet, the decision is met with opposition at every turn, friction from family and friends and the overarching question of what if it all goes wrong?
Ironically, four years ago I was at a similar crossroads post-college where I had the opportunity to either jump into the job market or take a risk and move to France for a couple months. At that time, my choice to head across the pond was met with anger and doubt but in time everything panned out for the best. While it wasn’t exactly easy to move from France to New York, to be penniless in Manhattan and elbow my way up the ladder, it did all eventually work out. But now? Perhaps the main difference between this crossroads at 26 vs. 22 is that I have no boyfriend in tow, no friends waiting for me across the pond and no family to offer safe haven while abroad-I have only myself, my wits and my strength to pick me up should I fall.
So really, the question to break routine and take a life altering chance is not will it all go wrong, but rather if I have what it takes? My gut tells me yes and my new found philosophy on happiness infuses me with an unyielding drive. Yet, to break routine and fly across the world takes more than determination, it takes being savvy and having a plan B, C and D should things go awry. Every fiber in my body is telling me to defy the odds and push forward, to take this chance and go to London yet every person in my life is saying the opposite.
And so I hustle. I hit the ground running, I scour for odd jobs and I push to turn what sounds unattainable into a tangible reality. This is the hustle of travel writing, this is the hustle of dreaming. At the end of the day, if you don’t believe in your dreams, no one will.
