By: Zoe Melnyk
Laura Bronner started off like any one of us. Hustling to get through school, and working in the bitter world of commission and customer service.
However, after graduating from college at the age of 22, Bronner had a different plan than most people.
Instead of immediately applying for jobs in her field, she continued working in retail until she could afford a one-way ticket to New Zealand to be with her long distance boyfriend of two years, Luke.
Bronner had $2,500 left over after buying her ticket, and the grand plan was to travel for a year with her boyfriend.
However, as with anything, her life did not go exactly as planned. Bronner fell in love with New Zealand and ended up using the year to only travel around the small 268,021 square kilometres, about the size of the United States’ East coast.
After a year of exploring New Zealand’s various tourist attractions, Bronner and her boyfriend set out to travel the world and they never stopped.
Six years later and the two have lived in New Zealand (of course), Australia, South Korea, England, and finally in Mexico.
Essentially, after New Zealand, Bronner and her boyfriend moved to Australia and travelled around the continent/island/country for two years, then they travelled around the United States and the United Kingdom, then they taught English in South Korea for a year, and finally they ended up in Mexico City where they’re currently residing.
Oh, and along the way they’ve also travelled through South-East Asia.
So how exactly does this happen?
Well first and foremost, you have to have the courage to do it. Anyone can be brave and up and leave to travel the world at any point in their life, a la Eat Pray Love, but it is incredibly easier to leave when you have nothing holding you down.
Yes, student loans are daunting, and for some incredibly high, but there are high paying jobs (teaching English) that can allow you to pay off the debt while seeing the world.
Or, you can follow in Bronner’s footsteps and become a digital nomad and create your own website like the Eternal Expat.
If you have no idea what a digital nomad is, that’s OK because it’s a relatively new concept.
Bronner covers her experience with being a digital nomad in her blog from month to month.
What the work comes down to is: affiliate marketing, copywriting, sponsored content, freelance writing, social media management, and photography.
So, if it’s your dream (the same way that it is mine) to conquer the world, whether it’s through teaching English, freelancing, or any other career you can think of, you can use Bronner’s example as the inspiration to get started.
