We were inspired to share this story as part of a STORY CRAFTING PRACTICUM Blog Hop championed by PR Pro Brigitte Lyons via her Unfettered Ink blog.
A small-town Midwestern girl, intent on building her career in advertising, gets on a plane with three suitcases. She’s 23. It’s late November. She’s headed to Rochester, New York, where she knows it snows a lot. She has been assured, “it is just ‘lake-effect’ snow that disappears quickly.“
The girl’s job causes her to fly frequently to Philadelphia, New York City and San Diego. Those are the trips that everyone wants to take, despite long days and occasional red eye flights.
The ambitious girl also volunteers to make the trips to the more out-of-the way places that most of her co-workers aren’t as anxious to visit; places such as Wharton, Texas and Beardstown, Illinois. Less-than-glamorous-sounding places like Monroe, Louisiana and Biggs, California.
She experiences the pitfalls of frequent business travel: long days, flight delays and hotel rooms that are sometimes sketchy (she learns how to stack furniture infront of her door when in small . Despite the hassles, she likes experiencing new places – whether a cosmopolitan city or a small town.
She quickly learns that racking up frequent flier miles is key to surviving long winters in upstate New York. Those miles meant flying free to sunny spots like Hawaii. Never mind that the “free” ticket required four plane changes and nearly 24 hours of flying, or that she had to travel alone. She was hooked.
Meanwhile, a very tall guy was building his career in his hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. With a degree in international economics, he works for a law firm, helping to audit oil companies among other projects.
Growing up in Alaska in a military family, this guy was used to flying long distances from a young age.
Working in Alaska meant flying regularly since much of the state, including its capital of Juneau, is only accessible by air. He, too, learned to make the most of frequent flier miles.
The guy liked to use his miles to take trips to Europe, to do things like attend world hockey championships, and drink the original Budweiser Budvar at its Czech source.
Meanwhile the girl moved cities as she moved up in the advertising agency world, living in the surburbs between Philly and New York City, then in a Chicago high-rise near Wrigley Field, and finally to San Francisco, where she’s lured with a vice president title. She’s 30 and convinced she will never meet Mr. Tall-Smart-Handsome-Nice guy – but she heads west anyway.
Around the same time, a San Francisco law firm entices the tall guy to leave Alaska. He plans to attend grad school part time while working in San Francisco.
At her San Francisco ad agency, the girl works with East Coast clients – causing her to spend even more time on a plane. The tall guy works non-stop – he’s transitioning into IT full time and works most weekends.
Finally, 16 months after they’ve both moved to the City by the Bay, divine intervention combines with a bartender’s introduction (that’s a different story). The tall, workaholic guy meets the ever-traveling girl. Once they work out their schedules for a first date –this took from the day before New Year’s Eve until Valentine’s Day — the guy and the girl decide they like each other.
When the girl casually comments on how she wishes she could to visit Hong Kong before the change-over from British rule, the tall guy shocks her by saying, “Let’s go!”
Comparing calendars, there are only five days when they both can make the trip. They buy tickets from an airline aggregator. In late May they are off to Hong Kong, experiencing the legendary in-flight service on Singapore Airlines during a 15-hour flight. Despite severe jet lag, high humidity and crowds of pushing people, the tall guy and the girl had a wonderful time. (Hint: If you want to test a new relationship, travel a long distance together in a short time.)
The guy and the girl fell in love and got married in Sonoma Wine Country. Jobs at upstart companies lured them from San Francisco to the suburbs north of Seattle. They bought a new house, and found themselves working long hours for their companies.
During the two years following 9/11, the girl and the tall guy both endured layoffs when their “upstart” companies died. There was a silver lining: they started flying places on weekends — taking advantage of the new last minute-internet deals from Alaska and other airlines.
They both found new careers. The girl found her dream job in marketing at a major cruise line. The guy got into technology consulting. And when commuting in Seattle traffic began to weigh heavily on them, they sold their house in the burbs and headed downtown to test high-rise living.
After spending more than six years in Seattle, the guy and the girl felt restless. They went away for a week on a cruise to Mexico to work out their plan: quit their jobs and go to Europe. Start out getting there via a transatlantic cruise, and then stay as long as their budget lasted.
Before they left Seattle, the girl took a course on how to get published. She had visions of writing a book detailing their adventures, inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. During the course, she got a better idea – start a blog. Amidst disposing of most of their belonging and storing the remainder, the tech-savvy tall guy set up TravelingWithTheJones blog.
They drove from Seattle to Missouri to the girl’s family farm –where they left their car and their cat, before catching a flight to New York City. Here they boarded a cruise ship, and set sail on their self-funded mid-career sabbatical. Their five-month adventure allowed them to explore Europe –from the Black Sea to the Polar Ice Cap– while sharing their travels via this website.
While that is the story of how Traveling With The Jones began, the journey is far from over.
Upon their return from their summer adventure in Europe, both Mr. and Mrs. Jones quickly found new jobs that made them road warriors once again.
They still love travel and the art of making the most of each hotel point and frequent flier mile.
Travel has enhanced our lives beyond our wildest dreams. We continue to share our travel tips and discoveries in hope of inspiring other travelers.
What’s your travel story?
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