
LOL who am I? Please ignore that sentence and read on. I promise the cheese stops there.
SO. There have been some pretty big, like WHOA life changes as of late, and I really wanted to address that before publishing the other posts I have waiting in my blogging queue! So here’s what’s up:
I quit my job, and am traveling through Europe for the next few months. How’s that for a big, giant cliche?

And thanks to cheap flights, I can fly here for the same price as a round trip ticket to Colorado!
But anyways…I digress. Back to the whole quitting the job thing. I really did enjoy my job for the most part, and was truly sad to leave. (I was working at an environmental nonprofit focused on the education and conservation of birds – I worked mostly in the education realm, but since it was a nonprofit, we all wore a lot of hats!)
However, I’d been there for over 2 years, and I was tired of living in the Bay Area. The Bay is great, but I’d grown up there and rent prices have skyrocketed from all the tech companies moving in. And of course, nonprofits are notorious for not paying AMAZING salaries, so I wanted to go somewhere that living was more affordable.
I make it all sound really easy, but in reality, it was a really tough thing that I agonized about for months and almost felt a loss of identity even just thinking about quitting. I’d ALWAYS wanted to work for an environmental organization, and I basically had what I thought in college was my dream job – but for whatever reason, it just no longer felt “right” and I really didn’t want to live in the Bay Area any longer.

Now, I know Europe is not necessarily the first thing that comes to mind when I say “affordable” (especially Western Europe, darn you, as much as I love you), but to be honest – pretty much ANYTHING is cheaper than the Bay Area at this point, save for New York and London.

Then something serendipitous happened. My mom rents out rooms in her house on AirBnb, and I happened to be visiting her at the same time that Destiny (who also has an amazing blog about helping milennials adult!) was staying there. And she was doing exactly what I wanted to – working remotely and moving around. But to keep costs down, she was house sitting!

We got pretty lucky – we landed our first sit within a couple weeks of signing up for site. So we bought our plane tickets and I gave my notice at work (I tried to be nice and gave them over a month’s notice, since we were a nonprofit and all).

And so, I applied, went through the interview process, and was hired! I haven’t taught my first class yet – I want to get a little more experience so I’m taking VIP Kid’s free TESOL courses and workshops before I jump in. And watching a LOT of YouTube videos – luckily, there are some awesome teachers that help with a lot of the concepts.
I decided against getting the official TEFL since I’ve heard that it’s helpful to have, but also focuses a LOT on how to structure the curriculum for a classroom, etc. which I won’t be doing with VIP Kid. They have all the curriculum set for you in various powerpoints, and you just have to teach it to your students! However, there are lots of important techniques to learn regarding teaching new English speakers, so I think it’s important to learn all of them before diving in.

Then we went to Switzerland for a week and stayed with the nicest and coolest people at an AirBnb in Basel. They gave us so many tips, totally changed our itinerary for the better, and cooked us a traditional Swiss fondue dinner. We absolutely LOVED Switzerland (minus the stupid expensive prices!!!!!).

Which leads us to now. Currently in Prague in an AirBnb, where we’ll stay for a few more days. We’re focusing on slower travel this time around, and are staying allllmost a week, if not more, in every place. This will really give us some time to get to know a place better, travel to nearby cities if we wish, and allow me time to teach English and work on my blog.


I’m thinking of house sitting in Seattle or the UK (if you want to start out, the UK has soooo many house sits!), or anywhere I see that looks appealing and is more longterm (at least a month or so). I’d also like to try volunteering in exchange for food/accommodation on Workaway, too, and I’m considering taking advantage of New Zealand’s one year working holiday visa. We’ll see how it all goes!

Thank you for reading – I know this post was quite long and very stream-of-consciousness, but I just wanted to get it all out there. I hope you enjoyed my word vomit!
Hi Kelsey!
I miss you! I just visited San Jose and drove by your moms house on the way to my parents. I always appreciate your honesty! I’m beginning to see the light as I continue through my own crisis. A loss of identity is exactly what I felt when I left my old job – well said.
If you have time to read, I hear the book “When’s Happy Hour?” details the mid 20’s crisis many suburban kids like us face transitioning into “real life”. It’s on my list next after I finish “Lies My Teacher Told Me”.
I just got back from visiting Chicago with a friend and I had the beeeesssst time. It was 20 degrees consistently as I explored the city from Museum Campus (South) through downtown and the lake front trail (North). I even made it out to Wisconsin for a bit. I’m totally going to move here, the decision is final.
Anyway, keep on kicking ass! Tell Stephanie I say hello! 馃檪
Valerie B.
Hi Valerie!
I miss you, too!! Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment – it means more than you know 馃檪
I’ll definitely have to add that book to the list! Thanks for the suggestion, and very happy that you’re getting through your own crisis! I see so many people our age having very very similar dilemmas. It helps to know we’re not alone, I suppose!
I’m so excited about your decision to move to Chicago!! I’m sure you’ll love living there and can’t wait to visit 馃槈 Will do, and same to you girl!