Tim and Anne take a selfie in front of Hemeji Castle in Japan — Tim and Anne in Front of Hemiji Castle in Japan

5 years ago, I landed back in Tampa, Florida after the most life changing trip of my life. In late 2016, a friend and I quit our jobs, and hopped a flight to Peru, for the first leg of our round-the-world journey. Over the next 10 months we traveled, ate, explored, experienced over 30 countries across 6 continents. It was the trip of a lifetime and changed my world in so many ways. Half a decade later, I thought it was time to look back at this experience and reflect on just how amazing those adventures were.

Tim and Anne sit at a table in a winery in Casablanca Valley, Chile. There are 5 bottles of wine and food pairings to go with each on the table. — Tim and Anne at a Chilean Winery

Anne and I met while I was an undergrad at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. I am a black dude from Chicago, she’s a white girl from Putnam County, Ohio. I was a punk kid who had just recovered from dropping out of school for a bit, and she already had her master’s degree and was slumming it on the weekends with her girls. It makes no sense that we’d end up in the same crew, but eventually we became friends and started traveling together. Small trips around Ohio, turned into longer weekends in Chicago, turned into real trips to San Francisco for food, San Diego for Comic-con and Washington D.C. for museums.

Two United States Passports stacked on top of each other

In 2015, Anne decided to up the ante with our first trip out of the country. I had always been obsessed with other cultures and travel but had never had the opportunity to actually leave the country. We were complete novices. No passports, I hadn’t used my sad college Spanish for over 10 years, and her parents were worried we were going to get kidnapped, but we headed to Riviera Maya to stay at the Valentin Imperial for my birthday. We hung out at the resort, visited cenotes, ate local food in some small pueblos, and visited Chichén Itzá. When we visited our first UNESCO World Heritage Site, our first New World Wonder, I was addicted.

Tim and Anne stand in front of the Pyramid at the Mayan Ruins of Chichén Itzá on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula — Tim and Anne at the Pyramid at Chichén Itzá in Mexico

At the time, Anne was working as an accountant for the government, and I was working as a marketing analyst in healthcare IT. Neither of us were particularly miserable, but how do you go back to your regular life after you get that first hit of real travel? How do you look out your sad window at the office, (in my case looking out over the runways of Tampa International Airport watching planes take off every day) and see the same stuff when you know there’s so much out there to experience? You get the “Itch”.

Anne and a fellow tourist preparing ingredients for paella in Barcelona cooking class in Spain — Anne Makes Paella at a Barcelona Cooking Class

It wasn’t long before we started trying to figure out where we were going to go next. It wasn’t long after that that we realized that we had way too many things we wanted to experience for one lifetime… or did we? We started joking with the idea of quitting our jobs and traveling the world. Joking soon turned to flirting, flirting soon turned to obsession, and obsession turned to planning.

Various folded AAA maps of European Countries scattered across an open map

We read every travel book we could get our hands on. Books about different cities and countries, books about World Heritage Sites, books about saving money on travel, blogs and videos about travel hacks, television shows about travel and food from around the world, we absorbed everything. Lonely Planet, Frommer’s, AAA, Fodor’s, Atlas Obscura, DK, the late Anthony Bourdain, Rick Steves, Nat Geo, Discovery, Travel Channel, Points Guy, and so many more. We saved up, we figured out how to cash in 401ks, we did it all. There was a giant map that we put on some cork board, and we used stick pins to throw our wish list together. It was categorized into types of experiences: food and drink, cultural, nature, etc. I had a spreadsheet to figure out where we could visit to get the highest concentration of World Heritage Sites for the least amount of investment. Anne focused on logistics and all the food she wanted to try.

Tim and Anne's pre-trip map with pins and notes

It's funny how a lot of people seemed to not believe we were really about to do this. Everyone has the dream of doing this kind of thing, but most people will never even try. I get it, life gets in the way, you have other responsibilities, other concerns, other priorities, but this was ours. We had no kids, our parents were relatively young and in good health, we were single. There would probably never be a better time to make this move. Most importantly, I think, we were young enough to be able to do the things we wanted to do, unlike some people who wait until they retire to travel, and old enough to actually enjoy the adventure without feeling the need to be trashed and party our way around the world, like a lot of younger travelers.

Tim and Anne pose behind two young lions on a Lion Encounter in Zimbabwe — Tim and Anne on a Lion Walk in Zimbabwe

Our strengths and weaknesses complimented each other in a really good way. She was methodical and great at logistics and planning. I was adventurous, knowledgeable, could quickly learn and unlearn languages and cultural norms, and willing to try anything. We bought our travel bags, I had a 70-liter Deuter with a 10-liter small bag that I still use, she had a 55-liter Osprey. We got a Nikon D5600 camera and a GoPro 5. Folders of maps, books, reservation confirmations and itineraries. We took all the vaccines that we’d need for the countries we planned on visiting, and grabbed all the malaria and altitude sickness pills we could get our hands on.

Tim and Anne in front of the Giant Stone Buddha in Leshan, China — Tim and Anne at the Giant Stone Buddha in Leshan, China

We loaded up with way too many survival items for two people who were going to be in hostels and hotels over the next couple of months: life straws, compass, first aid kits, rope, emergency flares, waterproof matches, all kinds of, in retrospect, unnecessary stuff. When you travel you have to be open to new experiences, and we were READY. Stuck in a ditch? No problem? Abandoned in the woods by some shady taxi driver? We had a tarp. Kidnapped? My uncle gave me a pen that had a hidden weapon… but more on that later.

Tim and Anne pose with an elderly elephant as they volunteer at a sanctuary outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand — Tim and Anne Volunteer at an Animal Sanctuary outside of Chiang Mai, Thailand

I created the original Visas and Vistas Blog, as well as the Facebook page so that our family and friends could keep up with our adventures. I didn’t know that when we got back, Anne would eventually grow that brand into an amazing travel service that helps so many people live a piece of the dream we were able to live.

Tim and Anne take a selfie at the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru — Tim and Anne at the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru

In November 2016, we pulled the trigger, quit our jobs, said goodbye to our family and friends, and hit the road. Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to take you along on our journey to circumnavigate the world. We experienced 6 continents, over 30 countries, around 100 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, cruises, safaris, wildlife, coral, train adventures, food, booze, and people of all kinds of cultures.

Tim works with the chef to make pasta from scratch in Florence, Italy — Tim Making Pasta from Scratch in Florence, Italy

Maybe this is even more important to reflect on as we look at how the world is. We may be some of the last “regular” people in this world who were able to do what we did in the way we did it. In a post COVID world, will you even be able to hop from country to country as freely as we did? With geo-politics the way that they are, can you even still visit some of the countries we did without fear of incarceration or tremendous hurdles to jump through? I don’t know. I just know that Anne and I had the trip of a lifetime, and I’m excited to share it with you.