A decade of long-term travel, storytelling, and building One Ocean, One People.

Introduction: The Routine Before the Leap

Ten years ago, my life was structured and predictable.

Wake up early.

Coffee in a tin.

Leave before traffic.

Nine hours at a desk.

Gym.

Dinner.

Sleep.

Repeat.

On paper, nothing was wrong. The bills were paid. The routine was secure and the path “made sense”.

But underneath that structure was a restlessness. Behind the scenes, for years, I was planning, saving, imagining & dreaming. Watching travel videos late at night. Reading blogs. And exploring the world via GoogleMaps covering my app with stars across the globe.

I wasn’t trying to escape responsibility. I was cultivating a quiet spark of curiosity about the vast unknown.

One February morning, I left my 9–5 job thinking it would be a gap year. And little did I know it’d become my life.

I’ll be quite honest – travel wasn’t always glamorous. It got lonely at times, identity shifting and finances? Let’s just say I’ve run out a handful of times.

Travel stripped away predictability & dissolved the version of me built around productivity and routine. And in its place, something quieter formed:

Purpose!

Freedom, I learned, isn’t about location.

It’s about responsibility for your direction.

When Travel Turns Into Purpose

In 2017, what started as an innocent trip to Hawai‘i evolved into something much deeper in Oceania that created ripples into deeper passions.

The Pacific slowed me down enough where destinations became people. Living in communities across Oceania from the mountains of Fiji, Palau and American Samoa to the low lying atolls of Tuvalu, Tokelau, and Kiribati— reshaping how I appreciated continuity in storytelling. And most importantly, connection.

living in hawaii alone pali lookout oahu

This was anything but ordinary tourism and content creation. But this was a new world of immersion combining history, culture, traditions and travel into one.

From out of this, One Ocean, One People was born.

What began as documenting culture evolved into a non-profit rooted in that deep purpose, focused on ocean-centered storytelling and the humanities that could potentially reach across the globe.

Oceania didn’t just influence my work – it clarified it.

Financial Realities of Traveling the World Long Term

So let’s remove the fantasy because leaving a stable job to travel long-term is not financially comfortable. There were moments when the bank account thinned out. Moments when uncertainty was louder than inspiration. Moments when the “safe” version of my old life whispered, “You could just go back”.

Stopping for a moment to earn funds felt like a setback in those early dreams. And building a non-profit in a café in American Samoa was far from glamorous.

One ocean one people cap sitting on ofu beach in american samoa manua islands

Grants fall through. Funding fluctuates. To be honest, platforms like Patreon and GoFundMe have become the backbone of my work. But I can’t afford to stop; this entire journey requires constant motion to sustain growth and creativity.

The belief that “no situation is strong enough to make you give up on your dream—unless you let it.”

If ten years have taught me anything – it’s this:

Stability isn’t about having more. It’s about needing less — and building skills strong enough to carry you forward. As long as I have that flame, I’m not powerless.

Photography became my trade, filmmaking became my creative backbone, and storytelling became my foundation.

What 10 Years of Full-Time Travel Taught Me

- - I value time over titles.
  - Skills are more stabilizing than salaries.
  - Most fears shrink once faced.
  - The world is kinder than the headlines suggest.
  - Comfort can quietly dull ambition.
  - Stability is internal, not geographic.
  - Community matters more than status.
  - You can live with less than you think.
  - Purpose evolves — it doesn’t arrive fully formed.
  - The spark is worth protecting.

How I Funded 10 Years of Travel

Media gigs
Freelance filmmaking
Photography
Skill development
Living light
Non-profit evolution
Maybe 3 months at Home Depot at one point 🙂

I didn’t fund this through passive income or trust funds. I funded it by building skills — photography, videography, editing — and taking nearly every media gig I could in the early years. I learned to live light. I reinvested into better gear. I adapted constantly. Over time, storytelling stopped being something I did and became how I sustained myself.

Should You Quit Your Job to Travel the World?

Well, let me put it like this: travel won’t solve your problems. It exposes them.

It tests your ego, strips comfort, and forces self-reliance.

But it also reveals just how much more capable you really are, at anything.

So if you’re considering leaving your job to travel long-term, here’s what I’d say:

Anticipate building a skillset.
Reduce your financial overhead.
Anticipate loneliness.
Don’t chase aesthetics, chase depth.
Understand that purpose unfolds over time, especially without a plan.

As heavy of a decision it is to leave it all behind, if there is a quiet voice asking for more. — never ignore it. Because I will say it again, setting off into the unknown isn’t escape, it’s alignment.

A Life of Voyaging

Today, ten years later, I’m rooted back where it all began. Brought the sails down for a moment to be close to family, reflecting on the path behind me while looking at what the next decade has to offer.

And to no surprise – that spark has not faded.

If anything, it’s three times stronger. What began as a gap year became a life of voyaging. An ongoing story filled with chapters and arc. From “Uncharted Wanderer” to “One Ocean, One People” in Oceania — with future arc still on the horizon.

These aren’t just trips and adventures, they’re chapters that span a lifetime.

And I’m just getting started.