I Started Traveling Young

I can thank my parents for igniting my lifelong travel passion. With six girls in our family, we would pile into a van my dad had cleverly modified, load up our huge old army tent, and head off on adventures across Australia every school holidays.

I began solo travel at 21 with my first round the world journey: Japan, the UK, Europe, the USA, Canada, and Central America, spanning nearly two years. Through my twenties I continued exploring and volunteering on missions in countless countries, too many to count.

After the arrival of my son (his first holiday came at just four weeks old, his first plane trip at six weeks), we kept traveling back and forth to New South Wales and made several trips across the South Pacific. His first passport arrived at a few months old. Each overseas journey we carried generous supplies for those in need, planting the seed for our commitment to random acts of kindness.

By 2012, we sold our home and embraced full-time travel.

Random Acts of Kindness 

We chose to travel with purpose, centering our journeys around random acts of kindness. From feeding the homeless in Hollywood to supporting street beggars in Bolivia, every destination offered an opportunity to give back. In Fiji we clothed an entire village, distributed walking sticks, toys, books, personal items, household essentials, and food.

For us, travel has never been solely about seeing the world, it’s about making a meaningful difference. The more we give, the greater our desire to continue. It has become our quiet addiction: putting a smile on someone’s face, offering a moment of care, and saying, without words, “We see you.”

My Personal Passion 

My deepest passion is to inspire single parents and families to step out of the ordinary, chase their dreams, and weave travel into their lives. The countless letters ive recieved written to thank me for encouraging them to leave the rat-race behind and spend meaningful time with their children through adventure continues to motivate me to write articles that have meaning.

Initially it was also an extraordinary way to educate my son alongside his formal schooling. Through travel he has absorbed lessons in food, culture, social grace, language, history, the arts, geography, budgeting, currency conversion, and so much more.

I live for exploration, for experiencing the new, for never giving up, for living life fully, honing in on my health and wellness, and for meeting remarkable people along the way.

As my we grew older, we began to crave the finer things: the comfort, elegance, and sense of arrival that only luxury travel can provide. Staying in refined, thoughtfully curated accommodations gave us that cherished “home away from home” feeling. Trading hostels for suites. Today, I often travel solo once more, and that balance of adventure and sophistication remains at the heart of every journey.

Location, Location, Location 

Discovering unique and luxurious stays has become a personal quest. I’ve learned that our readers crave a touch of grandeur, something wildly distinctive, or a place that feels quietly extraordinary.

It is my privilege to share these exceptional locations with you, in the hope that they will inspire you to experience them for yourselves.

We receive many heartfelt messages from readers saying we have encouraged them to take the leap. I also make time to support single mums who reach out to discuss their upcoming travels. Thank you for those notes, they encourage us just as much. Please keep sending them; they are exactly why we created this website: to inform, uplift, and inspire others to live more boldly.

Here is one message we received from Bob in Florida, USA:

“Your life is admirable… I’d call it brave. I remember meeting you guys, It stuck with me. It wasn’t the travel that impressed me… I was the traveled person… It was the reason that you wandered. Exactly the right reason. It occurred to me, following you, that I was just one of the thousands that you have reached on your journey. And that I was just one of the thousands that you touched too… At any rate… Thanks for running about, because you have influenced me and continue to do so. Oh yeah… thanks!”

Follow me Ruth Johnston as I continue to travel the world.