Years of Full-Time Travel 2020-2022
- Katrina Julia
- Jul 9, 2022
- 13 min read
Where I Went, What I Learned, and Returning to Atlanta, GA
After the year 2020 and years of full-time travel from 2020-22, it feels surreal to be back in Atlanta, GA. When I decided to leave Atlanta, GA in 2020, I made a tentative travel plan that came out different. Although I didn't know exactly when I would return to the USA, I knew Atlanta, GA would be home again. In late 2021, I was surprised to start craving stability sooner than I thought.
When I first left at the end of 2020, I felt like I broke out of a cage. My first three months of 2021 included travel to Costa Rica. Costa Rica came to mind from hosting retreats in 2016.
Travel plans soon started to change due to destination desires, COVID restrictions, and civil unrest.
Fast forward 1.5 years later, 10 countries and 3 Continents
After the year 2020 and years of full-time travel from 2020-22, it feels surreal to be back in Atlanta.
My global travels are now at 35+ countries and 5 Continents and counting. After Costa Rica, I found myself exploring Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Colombia, Panama, Portugal, Bulgaria and Turkey.
More than ever, I have become more present, adventurous, and flexible. 2010 - I feel like home is where I am. At the same time, I recognized where travels may pull me from purpose, priorities and people.
After years of full-time travel and adventure, I craved stability.
Late 2021, I found myself desiring a home base sooner than I thought. It wasn't time yet.
I am and always will be the Limitless Global Girl and Wonder Woman.
Let's land together as I share Years of Full-Time Travel:
Where I Went, What I Learned, and Returning to Atlanta, GA
Full Time Travel in 2020-22: Where I Went
My original travel plans from 2020 ended up very different. Overall, I traveled to 10 countries and three continents during 1.5 years of full-time travel.
My goal was to stay in each place a month on average. I adjusted my travels depending on things to do in a destination, travel logistics, and my desire for stability.
Travel Destinations by Country 2020-22:
Costa Rica - January - March 2021
Guatemala - March - May 2021
Mexico - May - August 2021
Costa Rica - August - September 2021
El Salvador - September 2021
Honduras - September - November 2021
Mexico- November 2021
USA - November 2021 - January 2022
Mexico - January 2022
Colombia - January - February 2022
Panama - February - March 2022
USA - March 2022
Portugal - March - April 2022
Bulgaria - April - May 2022
Turkey - May 2022
The ones in bold are repeat countries. I landed back in Houston for a dental appointment on May 8, 2022, and returned to Atlanta on May 10, 2022.
First row: Left to Right: Canyoning in Costa Rica in Osa Peninsula, Sunset in Bocas del Toro in Panama on Loma Partida Island, with Palenqueras in Cartagena, Colombia
Second row: Gabriel and Veronica with VeGa Community in Honduras, , Street Art in Medellin, Colombia, Freediving in Roatan on my Birthday.
Third row: Hike to Cayaguanca Rock near Ocotepeque, Honduras overlooking El Salvador, Treehouse Stay in El Salvador at El Tunco Beach, Rainbow Slide in El Salvador near San Salvador.
Travel Destinations by City and Country 2020-22
Houston, TX and Atlanta, GA
Mexico City, Mexico
Istanbul, Turkey (Top 10 Things to Do coming soon in July 22)
Full-Time Travel Background
After, I left Atlanta the end of 2020, I spent three months in Costa Rica. During this time, I traveled to La Fortuna, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio and Escazu near San Jose, Costa Rica. Initially, I thought I would go to Nicaragua next. However, with COVID and civil unrest in Nicaragua, I changed my travels to Guatemala for my second destination.
I experienced exploring the streets, history and Holy Week in Antigua, Guatemala followed by a fast during Easter and about 5-6 weeks at Lake Atitlan.
After six stays from January - May 2021, I found myself craving stability. I decided to look for a place next to stay several months. I discovered an incredible Mayan Jungle Cabana in Tulum, Mexico for $600* monthly and stayed three months. I became good friends with the owner, Diana. We went on adventures including biking around Tulum, trying local food, and swimming in Casa Cenote.
I got a press trip and digital marketing project in Bacalar and stayed about two weeks. For that trip to Mexico, I ended it with about a week in Valladolid and visiting one of the 7 New Wonders of the World, Chichen Itza.
I was awarded a press trip in Costa Rica in the Osa Peninsula. I stayed in what National Geographic named the most diverse place on the planet for a month in August 2021. Every morning, I woke up to the sounds of howler monkeys. I learned to recognize the sounds of Scarlett Macaws and Toucans as well.
The Surprise of El Salvador came to me through a press trip to Honduras. I spent a week in El Salvador followed by two months in Honduras. During my time in Honduras, I experienced incredible culture and adventures including freediving in Roatan for my birthday, two brand projects, and press trips.
Initially, after Honduras I lined up a project near Mexico City for digital marketing. However, my brand new Mac Air started having screen issues. I tried to get it fixed in Honduras and Mexico, and discovered I may wait a month for repairs. At the same time, I desired stability and community.
I returned to the USA and spent Thanksgiving with one of my best friends for 20+ years, Angela in Houston. Afterwards, I went to Atlanta, GA for about five weeks spending Christmas and New Year in the city.
I enjoyed time with friends, Mirela and Silvana and then staying in an Airbnb. I wanted to stay at that point. However, with timing, projects, and rent pricing things did not line up.
2022
It felt like 2021 flew by with a blink of an eye. At the start of 2021, I left Atlanta, GA continuing on to Mexico for a few days before getting a flight to Colombia. I previously purchased the ticket before deciding to return to the USA with a desire to travel to Colombia.
Initially, I did have a digital marketing project in Bogota. However, for several reasons the project did not work out. The industry, shifting focus of needs for the project, and the cold weather in Bogota contributed to the decisions.
With the extra time in Colombia, after spending about two weeks in Bogota, I traveled to Medellin and Cartagena. My favorite city in Colombia is Cartagena, Colombia for many reasons.
Valentines Day found me traveling to Panama for a press trip with a luxury resort near Bocas del Toro, Misty Moonlight Villa. I ended up staying at Loma Partida Island for three weeks, and spent a week in Bocas del Toro in Bocas Town and Caranero Island afterwards.
After Panama, my original plan involved continuing on through South America to Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Brazil. At that point, I had not seen my mom, dad, brother and his family for two and half years. The last time we all saw each other was December 2019.
My parents thought they would come to Costa Rica in 2021. However, with changing climate with COVID, their own health, and approach with COVID, they ended up not coming. Of course, I missed them a lot. Like many of us, I have come to recognize that each moment is precious and priceless.
My parents and I made a plan to travel to Portugal and spend a week together on the Algarve Coast. From Panama, I went to New Orleans for three days for a hosted festival with outdoor women's travel festival, Wanderfest with Wanderful - woman's global travel community.
I caught my first leg of my flights from New Orleans to Portugal. I spent a week in Portugal before my parents arrived at the Algarve Coast. Our week together full of making memories in every way. During my time in Portugal, an apartment in Atlanta lined up at SkyHouse Buckhead for a May 10, 2022 move in date on the same street I previously lived on.
Afterwards, I stayed two more weeks on my own in Portugal before going to Bulgaria to spend time with my parents and my brother and his family. I decided to travel to Turkey before returning to the USA. The flight connections and pricing flying from Turkey is easier than from Bulgaria.
My parents decided to join me for four days in Istanbul, Turkey surprising me. The time we spent jam-packed with adventure (my mom is like the energizer bunny when it comes to travel).
Turkey ended my full-time travels this time. I headed to Houston to get a new debit card (story on my Istanbul, Turkey Top 10 Things to Do) and a second opinion on dental work with my favorite dentist, Dr Sheri Leighton. She has treated my family and I since I was five years old!
I woke up May 10, 2022 in Houston and flew to Atlanta, GA to begin again with a home base.
What I Learned Traveling Full-Time 2020-22
I remember casting a vision in 2013 to travel full-time. I didn't imagine it would happen during a global pandemic. As a result, it increased my faith in every way. In real-time, I could see the power of the alignment of my faith, thinking and actions.
The end of 2021, I shared A Year of Travel in 2021: 7 Things I Learned including increasing leaps of faith, learning to travel light, embracing flexibility, traveling for less, choosing experiences over things, desiring home base in Atlanta sooner, and craving love and community in real-life.
As I reflected on lessons learned, I have four lessons to share.
Four Lessons Learned Traveling Full-Time
When we are open to evolving into who we are created to be, the revelations and lessons come in unexpected ways. Traveling full-time 2020-22 has exponentially helped me evolve.
As I find myself in Atlanta, GA as my home base again, it has brought up both immense gratitude and incredible opportunities for growth I somewhat expected. I imagined having a home base again vs. traveling full-time would challenge me again to new levels of growth. I am and we are always works in progress. I believe the human experience of becoming who God created me to be does not end.
1 Walking in Worthiness
While traveling full-time, the novelty, experiences, and wonder kept me in the present and future focus. So many areas of my life have transformed to wholeness and abundance. At the same time, traveling full-time and returning to Atlanta heightened the attention around love, community, and freedom in finances.
This awareness helped point me to wounds impacting worthiness. I am worthy because I am, and so are you. At the same time, we mistakenly judge ourselves with lies (see James 4:7) and unhealed minds (see Romans 12:2) as unworthy. When we begin to believe, think, and act out being worthy (see John 10:10), everything starts to change.
While so many areas of my life have transformed, I knew coming back to Atlanta as my home base is what my soul needed. The last seven weeks have exponentially brought up healing from the past, being in the present, and a focus on the future in these areas.
What I have come to learn is the areas of our biggest pain may lead to our purpose if we allow it.
What comes up for you when you think of an area of your life e.g. spiritual, health, wealth, love, community, playful, emotional, and/or mental?
What area may you have decided you are unworthy?
How may you transform your life to start walking in worthiness?
2 Examining Evidence of Progress
Examining evidence of progress involves recognizing internal states of change and external evidence.
An example may be our physical state. As my transformation from the inside out happened losing over 55 lbs from 2013-14, I focused on the feelings I wanted to feel, the daily workouts and meals, and the weekly results. All three served to shift my feelings, neural pathways in my mind, and the external result. Rinse and repeat. Now, staying healthy is my new normal. For over 8 years, I haven't had cravings for food or habits that don't align. As an example, I haven't drank alcohol since 2015 and have no desire to.
I started to analyze the connection between the feeling, thinking, and actions. I applied the same things to my faith, business, purity, and deciding to travel full-time. I am now in the process of doing the same with love, community and financial freedom. The different areas of life have undoubtedly brought up new levels of awareness, lessons learned, and shifts in my thinking and behaviors.
A current example I am living out is in financial freedom. You may have come across lessons learned and results like the 6 Pack of Wealth, How to Make and Manage Money Like a Boss, and 7 Steps to Budget Money Like a Boss. In my blogs, shows, and courses, I share my transformation and practical tips, tools and tech for you to transform.
I am currently increasing my focus on purpose, priorities, people and profits with a focus on what practically new levels of wealth look like, what communities I am aligned to, and how easy it gets to be. I am increasing both internal work with prayer, scriptures on wealth, books and journals by Amanda Frances and Joe Dispenza, taking action from elevated states, and tracking evidence of progress and opportunities via Dashboard and Money Manifestor logs I created. These steps are training my brain to celebrate, see progress, and external evidence of being closer to the future now.
When we have walked in a certain way of thinking, feeling, and acting for years, it isn't easy to change. It is possible. It requires us to transform our mind to combine the internal worthiness ways of thinking with the external evidence of changes around us.
To help remind me from the inside out, I carry reminders with me on my neck and arm of Phil 4:13 with a necklace of a dumb bell and a bracelet.
I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me - Phil 4:13
Whether you believe in God or not, it is key to be aware of your internal state, dialogue, and emotions. I believe they all show us where we are walking in love, joy and peace (Gal 5:22) or the opposite. They are potential triggers to show us what is coming up for us to address next when we are open and available to change.
I will not tell you the work is easy. I am and we are human. There are pain points we have that are connected to things we saw, felt, and thought from years ago. I am still clearing experiences around lack, poverty, and emotions I experienced from childhood, teenage years, and adulthood.
What ways do you track external evidence in your life?
How could you increase celebrating progress daily?
3 Increasing Intentions in the Present
In 2018, I read a book called One Word. It radically changed my focus for each new year and day. For example, in 2018 my word was Faith. It challenged my thinking in the opposite of faith of fear. In 2021, I felt our Creator shifting me to a phrase. In 2021, my phrase was I am Anchored in Love. This challenged me every day to focus on being anchored in love, and continues to. Towards the end of last year, I realized my phrase for 2022 is I am perfectly present.
If you are following the same trends shared, the increased intention of "I Am Perfectly Present" has brought up opportunities for healing from the past and any depression, as well as healing from incorrect thinking about the future and anxiety have come up.
Mid year through 2022, I have come to realize that being perfectly present comes with opportunities to retrain my brain to be present. When I think of the past, it is to choose taking the nuggets of gold or wisdom I gained from situations to create new possibilities. When I envision the future, it is to do so with a focus on excitement, gratitude, and love. It is to have the opportunity to heal from anxiety and lies like "it's too late, it won't happen, and/or it has not happened yet so it can't".
I heard Amanda Frances say "I am not available for that" and it hit home. I have increased awareness and catching myself when I start to go left on something from the past, present, or future. I find myself saying to myself and/or out loud "I am not available for that (fill in the blank) of a negative state.
It is to increase my sense of being fully in this moment now whether it's writing this blog, recording a show, connecting with family/friend/client, being in a gym class, receiving wealth, and/or on a new adventure.
What experiences help you stay present?
How could you increase being present consistently?
4 Focusing on the Future
Along the way, I am learning to be grateful for everything in my life now while co-creating the future I desire. It is being content with what we have, grateful for every thing we experience, and seeing the future as we are led to co-create it.
Casting a vision does not mean idolizing, worshipping, or being afraid it won't come. In my own experience, I have come to create and receive it as its already mine because I have received the desire from our Creator. It is feeling and receiving it repeatedly now, while taking the aligned actions to have it manifest and come into the physical reality.
It is rebuking, renouncing and repelling any fear, doubt, worry, lack and impatience. That is not the spirit I believe our Creator desires us to create from. I remind myself to stay in the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). These are love, patience, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I believe ultimately we may all agree creating with that focus feels and looks a lot better.
I take these internal intentions and line them up to prayer, journaling, stickies on my wall at my desk, dashboard tracking progress, and 3 minimum aligned actions daily.
Do you know what you want?
What type of future do you want to create?
Which actions will you take next to #createit?
Returning to Atlanta in 2022
Returning to Atlanta, GA and the USA has been both exciting and transformational. While my spirit, soul and body loves the stability, I find myself adjusting. The constant stimulation from travel requires adjusting.
I moved back to Buckhead near Marta Station which is an area I love for the quiet, walkability, and nearness to public transportation. I have started to create a new reality of having my own home, stability, community, and deciding how travel fits in it all.
Years of Full-Time Travel 2020-22:
Where I Went, What I Learned, and Returning to Atlanta, GA
Travel is and always will be part of my life. I am grateful to have traveled full-time 2020-22. I love having the best of both worlds with a home base and traveling. Maybe I will do it again in the future with a best friend, my mom, a future fiancee/husband, and my future kids. That is something I would love to experience as well.
Years of Full-Time Travel 2020-22: Where I Went, What I Learned, and Returning to Atlanta, GA isn't just about me at all. It is about giving you inspiration about what is possible and to think like there is no box. I know solo travelers, couples, and families with kids traveling full-time.
I am aware making any changes in our lives is a challenge. If it doesn't challenge us, it doesn't change us.
How is your 2022 going?
What will you do to #CREATEIT next?
You'll love inspiring travel now.
CREATE WITH OUR COMMUNITY
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