During COVID, I started keeping a mental bucket list of all the places I wanted to see someday. Some came from the ridiculous number of travel videos I was watching, while others had been in the back of my mind since I was a kid.
Then, at the end of 2023, everything shifted.
I had just turned 50 and was fresh off an amazing trip through Southeast Asia when a good friend was diagnosed with a terminal illness. That hit me hard. Suddenly, "someday" didn't feel like something I wanted to keep counting on.
So I started planning.
Not a normal vacation, either. I decided I wanted to travel around the world...solo.
This might be slightly crazy...
For about two months, I spent pretty much every spare minute researching.
Which direction should I travel? Which countries could I realistically fit in? Where would I feel comfortable travelling alone? Could I actually afford the flights?
And then there was the slightly ridiculous part...
I wanted to visit six continents in about two weeks.
I am not naturally adventurous when it comes to unfamiliar situations. I don't love walking into a room full of strangers, and I definitely like knowing exactly what is going to happen next.
So yes, my friends and family thought I had lost my mind.
My husband didn't.
His confidence in me gave me the little push I needed to stop talking about the trip and actually book it.
Then I booked the first flight
Eventually, I reached the point where there was nothing left to research.
And trust me...I had researched everything.
I had a spreadsheet with flights, hotels, booking sites, points programs, costs and probably a few columns that no sane person really needed.
Then I found a flight from Vancouver to Santiago for about a third of the price I had been seeing everywhere else.
I still have no idea why it was so cheap.
I didn't ask questions. I booked it.
And suddenly my around-the-world trip was real.
Over the next few days, I booked the rest of my flights, most of my hotels and even a safari in Kenya.
My route would take me through South America and across the Pacific to Sydney, where I would meet up with my birth mum. From there I would continue through Vietnam, Dubai, Kenya and Istanbul before reaching Bucharest.
Then I would swap airplanes for trains and make my way across Europe toward London, where I would meet up with an old high school friend.
After London, one final flight — with a quick stop in Iceland — would take me home.
Excited. Terrified. Repeat.
For the next six months, I bounced between thinking this was the best idea I'd ever had and wondering what on earth I had gotten myself into.
I watched endless minimalist-packing videos because I was determined to travel with one backpack as my personal item.
That became a mission.
I tested travel accessories, packed the backpack, unpacked it, packed it again and somehow managed to squeeze everything I needed inside.
I also borrowed my dad's travel vest for a little extra storage. Very glamorous.
Then suddenly...it was time to leave.
There was no more planning I could do.
No more spreadsheets to tweak.
I was committed.
What this trip gave me
This trip pushed me so far outside my comfort zone that I occasionally wondered where my comfort zone had actually gone.
Things went wrong. Flights were delayed. Plans changed. I got lost. I had to ask strangers for help and figure things out as I went.
And somehow...I did.
I learned that I could handle far more than I thought I could. I could travel alone. I could deal with the unexpected. I could walk into unfamiliar places and figure things out.
And I could eat a few things I normally wouldn't touch.
That might actually have been the biggest surprise.
I'm incredibly glad I stopped saying "someday" and booked the trip.
I documented the adventure on my YouTube channel, and if sharing it encourages even one person to stop putting off something they've always wanted to do, that makes me pretty happy.
Seek discomfort! Explore the Great Unknown!
Surviving the airports
With this many flights, airports became a fairly major part of the adventure.
Long layovers, immigration, security, delayed flights and the occasional moment of mild panic —I experienced a little bit of everything.
These are the things that helped...and a few lessons I learned the hard way.
What I would do differently next time
I planned this trip to death.
And I still got things wrong.
There were places where I needed more time, things I packed that I didn't need and a few decisions that seemed brilliant beforehand...but weren't quite so brilliant once I was actually travelling.
Here's what I'd change if I did it again.
Final Thoughts
Would I do a whirlwind trip like this again?
Absolutely.
It was exhausting, occasionally stressful and completely unforgettable.
More than anything, it taught me that I don't always have to know exactly what's going to happen next.
Sometimes I just have to book the ticket...and figure out the rest along the way.