Welcome to Living Outside the Boundaries. My name is Jay. After becoming financially independent at the age of 56 I left behind a 30 year teaching career and began an around the world journey. By the time I left my job I had traveled to nearly 60 countries, mostly solo. While working, I rarely had time or the energy to update friends and family of my travels. On this new adventure, with time on my hands, I began sending monthly newsletters that evolved into this blog.
As I travel I speak to people who are intrigued by my travels. The majority are curious and want to know how I could afford to quit my job at such a young age (yeah I’m smiling as I type the word young), leave everything behind and travel solo for twelve months (update: currently 5 years 10 months). I answer these and other questions in the blog posts. People have shared their desire to take a similar trip. I meet kindred spirits who want to travel or make significant life changes but they feel stuck. I was in that exact same spot. I decided a a travel journal would be a great place to share my musings about travel, living a minimalist lifestyle, financial independence and maybe start a dialogue about life changes. Boundaries are usually set for us by family, sometimes friends friends and certainly society. But we have to be careful of those boundaries that say as a woman you can’t or shouldn’t do something, you are too young or old, or you don’t know enough yet to step outside. Some boundaries are there to keep us safe and other boundaries are set for us by people with limited views, and no sense of adventure and most often would do nothing that would take them outside of their comfort zone. At some point you have to move beyond boundaries even though it may seem scary. But that is where growth happens. I can assure you I have jumped across a few boundaries!
My Mission
My mission is simple, to explore the world and take you along with me in hopes that you will gain some knowledge about living in the world. Or at least enjoy the pretty pictures! This is not really a travel blog, more of a travel journal, however, I am sure I can answer more than a few questions about travel.
I invite you to join me on this new journey that will take me around the world. Hey, why are you guys packing your suitcases? I meant you should join me virtually! I can’t take all of you with me! Get outta here!