Well as any introduction should start out, I’m Daniel, a twenty-eight year old person in the world that likes to refer to himself as a traveler though still unclear if he really fits the definition. Perhaps a more appropriate term would be a person who goes places with just a little bit a of money and a whole lot of hope.
I finally made it to NYC for the first time in December of 2009 with friends from college. We prepared ourselves for a big city adventure and a once in a lifetime experience to see the famous ball make its decent into Times Square for the New Year. It was at that point, that I knew I could really do this travel thing. Of course it just makes since that I started with the closest of my top three destinations and despite the New York prices, it was considerably the cheapest to attain. However, once again, at that point I knew I could still make my travel dreams come true. I returned to New York City the following year for the nice fall weather that truly made exploring the outside ventures in the city slightly more enjoyable. After another fascinating four days, I returned to college with a determination to finish my degree and see what else the world had to offer.
As I finished up my degree, I had a slight inkling that I would spend a part of my student teaching in Ireland where I would finally get a taste of the world abroad. However, that realization came to an abrupt end after I was denied access into program. While devastating, I can truly say that it was all for a reason. I’ll lay those explanations out in future posts about my adventures and let you decide from there.
After graduation, I was determined to find a job. I sent out my resume and applied to all the counties across North Carolina. Why North Carolina? Well I reasoned with myself and decided, since North Carolina paid for my education, and I was required to to pay them back with service within seven years of graduation, that I might as well get that commitment taken care of before setting my sights on things abroad. However, I did not let that stop me. I always said, if I made it to Hawaii, then I made it in the world. So after a half year of teaching and my summer savings ready to be blown, I along with my mama and a high school friend, made our way to the airport. Neither my mom or I had been on a plane before, so our nerves and excitement where through the roof. It was at this point that I fell in love with flying. The idea of getting somewhere across the world in a matter of hours, along with the sheer thrill of it only fueled my heart for travel. We enjoyed our first cruise as well, seeing many different sides of the Hawaiian islands, and fell in love with each inch they had to offer.
It was the summer after Hawaii that the iconic friendship and sole spark for this blog came into play. Josie and I met each other in college; however, it was not until around that summer that we developed a friendship that would shape our lives. See, the bond begins as simple as this, we just wanted to have a good time in life. We wanted to go places and do things. Through the efforts of Josie, and to be honest most of the other adventures to follow, we reunited on a basic breach trip that all of our friends backed out on and chose not to join us. We’re doers, so we did. It was an epic two weeks; one that cannot be relived or recounted in this blog. This trip and newfound friendship spiraled into a few trips to Savannah and even a grand journey out West to Nevada, Arizona, and California. These trips, as well as the ones that followed, began along these lines:
“Hey, I wanna go there.”
“Ok, I’m down.”
If your heart ever so desires, continue with us on this blog as we present our past and present travel adventures, fails, and things that we find hilarious that for some reason no one else does.
That Time We Quit Our Jobs... 