Run Away With me!
Introducing:
The Run(a)way Year
I’m spending the next year living in different cities for 2-3 months and seeing where each adventure takes me. As I go, I’ll be writing about what I do, the highs & lows, and what I’ve learned along the way – and I’d love for you to follow along!
Part of what’s allowed me to go on this adventure is learning how to monetize my travel blog and earn extra income online.
And now, I’m sharing all my secrets with you!
I’ll never forget the moment that I realized I had absolutely no idea what I was doing with the rest of my life.
That sentence might be a little easier to digest if I told you I was going into college, or even if I had just graduated and was in the proper stages of “figuring it out.” Instead, I had just turned 37. I had a doctorate degree, a 6-figure job, and was 3 and 1/2 years into building my travel business (unrelated to my college degree). On paper, I had built a pretty impressive life. In my head, I was restless as hell.
Before I go any further, I want to make one thing VERY clear: Nothing about my life was “bad.” I had lived in the same town for 7 years that was close to home. I had friends and family nearby, my go-to coffee shop, and my daily routine. But travel – particularly worldwide travel – can quickly change your perception of what’s possible for your life…especially when you’re single, childless, and have nothing stopping you from starting over.
So instead of picking one new city to move to — one lease, one version of “starting over” — I decided to spend a year “slow traveling” instead. Two to three months at a time, in a different city each round, actually living somewhere rather than just visiting. If I didn’t know what I wanted yet, I figured I had a much better shot at finding it by trying on a handful of lives instead of betting everything on just one.
Why I’m Taking a Year to Slow Travel Instead of Picking One City to Move To
The Blessing (and Curse) of Being Single and Child-Free in Your 30s
During my 30s, I had watched many people around me settle down into very defined versions of adulthood. Most of the people I knew had already experienced marriage, kids, and traditional family life, and I was nowhere near accomplishing any of that. In fact, I had been single for the majority of the past 7 years, and was starting to wonder if I was looking for a new chapter in a place that had already given me everything it could.
To be clear, I wasn’t worried about being single forever. I was worried about not giving myself a real opportunity to turn my decently good life into the life of my wildest dreams. I was worried about staying somewhere simply because it felt comfortable. I was worried about waking up one day when I was 87 and realizing I was still doing the exact same thing in the exact same town and coming home to the exact same empty house…because I didn’t give myself a real chance to change any of that when I was younger.
I always wondered what would happen if I moved to a bigger city for awhile. What if I planted roots, put myself out there, met people, went on dates, got involved, found a church, went to concerts, danced all night, and discovered a whole new side of myself. What opportunities would I encounter? How would my travel business grow? What stories would I tell about the people I met, the places I visited, and maybe, just maybe, how I met the love of my life?
But Then I Had Another Thought: What If I Didn’t Just Move to One Place?
One of the potential downsides of being an avid traveler is that the more places you fall in love with, the harder it becomes to choose just one. There were cities I left with the strange feeling that some version of me belonged there, too. I wondered what it would be like to wake up somewhere different on an ordinary Tuesday, to know the streets and the people and the little rituals that make a place feel like home. I wished so badly that I could sprinkle parts of my soul in destinations all over the world…and then I thought, maybe I actually can?!
The more I thought about it, the more it felt less like a reckless fantasy and more like something that was actually doable. What if I was able to bop around for a bit, experience life in different places, and become a “local” for a little while?
It sounded like the perfect idea. I had nothing holding me back, and no one stopping me. I realized I had been given an opportunity that only a few lucky people get in their lifetime: the chance to start over, build my next chapter entirely around what I wanted, and create a life I could really be proud of. And besides, even if I ended this year and STILL didn’t know where I wanted to end up, at least I’d have a good story to tell when it was over. Above all, do it for the story. But like all good stories, this one needed a title…
Introducing: The Run(a)way Year
I decided I was going to spend an entire year living in a different city for 2-3 months at a time. I could do it for longer if I wanted, but a year was the minimum time commitment. At 37 years old, I packed up my 3 bedroom house, threw the things I wanted into a storage unit, the things I really wanted into a suitcase and totes, and moved to my first stop: a 360-square foot studio apartment in the middle of Nashville. (ps. – going from a 3-bedroom house to a 360-square foot studio is not for the weak!)
I debated on what to call this experiment for awhile before tossing around “runway” vs. “runaway.” Both words have a lot of meaning in my life. I thought about “The Runway Year” first…because, you know…we’re taking off. It felt symbolic, not to mention, the double meaning coincided with my love for travel and fashion. And besides, the runway isn’t the place you’re supposed to stay. It’s the place where you gain momentum for what comes next.
But I also liked “The Runaway Year”…because there IS something a little rebellious about this, after all. And even though I wasn’t leaving something bad, there was still something about this journey that felt a little like running away: The adventure. The moving from place to place. The uncertainty of where I’d end up when this is all over. “You’ll never find me where you left me.”
If this year had taught me anything already, it was that I didn’t have to choose just one. Maybe that applied to the name, too.
So I chose The Run(a)way Year – partially because it encompasses both runway and runaway, but also because there’s something romantic about being able to say “run away with me” and actually mean it. I promised myself I would document this entire journey for people who either want to know what this life is like, want to actually experience it for themselves, or who simply like to watch and see where I end up. I wanted to be able to tell the story of this year on my blog and on social media. And maybe, by the time it’s over, I’ll have a better answer for the person who looks at me and says, “I have no idea what I’m doing with my life.”
“I Don’t Know Where I’ll End Up, and That’s Kind of the Point.”
Since announcing The Run(a)way Year, a lot of people have asked me where all I’m going, or at the very least, what city I’m going to next. My answer is almost always “I have no idea.”
I’ll be spending this year mostly living in AirBNBs, so the city that I go to next will depend on what’s available and affordable at the time I need to leave. Because Airbnb requires the first month’s stay to be paid up front, I won’t necessarily know my next destination until I’m nearing the end of my current stay.
But then there’s the other burning question: Where will I end up when it’s all over?
Part of the goal of this year is to figure out where I’d like to plant some roots and stay for awhile. I promised myself I wouldn’t try to force an answer. Instead, I’d pay attention to how I felt, what pulled me in, and what quietly told me to leave. Maybe this experiment would lead me to discover my dream city, maybe I’d hate places that I thought I’d love, or maybe I’d realize that I really missed home.
Ideally, I think it would be fun to keep slow traveling until I find something – or someone – that makes me want to stay there. But even if life turned me around and dropped me right back into the place I had lived for the past 7 years, I wouldn’t be the same person when I returned. I’d be wiser, braver, more self-aware, and more certain of what I want. And that’s the point of The Run(a)way Year.
“Great Stories Happen to Those Who Can Tell Them”
My favorite souvenirs from traveling are the stories I bring home with me…and my favorite thing about the stories are that many of them happen out of nowhere and without warning. This is a collection of the moments that changed my life.
