On December 25th, 1999, I left the USA for a three-month, post-graduation trip to Southeast Asia. The idea was to backpack around Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam and then return home and start a career in the sports industry (I wanted to be a Sports Agent).
When I landed in Bangkok, I had $1500 USD to my name and that was it. So I booked a bed in a crumbling old wooden guesthouse in the center of the city for about a dollar per night and let the adventure begin.
In the end, I never went home after three months.
And it’s now been over 16 years and that trip has still yet to finish.
The adventure has involved over 88+ countries on 6 continents as I’ve worked, lived, traveled and volunteered all over the planet.
Over the years, I’ve done everything from danger travel to living in Romania to learning Spanish in Mexico to working as a Tour Manager on board cruise ships. I’ve spent over two years in India, where I once randomly ended up acting in a Bollywood television show. An inappropriate amount of time on tropical islands, eating inappropriate amounts of street food, a three-day kidnapping in Bangladesh, being placed on the US ‘terror watch list’, teaching English in Asia, becoming an online entrepreneur and partaking in an endless search for a pair of sandals with sufficient arch-support for my flat feet are just a few more of the experiences this lifestyle has led me to.
Since 2012, I started a small tour company, Wandering Earl Tours. The tours are small groups of like minded travellers, and the trips are unique, with lots of added extras to really provide value for money.
It’s been an absolutely wild ride to say the least.