“Fill your life with experiences, not things. Have stories to tell, not stuff to show” -unknown
A lot of people have asked me how I am able to travel as much as I do and make a living off of it, so I want to share my secret with everyone. The secret is, there is no secret. I don’t make a living off hiking and traveling. I don’t get paid to explore all these wonderful places I’ve been lucky to see. & I have the time to travel because I pack in my weekends with non-stop adventures, week after week. Like many other people, I work, save, and play.
When you work a full-time 9-5 job, you only have the weekends. I want to spend that precious time doing what I love: hiking and exploring the outdoors. If you spend all week working, and all weekend resting, you are just living to work which isn’t living at all. I would plan weekend trips that leave the evening I got off work and came home the late night before I started work. After the first few road trips, a 6-hour drive seemed like a short trip. Was I tired at work? Of course, but I still took care of my workload. Life is about balance so I would take a break from going to the gym to rest after work the days after my trip. I was lucky that my job required me to work a handful of weekends in the year, so I would grind through 12 days of work so I could have a 4 day weekend later (plus the evening before) and go on a longer adventure. Yes, I said I’m lucky to have to work 12 days straight sometimes because the reward of an adventure was worth it for me.
You can pack a lot into a short amount of time if you tried, you just have to want to and be committed to it. There are two types of travelers: the ones that want to relax and the ones that want to adventure. It’s not hard to guess which one I am… I’m the type of traveler that always likes to be on the move and exploring which makes it easier to pack in a non-stop weekend of adventures. My main source of income is not from any social media related work, it’s from actually working. & I have all the time to go on all my trips because I use every single earned PTO on it. So before you say “I wish I could go there”… you can. Set aside a budget for traveling and save those vacation days! Even if you only save a couple bucks from every paycheck, you’ll find that it soon adds up. If traveling and exploring are important to you (which it should be 😉 ), you’ll make the effort to make it happen.
There are two main resources to take into consideration when planning an adventure: time and money. So what would you say if I could help eliminate one of those? Life is Good is giving away a vacation for two, to one of four incredible destinations! Win a trip to do what you love – enter the sweepstakes from now through April 22, 2018, 11:59 pm EST!
This post is sponsored by Life is Good, all opinions are my own.
(photos are from my recent trip to Cancun/ Playa Del Carmen March 21-26, and hike to Mt. Baldy April 1)
Totally agree ! It’s all about making time for what is most important to you. As much as we love a good weekend at home, it’s the weekend adventures away from home that really help us with that work life balance. We recently moved from SoCal to NorCal and there are a ton of new adventures, hikes, and places to explore. We often implore the same method as you, head out after work on a Friday night and come home Sunday afternoon/evening. Travel is important and we make time for it. Always good to know there are others doing the same ?
Hi Brian, I’m glad to hear you are taking advantage of your weekends! It’s always fun exploring a new area, and NorCal has so much nature!! 😀
So I just recently started following you and your sister actually because we went to school together and I must say your travels from pictures alone makes me believe out of all the people we went to school with on social media you have the most jaw dropping adventures. Keep living your best life. That’s so awesome
Haha hi, Sean! What school did we go to together? High school or college? My social media has always been private and empty, but when I started all my hiking adventures only in the recent years, I wanted to be able to share that with others and maybe even inspire someone else to get outside. Thank you for your very sweet words. 🙂
I work an 8 to 5 job so we have to squeeze all our travel in on the weekends and my vacation days. But you’re right, even if you’re a bit tired on Monday it’s totally worth the adventure!
Adventure is always worth it! 😉