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Start Before You’re Ready: How One Woman Traveled to 65+ Countries After Leaving College
24 Plays1 month ago
At 19, Cat Xu walked away from college and into a life of solo travel — eventually exploring over 65 countries through vanlife, hitchhiking, and long-term backpacking. In this inspiring episode of Go Far Girl, she shares how she got started, the seasons of long-term travel, and what it really takes to build a life of freedom, one brave step at a time.
Follow Cat on her website and instagram.
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Transcript
Kat's Journey Begins
00:00:01
CHANTELLE KINCY
Hey, thank you for joining me on Go Far Girl. Today I'm here with Kat. Kat is a backpacker turned adrenaline junkie, turned travel blogger. 19, Kat left college, launched into a life of full-time travel.
00:00:14
CHANTELLE KINCY
And now over a decade later, she's visited 65 countries, van lifed across the US, hitchhiked solo, and built a life entirely on her own terms. So we're going to walk through how it started, the seasons of long-term travel, what she's learned,
00:00:29
CHANTELLE KINCY
You guys are going to love her story. She's so much fun. So Kat, thank you so much for being here.
00:00:34
Cat Xu
Thank you so much for having me, Chantel. um yes
00:00:39
CHANTELLE KINCY
i have to admit, as I'm reading like all your stuff, I'm like, so awesome, so awesome. And then it's like, hitchhike solo. And the mom in me is like, okay, well, hold on. Maybe we back up a tiny bit.
00:00:49
CHANTELLE KINCY
Okay.
00:00:52
Cat Xu
there I mean, I definitely did not go from zero to hitchhiking immediately. That was definitely through the course of several years. And I have to admit, most of those stories my mom does not know.
00:01:01
CHANTELLE KINCY
Okay.
00:01:04
Cat Xu
For the better.
00:01:06
CHANTELLE KINCY
Well, bless you for keeping her in bliss because. ah So let's back it all the way up. So you were in college and what just realized like, this is not what I want to do.
00:01:19
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like, did you go kind of stir crazy? Like what led you to figure out a different way?
00:01:25
Cat Xu
Yeah.
First Solo Travel Experience
00:01:26
Cat Xu
Yeah. So I grew up quite sheltered. It's funny because um so it's not that we didn't travel, but, you know, every time we did travel, first of all, it was very rare, but it was either to see family.
00:01:37
Cat Xu
It was with a completely planned itinerary with printed out maps, you know, before GPS. um Hotels were always booked and we were never alone.
00:01:48
Cat Xu
You know, if we were to go to Europe, it was with a tour guide. If we were to go to like, usually it was Shanghai, it was to see family. So I didn't know that like, you know, a backpacking was even something that existed. So I was really lucky when um when I went to boarding school and I happened to have a Korean roommate and I met other international kids. So, you know, I begged my mom every summer like, hey, can I go travel? Can I go travel? And she was like, when you turn 17, I'll let you go on your first trip.
00:02:16
Cat Xu
So at 17, I did exactly what I learned to do. I traveled to meet people. Everything was planned. I had all my flights. But the first stop was Amsterdam. And my friend, literally the night before, told me, hey, family has suddenly come and you can't stay at my place anymore.
00:02:34
Cat Xu
I internally freaked out. um But it was the first time, you know, i looked online and said like, okay, like what do I do on a budget? And that was the first time that i knew what a hostel was. I went to a hostel and I met my first backpacker and he was a guy who was doing like 10 months in Europe and I was blown away.
00:02:50
Cat Xu
Like I didn't know that this was something that
Gap Year Adventures
00:02:52
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:02:52
Cat Xu
existed.
00:02:53
Cat Xu
um So after that, you know, this was summertime, I was graduating high school and I asked my mom like, hey, can I take a gap year? But I never really thought that it was something that I would actually do. So, you know, I asked, but my mom said no. And I said, okay, I'll go to college.
00:03:07
Cat Xu
um Three months into college, I realized that I had so much unstructured time, but I also wasn't really caring about anything. Like, my whole goal for all of high school and even middle school was literally to get into college. And I got into college and...
00:03:23
Cat Xu
ah Like I didn't have a further goal, you know, like my mom is kind of a tiger mom, you know, the A minus have to have A minus type grades.
00:03:28
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:03:31
Cat Xu
So yeah, I just like didn't really know what to do with my time anymore. And so, you know, I thought back to that guy that I had met backpacking and I was like, you know what, I'm gonna make a PowerPoint. And during Thanksgiving break, I presented my mom a PowerPoint of the gap year that I wanted to take.
00:03:49
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:03:53
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:03:53
CHANTELLE KINCY
That's amazing. What was her reaction? Like, I mean, you obviously put work into it. So it wasn't just like, oh, like on a whim, what did she say?
00:04:02
Cat Xu
It took months for her to say yes at first. I mean, she even started kind of bribing me. She was like, if you go back to college, I'll get you ah car. Like, oh, if you want to start a business, you know, I'll help, you know, direct you to some family friends.
00:04:17
Cat Xu
And I was like, no, I think I want to do the traveling thing. And, you know, at some point you're an adult, and you know, as long as I was able to go back to school, which thankfully my university was very lenient.
00:04:20
CHANTELLE KINCY
yeah
00:04:27
Cat Xu
um They said that you could take a year. And um so I decided to finish my freshman year and then to take my gap year. Yeah.
00:04:35
CHANTELLE KINCY
I love it. So where did
Personal Growth through Travel
00:04:36
CHANTELLE KINCY
you go? Where was that first like brave outing on your own?
00:04:40
Cat Xu
So it was six months in South America and six months in Asia. And at first it, so, and I'm so glad I did this because I told you I grew up quite sheltered. I really, you know, didn't know how to live on my own. Even in university, you know, you have cafeterias. Like I didn't know cook. I knew how to cook eggs and like heat canned soup.
00:05:03
Cat Xu
um So I basically, Decided for my first month, I was going to go to a Spanish school and learn Spanish because in case you don't know, in in South America, it's really hard to get by if you don't have any Spanish.
00:05:16
Cat Xu
So it was also a way for me to kind of get used to, you know, being on my own. And that first that first week was terrifying. Like ah it was by far the most the scariest thing I'd done because I'd never you know, I'd taken a flight by myself, but never to go somewhere like by myself.
00:05:35
Cat Xu
And I remember I had organized like ah airport transport to take me to the school.
00:05:35
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:05:39
Cat Xu
And that first week, I really thought that. You know, everybody was going to rob me like i was I was not I was like socially so anxious. And I remember before leaving, ah thinking that the scariest thing was going to be eating on my own.
00:05:55
Cat Xu
And, you know, looking back on it, I can't believe that that's something that I would be so scared of.
00:06:01
CHANTELLE KINCY
Isn't that funny how you just have these thoughts in your head and you kind of get yourself into this little tunnel, but then you're like, oh, I eat by myself all the time, literally all the time now.
00:06:12
Cat Xu
Exactly, exactly. And that first part of the trip was really structured. So I did the school and then at some point I was like, you know what, I can't keep because I kept like delaying and delaying leaving. And I was like, you know what, I did this trip to like be on my own.
00:06:25
Cat Xu
I'm going to go on my own. So finally, after five weeks, um I decided to go to this tiny island called Tortuguero, where you can see these like nesting turtles. And that first day, it was like a remote island.
00:06:37
Cat Xu
That first day had rained. i couldn't use my Spanish because I literally knew Spanish for five weeks. And i opened my bag and the shampoo exploded. And i just sobbed.
00:06:47
CHANTELLE KINCY
Oh gosh.
00:06:49
Cat Xu
I sobbed all afternoon. And then I was thinking i was so lonely. And I was like, you know what, I could go back home and think of myself as giving up.
00:07:01
Cat Xu
um or i can take this moment to just cry my heart out, realize that I'm totally alone, and grow. And that night, I saw turtles laying eggs, and it was so beautiful
00:07:13
CHANTELLE KINCY
What a magical day.
00:07:14
Cat Xu
that Exactly, exactly. Like that was my first like, I guess like the moment that I really realized that, you know, you have some like tenacity in you. It's like in a moment of hardship, it's when you realize that you have the strength to go on.
00:07:27
Cat Xu
And I think a lot of traveling does is like, you know, you have those hard moments and you choose to continue going. And this like
Navigating Solo Travel and Helping Others
00:07:33
Cat Xu
applies to all aspects of life.
00:07:35
CHANTELLE KINCY
but That's so strong of you, though, even if you didn't realize it at the time. I mean, to be so scared, but still like be able to like have that conversation with yourself. And you're like, you're going to regret it if you go home.
00:07:46
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like you've got more in you. Like basically suck it up and let's go.
00:07:49
Cat Xu
Exactly.
00:07:51
CHANTELLE KINCY
Let's try again. and then it ended up by just opening up the entire world for you and changing everything just in that little one internal conversation.
00:07:52
Cat Xu
Exactly.
00:07:59
CHANTELLE KINCY
That is so cool.
00:08:01
Cat Xu
Yeah. And that was ah like after that was the first time that I had solo traveled. And that's when you meet like the backpackers who help you. Like this is how you do the hustles. um This is how you get like the cheap deals.
00:08:14
Cat Xu
um And actually shortly after I had joined this like giant group trip because my mom was not going to let me solo travel. so it was like a two week like solo travel bit. And then I was going to join this like overland van for like three months.
00:08:25
CHANTELLE KINCY
Okay.
00:08:26
Cat Xu
But I had that like two week spark of like solo travel that I joined the van and after two weeks I was like, I think I'm going to go my own way.
00:08:35
CHANTELLE KINCY
You're like, this is really people-y.
00:08:37
Cat Xu
My mom was not happy about it.
00:08:41
Cat Xu
But yeah, that was really like the beginning. And, you know, I'm really grateful for all the people that I met. They like that you really depend on people in the beginning because you just don't really know how to do anything.
00:08:53
Cat Xu
It's it's wild.
00:08:53
CHANTELLE KINCY
But travelers are so helpful. People want to share those experiences and want to pass that forward.
00:08:56
Cat Xu
So helpful.
00:09:00
CHANTELLE KINCY
And I think a lot of people think solo travel is going to be lonely and you're going to be by yourself, but you're not. Like you end up by meeting so many people and just having like the most unique conversations and the unique, like,
00:09:08
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:09:14
CHANTELLE KINCY
these perspectives from all these different people. Whereas when you travel with a group or even just like with one person, you kind of spend time with that person or that group and you don't get that outside experience.
00:09:25
CHANTELLE KINCY
It's so fun. I had this conversation, like I was in York at a coffee shop And I talked to like this 98 year old man who lived there for like two hours.
00:09:36
Cat Xu
That's incredible.
00:09:37
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like I want him to be my best friend. He was so cool. But you just learn all these like random stories and things. And it's it's not lonely. It's really, really opposite of what you think going into it.
00:09:53
Cat Xu
Exactly. I think at on the top of a hostel, I remember seeing that you're not by yourself. ah You're just with a bunch of friends you haven't met yet.
00:10:02
CHANTELLE KINCY
Oh my gosh. I love that. That's so cool.
00:10:06
Cat Xu
Yeah. and And I think it's a circle as well.
00:10:07
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:10:09
Cat Xu
And it's the same with the hitchhiking. Like at first, all you do is really, you know, take because I don't have that much to give. And I'm such a newbie that, you know, in the beginning,
00:10:19
Cat Xu
you, you, and even though it's not like, you know, money or food, it's like information that I don't know how to then give. But then, um and this is what I call, like, I think traveling has seasons where like what I travel now, like how I travel now is so different than it was 10 years ago.
00:10:34
Cat Xu
And in the beginning, it's, you're, you know, you're very dependent on like other backpackers to kind of teach you the ways and then you learn to be independent and then you kind of like go on your own way a little bit and then, you know, you end up gaining all this knowledge that you then, you know, you meet somebody who's on the road for like two weeks and you're like, oh, come here, little bird, like, i ill I'll teach you like, i' I'll show you all the tips and the tricks.
00:10:55
CHANTELLE KINCY
I'm sorry.
00:10:59
Cat Xu
um And this kind of translates with the hitchhiking as well. Like at first, And it's amazing because, you know, I feel like during those years of solo hitchhiking, I took a lot. You know, people would always give you food. I went on these incredible adventures. And now if I ever see somebody on the side of the road, I am guaranteed to be taking them. Because I know there's so many people have helped me. It's kind of like that, like, pay it forward type thing.
00:11:21
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
Adapting to Van Life
00:11:23
CHANTELLE KINCY
I'm still scared about the hitchhiking. I'm not there yet. But I see where you're going with it. I see the vision. i just am not quite there yet.
00:11:32
CHANTELLE KINCY
But um,
00:11:33
Cat Xu
I think I have learned that like 99.9% of people and situations are good and incredible.
00:11:43
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:11:43
Cat Xu
um For sure, there are the 0.1 to 0.5% of sketchy situations. And I feel like those are...
00:11:50
CHANTELLE KINCY
And those are the ones I binge watch on crime TV.
00:11:55
Cat Xu
I mean, like definitely there's been moments where I'm like, this could end very badly. But looking back on it and you're like, actually, that turned into like an incredible week. Like, I remember I went into the jungle for a week in Myanmar with my mom was very scared because there was no Internet.
00:12:11
Cat Xu
um Because I just I was hitchhiking and he was like, hey, do you want to like come live with my cousin in the jungle for a week? And it was honestly it was one of the best weeks. We literally every day just fished. We like roamed around like wild pineapples and just like subsisted.
00:12:27
CHANTELLE KINCY
cat.
00:12:33
Cat Xu
oh
00:12:34
CHANTELLE KINCY
If my children listen to this podcast, absolutely not. Okay.
00:12:38
Cat Xu
ah
00:12:41
CHANTELLE KINCY
But good for you, girl.
00:12:43
CHANTELLE KINCY
No, that's amazing.
00:12:43
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:12:44
Cat Xu
and And I do feel like it.
00:12:46
CHANTELLE KINCY
I was just going say, I feel like I have an alter ego when I travel though, because I'm sitting here going like, absolutely not. But I know dang well, if I was like walking down a street and someone's like, do you want to come see this cool like alleyway where we could, I'd be like, oh hell yeah, let's go.
00:13:01
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like I do weird crap like that when I travel all the time that I would never do like in Seattle.
00:13:02
Cat Xu
Exactly.
00:13:08
CHANTELLE KINCY
Right. Like, so I get it. I get it. I'm being just funny, but like, I do get it. We do weird. Like we're, it's just a different life. It's like, Not real.
00:13:17
Cat Xu
I almost think you're in like a different mindset because it's weird. i've I feel like I've done all these crazy things, but I have the same feeling probably in like all of America. Whenever I'm in America, I'm like, oh, I'm home.
00:13:28
Cat Xu
And I feel like I'm a lot more self-conscious actually versus like out there, which it's it's a weird split.
00:13:32
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes. Yes.
00:13:36
Cat Xu
um Almost Hippocratic actually.
00:13:36
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:13:38
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:13:38
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah, no, it is. It's it's totally different. That's why i always say it's like an alter ego. It's like, I'm more confident. I don't care what people think. I will be silly. i will do like crazy things, like things that terrify me. I'm not scared of all of a sudden for some reason.
00:13:52
CHANTELLE KINCY
um But when I'm home, like I get anxiety going to Costco sometimes. I'm like, oh my gosh, this is terrible.
00:13:59
Cat Xu
Yeah, I feel the same way. and And same with like going to social events. Like I feel more social anxiety going to something when I'm at home versus like when I know I'm completely by myself and I'm like, I'm just going to go to a mut music festival like by myself.
00:14:12
Cat Xu
But maybe it's because like you don't have another option.
00:14:12
CHANTELLE KINCY
Because people people you know are judgy.
00:14:16
Cat Xu
Yeah, Yeah, that's very true.
00:14:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
yeah You know? Like, they have an opinion about you. And people you don't know don't. That's what it is for me. Because people just don't care. And I love that about them.
00:14:30
Cat Xu
Yeah. And honestly, going on the social aspect, I think one of the best things about starting so young is that like I used to be I wouldn't say introverted. I think I wanted to be extroverted, but had an introverted shell.
00:14:45
Cat Xu
um
00:14:45
CHANTELLE KINCY
h
00:14:46
Cat Xu
And so the traveling really brought out the fact that like, oh, I'm able to talk to anybody. And
00:14:51
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:14:53
Cat Xu
and And that has persisted like throughout my life. And I'm so glad I learned that like very early on ah because I actually am very extroverted. I just like didn't know what to say or like how to go up to people.
00:15:02
CHANTELLE KINCY
That's cool. Yeah. So travel gave you that gift too, that you can now like use all over. So after that first trip, did you go back to school and kind of go back to like, quote unquote, normal life for a while and then and then hit the road again? Or were you just like free bird after that?
00:15:22
Cat Xu
I think after that first year, I really realized that it was going to be a part of my life forever. um And I really wanted to design my life to be around it. But I did go back to school. You know, I, you know, based on how my parents are like, I not finishing a university was not an option.
00:15:39
Cat Xu
um But any chance I got, you know I went to like the weirdest places. So during study abroad, i went to Israel. And then while I was in Israel, I found a job in Malta. So I lived in Malta for, I took a semester off and lived in there.
00:15:52
Cat Xu
And I think like throughout travel, like you know i would go on these road trips or like I was also in Missouri. um So you know whatever you can explore in the Midwest, I really tried to do And i think the next scariest step was after graduating, I got a job in
00:16:02
CHANTELLE KINCY
yeah.
00:16:08
Cat Xu
in LA and I was like, wow, I'm gonna have to put, you know, the traveling to rest for a little bit, um you know, and go to the office every day. And um I guess like by chance, actually on the way back from from university that last semester.
00:16:27
Cat Xu
um i stopped at Great Smoky Mountains. It was the first national park I ever visited, which I'm embarrassed to say I was like 23 at the time. um But I met my first van lifer and never heard of this culture before.
00:16:42
Cat Xu
And i I guess it's the same as the backpacker. Like, I just
Embracing the Digital Nomad Lifestyle
00:16:45
Cat Xu
like, you know, don't know these things. um And then I moved to LA and a couple months in, I got into a fight with my roommate.
00:16:47
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:16:53
Cat Xu
And sitting on the beach that night, I was like, you know what? I think I'm going to go try van life. And I think it's the same repetitive of like, I would have been so scared if it was my first time. But because it was, you know, I had gone out of my comfort zone so many times before, this was like the next step of like, okay, I'm going to be extremely uncomfortable.
00:17:09
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:17:11
Cat Xu
But I know that I can do it.
00:17:11
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah. yeah
00:17:14
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:17:14
CHANTELLE KINCY
So did you, so you bought a van? You didn't have one.
00:17:18
Cat Xu
I didn't have one.
00:17:20
CHANTELLE KINCY
So you.
00:17:20
Cat Xu
I bought it And I was very lucky one week before buying it, or sorry, one week after I bought it, COVID happened. So I had like two months of just time to go to Home Depot every day and work on the van.
00:17:35
Cat Xu
And then I just, ah you know, my lease was ending in two months. I really needed to finish in two months. And then I lived out of it for like two years.
00:17:40
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:17:42
Cat Xu
But I was working full time. So it was a very different type of lifestyle. It was very busy. Like I woke up at 6 a.m. to either hike, work and then drive or ah wake up at 6 a.m. to drive, work, maybe have like a lunch at a you know nice arch and then a hike at night before before bed. So it it was it was a lot.
00:18:17
CHANTELLE KINCY
So that's amazing. So van life. So that was all US s then. um Did you like have a plan with that? Like, did you map out where you wanted to go? Did you stick to national parks? Or were you kind of just like, I don't know, this week, I'd like to go to Arches, and now I'm headed to Minnesota? Or how did you kind of plan that out?
00:18:37
Cat Xu
Yeah, I went on very long road trips. So I still made my base in LA because my friends were there. Technically, my job was still there, but you know we never went back to the office. So that first week, ah sorry, that first trip, I would say that I divided into three trips. So my first trip was six weeks up and down the West Coast.
00:18:54
Cat Xu
And that was like a straight six weeks up and down. um The other ones and in van life you get very tired of kind of doing the same thing so um you know I feel like a lot of van life people don't say this but it it does get very exhausting and you really need to take breaks in between so I did have friends coming with me all the time um but then I would also take breaks after a couple of weeks so at the time um you know we would go like I would take like a friend's trip to Utah or a friend's trip to Mexico just to kind of break it up, but that second road trip was like five or six months.
00:19:29
Cat Xu
So including the time like going to Mexico and Utah. So it was like starting in LA all the way to Arizona, up to Montana, and then back down west. So it was very long.
00:19:41
Cat Xu
But I...
00:19:42
CHANTELLE KINCY
That's an adventure.
00:19:42
Cat Xu
i I love America now. Like, it's so funny because before, you know, I was like, oh, I want to move to Europe. I want to, you know, I want to like work and live in other places and and really living in the West Coast and seeing all that amazing nature.
00:19:57
Cat Xu
realized America has incredible, incredible landscapes. Yeah.
00:20:02
CHANTELLE KINCY
And it's so diverse, right? I mean, think between Arizona and Montana,
00:20:04
Cat Xu
So diverse.
00:20:07
CHANTELLE KINCY
Just the amount of, I mean, you've got the mountains and glacial fed lakes and all of these like crazy peaks and animals and the Rockies.
00:20:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
And then you go down to Arizona with like cactus and desert. Like it's just so unique in the red rock. It looks like you're on another planet.
00:20:24
Cat Xu
So unique.
00:20:26
CHANTELLE KINCY
So I think I need to appreciate that more too. And I have been lately. Like I went to Wisconsin a couple of weeks ago and I was like, cool cows, but like Wisconsin's beautiful.
00:20:38
CHANTELLE KINCY
Oh my gosh.
00:20:38
Cat Xu
It's amazing.
00:20:39
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like there's the prettiest lake I've ever seen. um and just, we went on some great hikes. I mean, there's just, it's just not what you think. There's just something so beautiful about all these different places and none of them are the same.
00:20:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
And I love it.
00:20:57
Cat Xu
I cannot remember if it's Wisconsin or Michigan, but there there's this like ice cave. So in some winters, it's cold enough that the lake literally freezes and you walk out and there's just ice caves there.
00:21:10
Cat Xu
And but that's just something that you don't see in, you know, maybe in like Siberia or something, but like like you don't see that in in many other places.
00:21:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:21:20
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:21:21
Cat Xu
Yeah, it's it's incredibly diverse.
00:21:22
CHANTELLE KINCY
No.
00:21:22
Cat Xu
And it made me really appreciate the country that I grew up in.
00:21:27
CHANTELLE KINCY
And it's, there's so much of it too, right? I think a lot of people in Europe are like, oh, you guys never leave the country. well, we could go to like two states and the time you could go to four countries. Like, you know, I mean, it's big and there there is a lot to see and do.
00:21:41
CHANTELLE KINCY
And so I think that that's a good lesson too for some people who are like either hesitant to leave the country or just don't have like the the time off to go for these big trips. You aren't missing out. I mean, of course the world is big and there's other things, but you can do some really cool things close to home too.
00:21:57
Cat Xu
Exactly.
00:21:58
CHANTELLE KINCY
You don't have to, Yeah.
00:21:58
Cat Xu
And I think what's and what's incredible the about the US is that like people are really allowed to build these crazy roadside things, you know like build a house out of beer bottles or like make a miniature sculpture of you know a random city in their backyard.
00:22:15
Cat Xu
And then you could just like go there and like look at it. um
00:22:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:22:19
Cat Xu
and that That is also something, those Route 66 type things that I love stopping at.
00:22:25
CHANTELLE KINCY
yeah I've been traveling with this girl from Canada for the last couple weeks. we She hosted me on a Banff trip, and then she hosted me in Alaska. And she's like, America is a wonderland.
00:22:37
CHANTELLE KINCY
You guys are just so extra about things. She's like, i was researching this place called, like, Submitland and a big ball of yarn. You guys are just so extra. and You're just...
00:22:48
CHANTELLE KINCY
into everything. It's so crazy. So it's funny to hear like other people's perspectives too. Like she's just from Alberta.
00:22:55
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:22:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
She's like not from that far away, but she's like America. It's a wonderland.
00:23:01
Cat Xu
And honestly, my years in the Midwest, those are the types of things that you go to see. Like the world's largest birdhouse. I've seen the world's largest pencil. The ah museum of vacuum history.
00:23:15
Cat Xu
Like they're just so bizarre.
00:23:15
CHANTELLE KINCY
What?
00:23:16
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:23:20
Cat Xu
oh
00:23:20
CHANTELLE KINCY
I'm going to Carhenge in Nebraska in July for a trip. Like, why?
00:23:25
Cat Xu
Oh my God.
00:23:25
CHANTELLE KINCY
i don't know. Yeah,
00:23:27
Cat Xu
think I know which one that is too, but I might be confusing. It's not the text because in Texas they have that like car thing. It's different. It's different.
00:23:34
CHANTELLE KINCY
yeah I guess it's laid out just like Stonehenge, but like with like spray painted cars.
00:23:38
Cat Xu
But made out of cars.
00:23:39
CHANTELLE KINCY
i Yeah, so I'll report back on that.
00:23:41
Cat Xu
It's such an American thing.
00:23:42
CHANTELLE KINCY
But why?
00:23:43
Cat Xu
ah
00:23:43
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:23:45
Cat Xu
Car hinge review.
00:23:48
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes.
00:23:49
Cat Xu
well
00:23:49
CHANTELLE KINCY
Is it worth it? Did the aliens build it? No. What's happening?
00:23:54
Cat Xu
ah
00:23:55
CHANTELLE KINCY
So, so funny.
00:23:56
Cat Xu
have
00:23:58
CHANTELLE KINCY
Well, I love this. So where, where was next? Okay. So we, we did like hitchhike or we backpacked and hitchhiked and then van life, but then you've been living abroad for a while. Right.
00:24:08
CHANTELLE KINCY
So that was kind of your next transition.
00:24:09
Cat Xu
Yeah. so
00:24:11
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah.
00:24:12
Cat Xu
Exactly. So I guess this is like my next season um where like after the van life and the digital nomading, that was really where I got the idea to start blogging. And I think every one of these like major life steps, it's, you know, the push to be more creative.
00:24:29
Cat Xu
the push to be uncomfortable. And so, you know, i had like a very nice cushy job. I had my like a home for the first time in my life. And, you know, having to sell my cars, move out of l LA and quit my job. It was a different type of fear than when I was in university.
00:24:48
Cat Xu
Because back then, like I, no matter how much I traveled, you know, there was a limited amount of time and I always knew what I was coming back to. And start, I was starting the blog, but, um, it was a move of which I had nothing to come back to. And it was extremely terrifying.
00:25:06
Cat Xu
It was extremely terrifying. And so, you know, the, I mean, i think the leaving isn't as scary anymore, but it's really like the leaving with having like no backup plan.
00:25:17
Cat Xu
And it, yeah, I admit like it was, uh, like the next step. Um,
00:25:21
CHANTELLE KINCY
Well, plus you had worked for those things and then you were just letting them go.
00:25:25
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:25:25
CHANTELLE KINCY
So you had worked to to afford a car and a place and then you were just like, okay, bye. Like that's different than not having anything to begin with
00:25:34
Cat Xu
It's very different.
Reflections and Advice for Women Travelers
00:25:35
CHANTELLE KINCY
or being in college and knowing you could go back to your mom if you needed to or go back to a dorm or whatever.
00:25:39
CHANTELLE KINCY
But now this was your stuff that you were parting ways with. That's different.
00:25:45
Cat Xu
Yeah, that is ah that is a very good perspective I never thought of. But yeah, it it did feel like a lot more of a struggle. I think I struggled for like months, but, um you know, a couple of decisions and I was like, you know what, in January,
00:25:57
Cat Xu
I'm going to drive back to LA. I'm gonna sell everything. I think I sold and packed up everything in like a week. And then um I went to go visit my mom and I was heading to Asia. And for the last couple, like three years, I think this was starting in January of 2022.
00:26:12
Cat Xu
I've spent a lot of my life in in Asia. So at first I was still doing like the backpacking thing. i think I did a lot, probably close to a year of like backpacking how I used to.
00:26:23
Cat Xu
um Less hitchhiking, but, you know, so still a bit of that. Still a little bit of couch surfing. I still do it, but, you know, on rare occasions. And I think now it's a bit more about like the settling.
00:26:35
Cat Xu
So, yeah. Now I'm starting to pick more like places that I want to go back to year after year. And it's crazy to say, but I think this is actually the next hard step where what makes me uncomfortable is actually staying in one place.
00:26:52
Cat Xu
for a longer period of time or not even staying one place but like returning over and over again. And I love having the same people, but I guess it's like knowing that I've seen a lot of it and it's not like new, but I do wanna put down roots and actually this is like the next uncomfortable thing.
00:27:08
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah. Does that seem scarier than not?
00:27:12
Cat Xu
Yes, like I don't know how to stop, it's crazy.
00:27:13
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:16
Cat Xu
So now I'm working through the struggles of that, yeah.
00:27:17
CHANTELLE KINCY
That's so interesting. Yeah. So, but it'd be kind of cool though, because then you're like, go to these places you've already seen, but you're never going it's never going the same trip twice, right?
00:27:28
CHANTELLE KINCY
Like, even if you return to the same place every year for the rest of your life, you're always going to have a completely different experience and it's going to be
00:27:29
Cat Xu
Exactly.
00:27:36
CHANTELLE KINCY
um you'll just experience on a deeper level.
00:27:39
Cat Xu
Yeah, and and I think the biggest change um of my realization to this is like, I hear you know my best friends complain about like certain issues that they're having, and those are issues that you only have when you stay in one place for a long time.
00:27:54
Cat Xu
And I was like, it's weird, you're complaining about them, and I know inherently that like I would not be happy being in a situation like that, but but I'm almost jealous of the problems that you have of staying in one place.
00:28:05
Cat Xu
Because it means you know you're like growing those relationships and putting roots down. and i will but Travel is for sure forever going to be a part of me. And I do want to have like multiple homes. I will never be, i think, like a you know main you know having a very normal life of staying in one place. But um yeah, I think i'm I'm in the slightly slowing down mode.
00:28:27
Cat Xu
Exactly.
00:28:28
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yeah, I mean, it's just a different chapter. Like you said before, it's just a season.
00:28:31
Cat Xu
Exactly.
00:28:32
CHANTELLE KINCY
This is just, I mean, you've really lived life to the fullest this far. And there's something more. And if that's what's pulling you, then you know dang well that's what you need to do.
00:28:43
CHANTELLE KINCY
And, um you know, you don't even know how long it will last. You might do this for five years and then be like, I don't know, I'm going to whatever, Mars next or something.
00:28:47
Cat Xu
Exactly.
00:28:52
Cat Xu
Exactly. Although
00:28:53
CHANTELLE KINCY
don't know. Yeah.
00:28:56
Cat Xu
after visiting the, oh, where is it? The Houston Space Center, I put go to space on my bucket list.
00:29:03
CHANTELLE KINCY
I knew it.
00:29:05
Cat Xu
That museum was incredible. Yeah.
00:29:08
CHANTELLE KINCY
ah That's so funny. You could go with Katy Perry or something, right?
00:29:12
Cat Xu
ah Yeah, exactly. Maybe when the when the price to enter is not $5 million.
00:29:13
CHANTELLE KINCY
Jeez.
00:29:17
Cat Xu
Hopefully soon.
00:29:18
CHANTELLE KINCY
Uh, you think?
00:29:19
Cat Xu
Yeah.
00:29:20
CHANTELLE KINCY
Because if you're making that with your blog, we need to have a private conversation because I'm doing something wrong.
00:29:30
Cat Xu
hopefully soon
00:29:33
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes. Manifest, manifest.
00:29:37
CHANTELLE KINCY
So Kat, what would be your advice to women who are afraid to take that first leap? You've had such a wealth of information and experiences.
00:29:42
Cat Xu
ah
00:29:46
CHANTELLE KINCY
How would you give that back now?
00:29:49
Cat Xu
Yeah, so taken from the Nike quote, I would say just do it. um The first time is extremely hard.
00:29:53
CHANTELLE KINCY
Yes. Yes.
00:29:56
Cat Xu
And I'm not going to sugarcoat it. When you first step out of that you know initial uncomfortable box, it is so hard. You have to get over yourself, get over society, you know everything that you grew up learning.
00:30:09
Cat Xu
And you know you might come into hardship but you know you just have to know that you have the ability you can trust in your own gut and that is so empowering and uh crazily enough i would say the second time might be even harder because you come back and when you want to leave the second time, you're you're even thinking, you know, like, is it going to live up to the first time?
00:30:33
Cat Xu
um But then I promise every time after that, it gets easier. And it's applicable to literally everything else in life.
00:30:41
CHANTELLE KINCY
Oh my gosh. I love that so much. I got chills. I'm like, let's go somewhere. So cool. Thank you so much for hanging out with us and sharing your life story with us. That was so incredible.
00:30:52
CHANTELLE KINCY
It was so fun talking to you.
00:30:55
Cat Xu
Thank you so much for having me
00:30:56
CHANTELLE KINCY
forgot. Where can people follow your adventures? Give us, I'll put the links in the description, but go ahead and tell us where people can follow you.
00:30:59
Cat Xu
Oh yeah.
00:31:03
Cat Xu
Okay, yeah, so I have two travel blogs. One is US based called daytripnomad.com and then I have a world travel blog ah called Nomadicated. Yep.
00:31:16
CHANTELLE KINCY
Very cool. So I'll put those links in the description for you guys. Be sure to follow Kat. She's got tons of like tips and tricks. Plus you can just kind of check in and see what she's up to these days. And ah you'll want to hang out with us next week too, because I'm bringing Kat back for another story time.
00:31:30
CHANTELLE KINCY
All right. So we'll see you guys then. All right. Bye Kat.
00:31:34
Cat Xu
Bye.