Hey Lily, it's been a long time. I heard about you pursuing your new journey a while back from Idy and I am glad to hear that you took that first step and continue to do so with this website.

Look forward to seeing your progress!

Hi Felix, good to hear from you! Thanks for your words of encouragement, the last two weeks have been a bit overwhelming with me starting my web portfolio, so I appreciate it :)

Hey Lily!

I came across this site from a FB post from you. Great articles!! I really like "10 Questions to Free You From Status Quo", it definitely makes me think about how I'm living my life.

Keep up with the great work! Hope to see you around!

Nice site Lily. Keep those great articles coming. I hope your year out brings you what you are looking for. All the best!

Lily, wish we could have met here in Chiang Mai. Sorry we missed each other. Happy trails and best wishes in your endeavors. Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you too! I’m still in Chiang Mai, so we might still run into each other in the near future.

All the best in the new year and go Team Chiang Mai :)

Just saw your blog here…very inspring. You are doing something I wish I had a chance to do!

Hi James,

Thanks for your kinds words. You’ll get the chance too, later, whenever the time is right.

- Lily

Finally! Someone that shares my attitude :) I will be quitting my job at the end of July. It was very dry office work but it was also an invaluable experience. I learned a ton and it is exactly what I needed coming out of university.

I have a wide variety of interests. Music, sports, exercise, nutrition, mathematics, physics, psychology, business and investing. I’m also very interested in gaining spiritual knowledge and experiences, so meditation is something I’ve wanted to explore. I would like to learn, discover and do what I love to do and spend the rest of my life doing that, while at the same time helping others. So I’d like to become an entrepreneur of sorts.

I’d like to travel like mad in the next few months. I’ll study your blog and see what all you have on here that I may find helpful.

Hi Sam,

Sounds like you have a lot of interests that you’re passionate about – it’s wonderful and inspiring that you’re going to pursue what makes you excited. Your goal of ” do what I love to do and spend the rest of my life doing that, while at the same time helping others. So I’d like to become an entrepreneur of sorts” is similar to mine. I look forward to hearing about how your path unfolds.

I wish you a wonderful adventure and let me know if there’s anything I can do to help :)

- Lily

You know what Lily, time is more valuable than money. We need money to enrich our time, but when we make money and cannot use it to improve the quality of our time, than the value of money becomes less valuable…that’s how I see it.

I never understood the “buy a house and pay off the mortgage” goal. Is there nothing better to do with life than that?! Owning a house is a great investment and eventually you gotta live somewhere, but I think traveling the world and investing in your health, social life and your passions are far more gratifying.

I just want to explore life for a little while, just like you. I haven’t had a chance to read much on your site yet. I believe that money will work itself out, that the amount of money you need to live the life that you are meant to live will “magically” arrive :)

hi lily..
so happy coz i found this blog..
my friend and i also thinking about leaving our 9-5 job and go crazy around the world.
haha at first we thought it was super duper crazy idea..
but after reading your blog..yeah..why not..just give it a try..now we working on it.

your blog is so inspiring! =)
 

Hi Hanie, thanks for your kind words and… travelling around the world IS a crazy idea, but in the most wonderful and bold way :) Good luck with your planning, and if there’s anything I might be able to help with, let me know.

Warmest regards,
- Lily

Hi Lily.
I recently came across your blog site via another one and have now subscribed. I hope you are enjoying your time in Europe.

I wanted to ask you how you are able to learn web design whilst travelling?

It is something that I would also like to learn, but from home – as I am unable to finance a course.

What sources/programs are you using? Any tips…

Happy travels,

Mark

Hi Mark,

Thanks for stopping by! I took a 3 month course in Toronto (home) before I started travelling and did some web work while I was travelling. I’ve met a number of web designers who learned themselves, so it’s entirely possible. 

The way I started learning about web design was from playing around with WordPress (that’s the content management system this blog is on). 

Try making a blog at wordpress.com and then setting up a self-hosted version (wordpress.org). WordPress is commonly used for blogs, but it’s actually used for many corporate sites and other website types too (e.g. classifieds, e-commerce, etc).

Other useful resources are smashingmagazine.com and hongkiat.com/blog.

Good luck! If you have any more questions feel free to email me.
- Lily

Hi Lily,

Thanks for your reply.

I did not realise that you were on WordPress as this is usually stated on bloggers’/sites’ homepages.

I do not currently have any concrete ideas for a site or blog so am not looking to pay to get webspace hosted. Also I am unemployed for the long term and need to be frugal! All I need is a blank homepage to try and build on and learn how WordPress works without going ‘live’.

I have signed up to the two websites that you listed – they look like valuable resources and I shall examine them further. There is some useful tutorials on WordPress and of course a support forum.

It is a shame that I have used various IT through all my working life but have never brushed against the world of web design and building. I would like to change this as it may open up a lot of new opportunites for me.

I drop you an email if I have any questions if that is OK but I do not wish to clutter up your site with my queries!

Best,

Mark

I am really glad to see the free spirit of an individual….superb experience

Hello Lily,

Found this great site while scrolling through travel blogs. You got an amazing life! Really envy you now. I’m in love with traveling after I went to Beijing: http://goo.gl/qdZYF
That’s my first no-travel-tours-trip. I just grab my backpack and go. Since then, I’ve been working to break off of the 9-to-5 routine in order to see more of the world, and your blog has been very motivating for me to reach that goal.

Keep on the good work!

Hi Lily,

Stumbled across your blog and so excited to follow your journey. What an inspiring journey you are on and sounds like you will forever be changed. I can relate. My husband and I returned from a 14 month trip around the world last December. We’re still coming down and realize we won’t ever be the same. Our perspective on life has changed and we’ll never quite look at it the way we used to. Travel has a way of doing that. We look forward to watching your adventure unfold. 

Happy travels to you!

Hi Laura,

Wow, sounds like you and your husband had an amazing adventure around the world. Travel changes you so much, doesn’t it? It has a way of putting things in perspective, and I can’t believe how much calmer and more resilient I’ve become. 

Thanks for stopping by and for your kind wishes :)

- Lily
P.S. Any tips on re-integrating yourself back into “normal” life after returning from your RTW last December?

You are a star!!!

Thanks for your kind words Hannah! 

- Lily

I lost my job as an architect 4 years ago, and after a period of feeling lost, I became a freelance photographer and have been loving it ever since.  AND… I’ve traveled every month since I was laid off.  It’s been an amazing journey.  Your story is so empowering.  Thanks for this blog! 

Hi Megan,

Thanks for sharing a piece of story here, you’re an inspiration, really. I found it took time to find my identity (my “real” identity that isn’t tied to my occupation), and there was definitely a dark period in between. Out of confusion comes clarity, I suppose :) Keep in touch!

- Lily

Thank you for writing about your experience . I thought that I was the onlyone that wanted to do what you are doing .

Hi Karen, you’re never the only one :)

Hi, Lily. Maybe I missed it, but do you have a post on how much money you saved before you left and how long it took to save it?

Hi Dana, I tallied up my expenses at the end of my 13 month round-the-world and the total was $25,200. Of that amount, $45,200 was for flights (see the flight details here: http://exploreforayear.com/money/round-the-world-expenses-flights). I worked for about 4 years before my trip, so the $25K was a chunk of my personal savings but not everything. Hope that helps, feel free to email me if you have a specific concern/question.

- Lily

Hi Lily, thanks so much for your quotes. I wish you the best.