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I am a book of adventures for a company in all Women, which means that I offer groups of amazing women on long -distance trips, backpacks, surfing, diving, diving and cultural all over the world. I got the raising of the Inca path in Peru, the diving in the Caribbean and watching sunrise over Petra in Jordan – all during the payment.
When I tell people what I do for work, they usually think I live a dream.
But while I sit in the apartment of my friend between the tours looking for my upcoming disturbance that puts the house, she looks at me all over the sofa and says: “I don’t know how to sleep at night.” I am about to direct an international tour of Blaze for three weeks, but I don’t even know where to live next week.
This is the nature of this lifestyle. My life is like a rotating ship-a long climb, as it climbs my stomach with anxiety and anticipation, followed by exciting drops and heart race. Meanwhile, the lives of others tend to be like a winding tour-can be predicted, fixed or at least smooth enough to enjoy the ice cream cone while waiting for the next rotation.
But I always tell people that I did not choose this lifestyle; This lifestyle chose me.
Everything began when I saw a bulletin in the dining hall at my university: “Introduction to the back on the path of Florida – $ 65.”
I was never on the back in my life, but this little traveler filled me with excitement. I participated on my own, and when I saw that the mentors on that trip were their colleagues from the students – practically glowed with a golden aura where they got their salaries to enjoy the beautiful open air – I knew that I was about to overcome the rotating ship. I asked them, “How can I get your job?”
This is where my journey-to work part-time as a guide to adventure at my university while earning a bachelor’s degree in psychology and communication. I got a certificate in the wild medicine, and learned how to drive 12 passengers with 12 seafarers associated with the back through traffic in Miami, and how to create a completely new back on the back while flying when a section of the corridor is closed due to forest fires. At the age of nineteen, I traveled abroad for the first time, and got money to guide Landanalujar Trail, a 35 -mile trip across Iceland.
But as soon as I graduated, I thought the time had come to “grow up”.
And I tried, I really did.
After she installed the Apalashian track on 22 for pleasure-a reward that gave her myself after graduation-I joined the Master’s program to advise mental health at Boston College. But when I saw how much I should go out in students ’loans, something inside me shouted, no! We got out of here!
On Monday, I was registered in the classroom. By Friday, I was filling out all my things in my car and driving the car to the rural state of Pennsylvania for this season, where I live in a limit on a lake while teaching primary students in the open air. With no cellular service in the valley, I spent evenings in building fires, writing, wandering in the lake at sunset and spending real fun time with my colleagues at work and my friends.
I tried again in 2020, and she got a job at the behavioral health unit at a children’s hospital in New Orleans. If you stay in the long run, they would have paid for my education. But after spending hours under the fluorescent lights, watching the health care system gives priority to money on actual care, the screaming continued in my head.
At the age of twenty -five, he caught a foldable TV and chair dinner, sat on the French Street in the center of New Orleans and sold my hair. I have also paid a rental background of the work of the work and the arrested vehicles in the Hollywood Movie Scene Unit in New Orleans. That stage of my life was full of art and late nights and the inability to predict.
But the rotating prevention does not remain in free autumn forever, and in the end she realized that she was not sustainable.
My brother, with his safe financial career, ideal marriage, the golden recovery and a five -bedroom home in the suburbs, is the exact opposite. He told me after I realized that the thing that did not succeed in obtaining their salaries for the highest level of skills.
I had more than 10,000 hours of back experience, so I applied to be a guide again.
After free work with some outdoor education programs, I got an employment as a regular guide with the adventure travel company all over the world. As a contracting guide, I lead up to 12 trips per year throughout the United States and internationally. The company is completely far, so almost everything is managed – before each trip, I receive detailed technical tracks, logistical data tables and adventure reports from previous rounds. Then he jumped on a plane and prepared to give women the best experience in their lives.
Photo from Katie Close
My job is part of the logistical services, part of the noise, partial photographer, partial driver, part of the chefs, part of the shoulder to hardness, the yoga coach is part and part of the wild respondent. I deal with everything starting from setting pathways and organizing equipment to ensure that everyone feels support and safety on the trip.
The tours lasts anywhere from four to 10 days, and work days are long-usually 12 to 14 hours, and sometimes extend to 16 years. It is a lot of loading, truck driving, bicycle guidance, problem solving, stories, and emotional space. It is very similar to waiting tables, most of my income comes from tips – so while the basic salaries cover the basics, I never know how much I will go until the journey ends. Another climbing on the rotating ship.
When I do not, I usually be between short-term housing settings-staying with friends and family, distributing home or traveling. Although I am part -time technically, the guidance occupies a large part of my physically and mentally general. I can be on the road or outside for several weeks at a time, depending on how to schedule flights. I had a permanent apartment, but after a year of guidance, I realized that I had only spent six weeks there in the past six months.
Women who join our tours at the crossroads of life-after the phase, a new function, a birthday of a teacher or just a communication and adventure-and all of them are inspiring. They come from everywhere, and they appear with open hearts and a desire to challenge themselves. The real magic is in the moments when I see these women go to fear of the heights to ascend, or laughs in an irreplaceable way around the fire or crying in the upper part of the mountain. It is related to communication – to nature, each other and ourselves.
My first year, 27 years old, led the increases through some incredible landscapes in America-Edge to Grand Canyon, Angel’s series in Zion, and half of the dome in Yosemit.
In the second year, at the twenty-eighth of my life, I went out-during the Julian Mountains journey in Slovenia, which led to Inca’s backs on the back, directed her to Jordan and stopped in awe before seeing, one of the seven wonders of the world in the world.
I will never forget the river in the Sota River in Slovenia. We just finished a trip to Hut to Hut, and we spent morning rowing at sunrise in Lake Bohing and dipped in one of the best breakfast meals in my life at the Boutique Hotel. The river was a clear crystal blue-the type you see in Panf, Canada, but it is warm and attractive. When you float on the slopes, our local guide indicated forward and called, “Look, Slovenia loves you, Katie.”
She continued his view of the giant limestone heart, located in the remote mountains.
Photo from Katie Close
But for every delightful descent, there is a long climb, escalating in the stomach.
Like getting food poisoning in Peru and I have only one day to recover before leading my next group, forcing myself to look strong and professional.
Or as much as terrifying: that is, a family gathering at all.
“Do you not get a little life for this lifestyle?”
“You are approximately 30 – your life must be discovered now.”
“You will never find a pair. Men want a stable person. You will think you cheat on her every time you are delegating in another country.”
“How to invest your time now you will determine your future.”
Sometimes these comments reach me. Sometimes I find myself crying alone in my car, and I see that another high school girl has a giant rock on her finger, a newborn child, or a wedding ceremony that seemed to have gone out of the Disney movie. Ask if they are right.
I am still single – although I have some romantic motifs in some wonderful places – and yes, I love to get married and have children one day. My biological watch beats, right? Are not all good things going now?
Sometimes, I wonder if this lifestyle brings me back. I have 401 (K) and health insurance, but I do not have a permanent address or a functional path that fits accurately with the LinkedIn box. Although my job allows me to explore the world, it does not always offer the type of structure that people link to stability. There are moments – usually late at night, when I sleep in a wigs or re -fill my bag for the tenth time – when I ask if I was building a future or just drifting during the present time.
But then, I see pure joy on the woman’s face after helping her overcome half -dome cables. I watch the sunset from the top of the best mountains of America-all during payment-and I can only feel sorry for the people wandering on the tour.
Because they will never know the journey I am.
When I was younger, I felt terrifying. I was afraid to wake up one day I wish I had chosen differently. But the more you travel, the more you realize something: Unfortunately, it is not related to the options you make but about the options you do not do.
Because you want to know what is more difficult than not knowing where you will sleep, being alone and single, or not knowing how much money you will achieve this month? She lives a full life What if.
So this is what I do – I chase, discover and reveal everything what if Even to the end of this rope. This makes me progress.
This blind trust, optimism, and perhaps even a slight illusion that everything will succeed. If you fully benefit from the current moment, I think the future will take care of itself.
Because sometimes, the most terrifying options lead to an unforgettable horse riding.
I know my body. I know that one day, after exploring the world, rising rivers, conquering mountains, jumping on flights, sleeping in youth hostels, carrying a 50 -wheelchair bag, treating 100 blisters on the feet of others, will be tired.
It will start from the rotating ship.
But now? I have free hands, throw it into the air, and scream at the top of my lungs –
Katie Klos is an adventure guide and writer who leads the world’s trips to Explorer Chick. With more than 10,000 hours of back experience, it is the Appalachian Thru-Heker path and carry a dual specialty in psychology and communication. Passionate in wild places, write about travel, identity, freedom, culture and equipment.
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