Hi, my name is Jeffrey and Welcome to MilesFromHome!
In May 2017, I sat with thousands of other soon-to-be graduates of Texas Tech University waiting for the ceremony to begin. I heard my classmates murmur, boasting about their exciting new job they’re going to start on Monday, and others congratulating them wishing they had job lined too just to make their parents proud.
I saw sorority sisters huddled together bawling their eyes out. Friends remembering the good times. People who feared they may have already peaked, afraid of the future and what the unknown may bring. Twenty-somethings who wished they could just be back on Broadway, the local bar street, getting drunk and having fun instead of wearing a suffocating gown looking like Harry Potter.
As for me, graduating college was terrifying. I had no job waiting for me afterward, no interest in the typical “American Dream” of a 9-to-5 job in corporate America, eventually settling down in a nice suburb. I had more confusion coming out of college than I had going in. I needed more time to figure out how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. I refused to get trapped to the so-called normalcy of adulthood and having the highlight of my career being I climbed to the top of the corporate ladder not to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
With absolutely NO travel experience, this is what I did the summer after graduating college:
–Drove more than 14,000 miles through 12 states
–Hiked more than 600 miles in dozens of public lands in the American West.
–Took more than 16,000 photos
–Swam in glacial runoff, encountered bears (more than once), hitchhiked for the first time, and made amazing, unforgettable memories.
Oh, and I completed this trip all alone taking three months…
MilesFromHome begins with this initial life-changing trip and beyond as I continue my travels. I’m hardly an expert on travel, even after such an extensive trip. I hope to show you the mistakes I made and the reality of travelling to some breathtaking bucket-list places. For example, everyone wants to capture the classic sunrise photos over the Grand Canyon. But no one tells you that you will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of others also attempting to get the same incredible photo. I believe knowing what to expect and educating yourself on places before you go are the most important steps to a successful trip. MilesFromHome provides a behind-the-scenes look to parks, landmarks, cities, and restaurants making your travels sail smoothly.
