Hi there. My name is Jean and after leaving my job as a full-time lawyer, I now spend the majority of my time traveling and figuring skating. Recently, my husband said to me, “You know, you should really start a blog. Maybe about travel. Or skating. . . . Or better yet, skating while traveling!” So I took his advice and here it goes . . .
My passion for skating started later in life. As a relatively young lawyer, in an attempt to de-stress while also getting in some exercise, I signed up for group lessons at a local rink. Little did I know that this was a “thing” that adults did. In the almost decade-or-so since picking up this once casual hobby, I find myself travelling internationally every year to attend skating competitions. The sport has also introduced me to adult skaters from all around the world.
My passion for travel started earlier, but always seemed to be put on hold when faced with the realities of life. Before starting a career in law, I had visited about 20 different countries across four continents, and spent summers in Europe and China – not bad by American standards. But I didn’t really know HOW to effectively travel: I found no reason to sign up for a frequent flyer account – opting instead to take whatever was the cheapest deal on Expedia or Yahoo travel. I now realize all the travel opportunities I missed by throwing away such valuable points I could have been earning.
When I first met my self-professed travel-geek husband, he was absolutely horrified that I had no airline loyalty, let alone no frequent-flyer accounts to my name. That quickly changed in order for me to become “marriage material.”
In late 2012, my husband’s job took us to Canada, where we lived for two years. I quit my job as an attorney and started travelling with him on his many work trips. We began tacking on to these trips – usually picking a new city or country to visit together for a long weekend. During the week, I’ve gotten used to finding solo day trips to take on my own from wherever we are. When possible, I bring along my skates and track down the nearest local rink. In the five years since leaving my full-time job in law (I now take contract assignments which allow me to work remotely), I’ve visited approximately 45 different (although not necessarily new) countries.
By being smarter about how we use our frequent flyer points and credit card points and being diligent with finding fare sales and mistakes, I am able to fund my travel without ever really having to pay full-fare. So I’m here to share my tips with you as well as my stories from the road, air, and, of course, on the ice.
A couple of caveats: While I’ve spent a lot of time and effort becoming an effective legal writer, this is my first time attempting to write for fun (hence providing “caveats”). So please bear with me! Second, despite growing up in the Silicon Valley, I am completely and entirely tech challenged (when I decided to start blogging, I was advised to learn the basics of HTML – my response was, “what’s HTML?”).
Despite these challenges, I hope to share my travel tips and experiences with you!
