My path to freelance writing began with my deep love of travel and my career in teaching. I spent a college summer studying in London and then, after graduating two years later, I hopped aboard a U.K.- bound airplane again, this time with a temporary work visa in hand. I spent six months—the limit of my visa—earning money as a barista and bartender and used what I earned to travel.
When my visa expired, I reluctantly returned home to Upstate New York, determined to find a way to live abroad again. That opportunity presented itself in the form of teaching English abroad, so I earned the proper credentials and went on to teach in Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea.
Realizing that teaching English was something I wanted to do long-term, I returned to the U.S. for a Master’s Degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), a degree that opened up job opportunities at the university level. I spent a few more years teaching abroad, this time in Istanbul, Turkey, and then again in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam because I loved it so much the first time.
When I moved back to the U.S. on a more permanent basis, I felt a strong pull to write about my travels, so I enrolled in travel writing, journalism, and memoir classes. Once the courses ended, I decided that I wanted to keep writing and turn it into a second career.
Some of the best advice I’ve ever heard is to write what you know so I started a travel blog. My first blog was focused on international travel, but I soon scaled down to cover travel destinations only within my home state of New York.
Now I like to write about traveling both near and far, and I also contribute to publications that focus on the teaching abroad industry.
I’m based in New York City, where I write, teach, and maintain my blog, From Inwood Out.
Contact me at FromInwoodOut@gmail.com.