An Introduction

Beginnings are often difficult. How should introduce this blog? Myself? Who is reading this? I have no idea, but let's just begin.

Let's start with a quick overview of who I am. If you are reading this, there is a good chance that you already know me. But let's not make assumptions. My name is Kea. I'm 24 years old and am originally from California. I can't sum up my entire life or personality in this post, but what I can talk about is the focus of this blog: travel. I can't say for certain when my desire to travel started, but it certainly was at least amplified when I took to trip to Japan and South Korea when I was 13 years old. I went with my family and while I can't remember really how I felt about the trip at the time. What I can remember is how travel obsessed I became after. Ever since then, I've just known that I was going to travel. 

And I have. I was lucky enough to travel to Japan two more times in high school. I then took a month long trip to Europe after I graduated high school. I was alone for most of the trip, and stayed in hostels. I'm still so impressed that my rather shy, sheltered, 18-year old self did that with very little fear. 

I traveled to both Canada and Mexico during my time in college, but my big travel experience came my junior year. This is when I studied abroad in London for one academic year, or 9 months. During this time I was able to travel all around Europe, with the help of cheap Ryanair flights and a flexible student schedule. This was one of the best years of my life, and I really want to return to both London, and Europe as a continent. 

After college, I knew I wanted to continue to live abroad. So I decided that I would teach English in Asia, and eventually I decided on South Korea. I taught there for 14 months. My experience in Korea was definitely.. turbulent, for lack of a better word. However, I had so much fun and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I was able to travel around Korea, back to Japan and to Vietnam and Thailand.

However, after my time in Korea was up, I wasn’t ready to go home. At the same time, I wasn’t ready to commit myself to another full year in Korea. So I ended up coming to teach English in Vietnam, where I am now. One of the best things about my job here is my ability to take time off whenever I want, so I have already been to Cambodia and around Vietnam. I am taking a trip to Taiwan next month as well.

I am planning on returning to the states in December, but first I want to do a longer trip around Asia. I turn 25 on December 18^th and, if my plans works out, I will hit my 25^th country (China) the day before my 25^th birthday.

I’ve never (successfully) blogged before. I’m not one to post my thoughts online for anyone to read: I barely update my Facebook, and I’m generally a pretty private person. Therefore, this seems slightly out of character for me and does leave me a bit uncomfortable. But I love to write, and I think I have a pretty interesting story to tell. This is definitely a challenge for me, but one that I am determined to stick to.

I want to share about my past travel experiences, tips on teaching English abroad, talk about life in Vietnam, and share my future travels. Let’s see if I actually visit 25 countries before I turn 25.