In addition to being a record of my own travels, the purpose of this site is to encourage others to launch their own international adventures. I get the feeling that many of my peers would like to get out and travel but believe it’s too hard, too expensive or just too daunting. I think that maybe they just need to be pointed in the right direction. Be it backpacking, teaching or working, volunteering or learning abroad, I think that spending time outside of your comfort zone is incredibly rewarding and important.

This week, Tours4fun’s Crush4Fun focuses on an engaging young lady, who is extremely enthusiastic about the world and discovering it through travel!  At Twenty-Something Travel: Why Wait To See The World? Travel blogger, Stephanie Yoder, is a girl who can’t sit still and has never been enthusiastic about the 9-5 for 40 years thing.  Journey with her around the world as she visits vast locations in Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean and many more wondrous cities!  This Twenty-Something Traveler has  many venues for expressing her love for travel.  Her blog offers chapters on her experiences, travels abroad, life philosophy, saving resources and trip planning tips. 

Each chapter offers advice and information on such topics as: Where to Go Abroad, From Portland to London, and How to Save as You Splurg.  She also offers very informative and entertaining travel tips on how to pack, create lists, and how to pass travel time.  Resources for housekeeping and links to other travel sites and information, give you a glimpse on other perspectives and experiences.   You can follow and keep up with her on Facebook and Twitter, as she travels and shares each and every detail!  Plans for future travel are also indicated, so that all her fans may continue to follow in her adventures and share in all of her exotic experiences.

Stephanie shares her learning experiences of her epic round-the-world trips, some being solo and others with friendly companionship.    Her writing is effortless, as she details how others revel in amazement as she is able to bravely attempt long-term traveling–something considered as an unviable option to a few critics in her immediate circles.   Eager to break molds as well as answer the question, “What are you doing you crazy girl?!”, she plans for future backpacking around the world for at least one year, or at least until the money holds out. 

“I’m going to be writing about my travels here and hopefully demonstrating how accessible and realistic budget world travel can be.”
To answer the question, “Where Are You Going?”, she has a basic idea of what she wants to do but tries to be open to changes due to budget, logistics and serendipity. This keeps her itinerary is in constant flux.  But for now, after planning trips to China, Japan and Australia for the Fall of 2010, she figures she will head to Southeast Asia, Turkey, the Balkans and Greece.   Be sure to check her out on Facebook or Twitter for an update. 

Of all questions asked,  “How can you afford this?” “What about your job?”  and “Aren’t you scared?”,  “You’re going alone?” is the most posed. “I have a dream, and I’m not going to sit around and wait until I meet someone who is crazy enough to want to do the exact same thing. I have a feeling I’d be waiting a long time.  So if that means figuring out how to navigate the world on my own steam, I’m up to the challenge.”

“Most of us (particularly in the US) have been told our entire lives that there is a specific life model we need to follow: go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, work, work work, retire and THEN maybe if you are in good health and financially secure you can do some traveling.  Well I’m not buying it. There is no one size fits all path to a happy and fulfilled existence.  The world is there, waiting for you, if you’re willing to make it happen. 😉