Take Your Big Trip
Kristin traveled the world for two years and then taught thousands of would-be travelers how to do the same.
I had a dream to travel the world.
Before 2008, I convinced myself that everything was fine and that this dream was not possible nor needed. I dutifully completed all of life’s “to do” list of education, career, and marriage. My dream of exploration crept down the stairs of my soul, while I lived with it's frightened cousin, anxiety, and stayed put.
In February 2008, I finally listened and brought my dream of traveling the world into the light. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew that I needed to leave the life I was living and journey into the unknown. With great pain, grief, and courage, I moved on.
On October 2, 2008, I landed in India and began to live my dream. I traveled on and off for the next two years.
In early 2010, I knew my nomadic time was ending and I needed to land somewhere. By this time, I had become friends with my intuition and listened with attention and interest. San Francisco came to mind and I followed that signal a few months later. I moved to the Bay Area with three suitcases and a spot on a friend's couch.
After settling into this new city, I knew it was time to perform a service. I had been given a great gift of travel and wanted to tell others how to do the same. Americans don't have the concept of the gap year, there is no "take time off to travel" concept.
I started Take Your Big Trip with the goal of helping others live their travel dreams.
I taught travel dreamers to make a plan and travel the world, inspiring thousands more through my website Take Your Big Trip and serving as an AFAR Magazine ambassador.
I also ran workshops and ran events on how to do the same like those with MeetPlanGo
And Travel Massive and the World Affairs Council
And the Young Professionals Group (YPG) of the Asia Society of Northern California
I put together more workshops and was selected to speak at SXSW Interactive
I wrote a few of my travel stories as personal essays and they were published
And for two years, I combined my marketing strategy expertise and travel as Marketing Campaign Director for GeoEx, a luxury adventure travel company.