About Carryn

Hello! I’m Carryn, a 28-year-old South African who has hit a midlife crisis (or at least what feels like one!) Work or travel? Or both?!

The past year has been a whirlwind of changes. Every aspect of my life is different to what it was a year ago. Does this make me scared, nervous or anxious? No! Actually, the opposite. It has excited, challenged and driven me to keep learning and exploring.

Where am I?

Korea is the place I now call home, where I live with my boyfriend Gary (Not North Korea – I’m safe, I promise!) I’m not your average free-spirited traveler who one morning woke up and decided to quit her job and travel! This decision was well thought out, with months of planning, budgeting and reassuring myself that I was doing the right thing.

How it all started

In 2013, right after I had completed my Commerce degree, I resigned from my job and took on the notorious yachting world. After 8 months of grueling work and living out of a suitcase, I decided that the fun and games were over as I needed to get my career started back home. My next 3 years were spent working in the fast-paced, exciting and stressful marketing world which kept me on my toes, yet never satisfied my urge to travel abroad and start ticking off my ever-growing bucket list. I had itchy feet and so I quit and left home in pursuit of the unknown… the first stop: Korea to teach English!

Packing up my life

Making these crazy, rash decisions is common amongst university graduates, where I found myself when I first decided to travel. Now, being 28 is a whole new ball game – you’ve got to think of the long-term and be responsible. Or so that’s what we’ve been made to believe.

I know a lot of people are in the same shoes I was in, and still am. Am I too old to start traveling? Will I have money to travel? Will I find a job when I’m done with my travels and teaching? What if I regret my decision after a few months?

Doubting yourself is the hardest part but once you’ve overcome that, the opportunities are endless.

Why start a travel blog?

Firstly, Gary and I have both set goals for our year in Korea. We want to step out of our comfort zone and do things that we wouldn’t normally do, or things that we were just too busy to do back home. For me, blogging is one of them! I was always encouraged to contribute to my previous company’s blog and write about industry trends or passions of mine. Unfortunately, I had permanent writer’s block. Although I tried, I was never inspired or motivated enough to put pen to paper. Not submitting a blog was a failure in my eyes. My goal – come hell or high water, I will write a blog post!

Secondly, most of the information I’ve found regarding our travels and advice about Korea and abroad has come from people’s personal experiences which they’ve documented in blogs. I thought I’d return the favor by sharing our learnings and challenges with those who are in a similar situation as we are in. There’s a lot of info out there that’s outdated, or advice that didn’t really apply to me, so I hope I can answer most of the questions that travelers like me were asking.

And lastly, to keep my friends and family up to date with what I’ve been doing. Sometimes the pretty pictures I send them don’t exactly tell the whole story!

So here goes….!! I hope you enjoy it.

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