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Hey! I’m Devin and I am 25 years old. It took me 25 years to find what I was truly passionate about. It took a health crisis, a spiral in my mental health, and what felt like hundreds of sessions with my therapist to finally say, “alright, I’m quitting 9-5 and making this life what I actually want it to be.”

During the summer of 2019 I was interning at a college. During my first few days, I was experiencing migraines that would stop what I was doing immediately and put me in bed for the next 10 hours. As the migraines became more frequent, I also noticed numbness on my left side; from my forehead, to my teeth, to the tips of my fingers all the way down to the tip of my toes. Completely numb. I was alone in a small dorm room while I was experiencing numbness and the worst migraine yet. I left that day and drove myself home. When I arrived home, I spent the next 36 hours in a doctor’s office getting pricked, poked, and x-rayed. These 36 hours also included being stared at like I had seven heads and no one truly believing anything I was saying.  The tests were not offering any answers to my condition. Few, other than family, believed what was happening to me. Well folks, turns out I was not crazy and only have one head…along with one hole in my heart, a mass in my sinus and 14 mini stroke markings on an MRI of my brain. The doctors then informed me that the hole in my heart had been there since I was a baby but was never discovered. Additionally, the birth control I was on had thickened my blood and with my heart not functioning properly, I had a series of mini strokes. I guess you can say the mass in my sinus was just my luck.

At this point you’re probably like, “yikes!” Yikes is right. “Yikes” became my new life motto. When doctors call you a “hot mess,” you know it’s bad. I finished that summer walking 12 miles a day to stay physically fit and eating strictly vegan - well as strict as I could (I like cheese). I stopped taking birth control, scheduled surgery and went back to work as a Resident Director at a college in August. Life seemingly went back to normal.

As work progressed and I sat through countless meetings, I found myself looking at travel blogs and following Instagram travel accounts. I was building my world financially and professionally. Everyone was telling me I was rocking the professional world. I had a solid job, with full health coverage, a steady income and a roof over my head. I even had countless job offers coming in, but I did not feel fulfilled. I was tired of waking up every day and doing the exact same thing. I had lost my stride to succeed and began to coast through the days. What once was a job I loved, I was now dreading. I started joking about the idea of quitting, packing and disappearing. I talked about it so often a friend even came up with “Bon Bon Voyage.”

So that’s what I did. I handed in my resignation and I Bon Bon Voyaged right out of my 9-5 into the world of the unknown. I graduated with my Masters and began talking to a girl who, little did I know, would start my traveling adventures.

I’ve had a love for people, new places and travel my whole life but it is not the norm of the world. I was terrified of taking the leap without a true safety net under me. Yes I have my Masters but I knew if I failed, I would be right back in an office dreading my day to day life again. To make sure I did not and do not fail, I started talking to the incredible people that I once dreamed of being, got my travel agent license and falling back in love with my life that I live. 

This blog is my story of how I turned my fear into curiosity and brought my dreams to life.

Whether you are here because you know me personally, are looking for travel planning help or clicked on the wrong website – I appreciate you taking the time to read about my story. I hope you visit my page again in the future to check in on my adventures . Until then... Bon Bon Voyage, my friend!