A Day in the Life of Kate McCulley from Adventurous Kate

It’s Wednesday which means it’s time for another post from “A Day in The Life” series. Today I wanted to introduce you to an incredibly inspirational Kate McCulley who quit her job to travel the world in 2010. Since then, she’s traveled to more than 55 countries and now makes her living showing women how to travel the world safely and independently on her site, AdventurousKate.com. Let’s jump straight into the questions!

What is your current location and how long are you planning on staying there? 

I’m in San Pedro, Guatemala, a funky town on Lake Atitlan, and I’ve been here for about a week. This was the final stop of my first tour and I’m spending a few days catching up on work and much-needed sleep! I’m typing this in the hammock outside my room.

What view did you wake up to this morning?

This is the view from outside my room at Pinocchio Hotel. I got a room with both a double and single bed and an ensuite bathroom for only $13 per night.

Please describe your typical morning. Since your travel often, do you try to stick to a routine or do you keep it flexible depending on where you are?

Every day is different on the road! I tend to block whole work days and whole travel days, rather than splitting them half and half. I do try to start off the morning with checking my emails, though. And this is a bit embarrassing, but I totally ate pizza for breakfast. I was going to get a croissant at this bakery but they had pizza ready. Can you tell this is a backpacker town?

Some mornings are spent in transit, crushed into a bus or flying on a plane. Some are spent exploring, taking photo walks around town, one of my favorite things to do while traveling. And other mornings are spent catching up on work, keeping this dream alive.

What is the most exciting thing that you did or saw today?

I’ve become addicted to buying jewelry in Central America – there are so many interesting pieces and artisans! Today I walked down the main drag and resisted the temptation to add more silver rings and bracelets to my collection. I do still need to find some Guatemalan jade pieces for my mother, though. That will be my next task.

What drives you to travel, besides the obvious such as experiencing new cultures? What do you hope to, or have, experienced through travel?

I’ve always felt a drive for knowledge and understanding. Traveling around the world gives you so much more perspective than you could ever learn from reading books. The tiny moments that nobody thinks about are reflected every day. I feel like I’ve learned so much from traveling the world, and it’s been amazing to use that knowledge in conversations with other worldly people I meet.

Please tell us more about your plans for the rest of the year!

I’ve got a quick break at home then another 90-day trip to Central America, complete with my second tour to El Salvador and Guatemala, plus some time in eastern Guatemala and Belize on my own. I plan to spend this summer in Europe with stops ranging from Denmark to Latvia to Greece to Sicily, though I’m looking forward to Albania the most! We’ll see what happens; I’m known to change my plans on a whim quite often.

If you want to keep up with Kate’s adventures, be sure to follow her on Twitter and Facebook. Have you ever dreamt of quitting your job and travelling the world? Has Kate’s story inspired you to give it a go? Let us know in the comments below!