Background:
Hi, my name is Eddie Stapleton and I am a 29 year old Irsh guy from Borris, Co. Carlow Ireland. On Feb 3rd last year (2010) I travelled to Las Vegas on a friends Bachelor party and never went home! A combination of a relationship ending and loosing my job meant I suddenly had no ties to Ireland and the perfect opportunity to opt out of the "rat race", travel and "live" a little presented itself with open arms!
Story so far:
I have spent the last 21 months travelling across North America, the Caribbean, South America the South Pacific & now New Zealand. My initial stint of 3 months in the US was spent in Las Vegas, Minnesota, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Is, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. From there I went to Canada, spending a month living in Montreal followed by 3 months on a farm in north Quebec and then spent 2 months driving across the entirety of Canada from Nova Scotia to Vancouver.
From Vancouver I re-entered the US and spent an excellent 3 months there getting to see ,Oregon, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. When my 90 days expired I travelled to the Caribbean and spent a month backpacking around the Dominican Republic. On my return to the US for my 3rd stint there I once again returned to North Carolina which had become a good work hub and got to visit New York, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Florida.
In May I traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and from there backpacked through South America for 2 months visiting Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru and Bolivia. I returned to spend the remainder of the summer in the USA, once again in North Carolina and from there traveled to California. On Aug 28th I flew from Los Angeles to Fiji and spent a fantastic week exploring the main island and the infamous islands off Fiji's west coast. I am now in New Zealand, I originally came here to follow Ireland in the Rugby world cup but after just a couple of days being here I fell in love with the place and have decided to stay. I have now acquired a work visa until Aug 2012 and so I reckon I will be calling New Zealand "home" for possibly the next 12 months. From here I will be traveling to Australia where I also have a visa to work and from there the plan is to buy a motorbike and drive it all the way home from Cairns to Carlow visiting everything of interest in between..... but thats in the future.... for now is all New Zealand and I invite you to follow my blog while I expose all this beautiful country has to offer.....
How can I afford to Travel? Simple.... because I cant afford NOT to!
Other than the first 3 months of my travel when I spent savings the rest of my travel has been funded from work I have done along the way. I have been a butcher, baker, candle stick maker...... farmer, grounds keeper, landscape gardner, film extra, plumber, electrician, painter, doorman, barman, laborer, furniture installer, delivery driver, salesman, web designer and even spent a frightening afternoon being a "sound analyst" research subject at the university of Montreal!!!..... to name just a few! I have done whatever it has taken to make and save some cash and continue on my travels. I have tried to adopt a work for 3 months and travel for 5/6 months policy and thus far it has been successful. Working as I travel has been an integral part of the enjoyment of my travels and even if i was a millionaire I would still opt to work my way around the world as its a truer experience of the places I visit and I get to meet people I otherwise probably would not have. Trying to travel around the world is a challenge in itself, but working to fund it as I travel is an even bigger one but one I accept with open arms as in life I believe we are a bi-product of our experiences and I aim to experience not just as many countries and cultures as possible but also as many professions and jobs as possible along the way.
Thank you for visiting my site........ however this is only the tip of the ice-burg for me as I intend to continue my travels around the globe until...... well I guess until I have seen it all. I welcome you to share and comment upon my travels adventures and experiences.
