About Me

My name is Hayley and I’m 22 years old. I have two younger siblings and I’m from a small town 30 miles north of Philadelphia where I lived until I left for college at 17.

I studied Chemical Engineering and Global Engineering Studies at Purdue University, and graduated with my bachelors in May 2019. I’ve worked 4 internships since my freshman year. Two in Cincinnati in the pharmaceutical industry, one in California for a winery, and my last one in Rhode Island in the biotech industry. During my time at Purdue I also completed a French culture course on a 5-week trip in Paris, and studied abroad at the university of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.

So now that we’re through the boring stuff, I’ll talk more about my personal life. I am a travel addict. My first flight was an overnight to Paris after I graduated high school. It was my first vacation away from the Jersey Shore where my family went nearly every year. I had saved up all my money working my part time job and split the cost of the trip with my parents. When I boarded that flight from Philadelphia I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had no idea that the journey would never end. After that, I had gone on many trips in the states including to California, Florida, Washington, and more within that next year. I drove to Canada over winter break two times with my best friends from home. When I went back to France for the maymester I also had the opportunity to visit Belgium. Little by little, the trips started adding up. I found myself researching trips and planning vacations I didn’t have time for. In the fall of 2016 was the biggest trip I had so far: Australia.

On July 12th 2016 I boarded a flight destined for Sydney, and then ultimately Brisbane. To this day, I still believe those 5 months to be the best of my life. Now it wasn’t all fun, I was juggling 3 engineering courses and an elective on Australia’s marine environment. I had to study but I also saved lots of time for fun and exploring. During the week before finals, I went to Fiji with friends from university. The week after finals, I set off to my first backpacking trip. I started in Thailand and spent 10 days exploring the beautiful islands including Koh Samui and Koh Tau. I went with a tour group which provided transportation and comfort along the way. After that, I headed to Bali and spent a few days exploring the island and the culture it had to offer. I had a day tour with a wonderful English couple who I still keep in contact with today. After that I headed off to the island of Java, where I would be away from the tourists and explore the wonderful landscapes Indonesia had to offer. Flash forward 3 years, and I have now been to 24 countries and 35 states.

I never thought I would be one to write a blog but seeing the impact some of my posts have on friends and followers really helped push me to do it. I often get messages like “How do you do it?” “Where do you find the time?” “How can you afford it?” And I plan to give my most detailed answer on my personal experience with travel.