When I lost my job in the fall of 2008, I thought my life was over. Like many single women, my entire identity, for better or worse, was attached to my career. So when that was taken, I, simply, felt lost. With not nearly enough money saved to out-last my year-long lease in expensive LA, I was still quickly talked into logging onto Cathay Pacific and booking a flight to… Borneo. An old friend of mine was living in KK, and she invited me to visit. Some people might judge that expense, but my jobs are always so all-encompassing that I rarely find time for trips, let alone big ones. So I figured if I was going to always have either time or money, I was for once going to make the most of having some time. My friend Cynthia and I drove all around Borneo, getting lost on private beaches and watching how quickly driving half a mile down the road can completely change the coastline. Once, we found ourselves surrounded by hundreds of disgusting jellyfish, when we had just been in perfect waters five minutes before. Even though I had been a big traveler my whole life, that particular trip ended up being a life-changing move: I later went to Mexico and then Europe, as cheaply as I could. Sure, my debt went up a bit for the first time in my life, but that year-long lease was up before I knew it. As most of you know, that was when I threw everything in storage and jetted off to Costa Rica for a month or two… which turned into my living for a year on the cheap in a one-room house, starting my own company, saving twice as much money as I had owed when I got there, and learning to let go of expectations, to be free.

From one paradise to the next, I owe a lot to these two places!