How It Began…
The year was 2017. December. My flight to Guatemala had begun its descent, and I woke from a snooze to the sight of volcanoes poking out above the sunset-painted clouds.
Unbidden, a thought popped into my head: It’s time to write a book, Toby.
It’s time to write a book for all the women who reach out for support planning their solo adventure, looking for validation that their dream is just crazy enough, begging someone to look them in the eye and say, “That’s a great idea, you should definitely go.”
It’s time to write a book, instead of spending all your creative energy editing or writing for *other people’s* passion projects.
It’s time to write a book and level up from sporadic, half-hearted blogging, to a project that truly lights you up.
The title, concept, and structure hovered above the clouds like the bodiless mountaintops: ghostlike, yet fully formed, just waiting to grow legs.
“Vagabondess: A Guide to Solo Female Travel”
But it would be so much more than a guide—a collection of travelogue, philosophy, stories, and, yes, tips. And it wouldn’t just be for women, or travelers! It would be for everyone, for it would be about embracing the vagabondess—her spirit of adventure, her curiosity, her dedication to growth and discovery—who lives inside each of us, showing up in our lives in a myriad of ways.
Crowdfunding
It would be two years before my idea grew legs. Other projects got in the way. The pesky need to make money. The messy, educational, ultimately draining experiment of living in community. The demand of other dreams like training as a self-defense instructor and starting up empowerment and yoga retreats in Costa Rica.
But finally, in November of 2019, I sat down to write. With the help of NaNoWriMo (a one-month writing challenge) and over six years of published and unpublished content on travel and lifestyle, I had a first draft of my manuscript down in 30 days.
Several months and many rounds of revision later, published with the help of dozens of backers through Kickstarter.
Vagabonds and vagabondesses all over the world shared this dream with me, and I am so grateful they did!
Vagabondess Today
Today, Vagabondess is her own person, complete with an Instagram account, and many readers I may never meet or know about.
She travels all on her own from remote corners of Costa Rica, to the mountains of Vermont, wanders through Europe and vagabonds through Africa. She got her wanderlust from me.
About Vagabondess
Vagabondess: A Guide to Solo Female Travel is a book for women—and all people!—who want to travel solo, face their fears, and live the adventure of their dreams. This book is for the travelers, the feminists, the adventurers, the seekers and the curious. The author shares insights from over 10 years of solo travel through Asia, Africa, Europe, and Central America.
Vagabondess is much more than a guide. It is a collection of travelogue, philosophy, stories, and, yes, travel advice. It is about embracing the vagabondess—her spirit of adventure, her curiosity, her dedication to growth and discovery—who lives inside each of us, showing up in our lives in a myriad of ways.
If you were waiting for someone to tell you that your dreams are just crazy enough, and then give you some practical suggestions for how to get there, then this is the book for you.“
Why Vagabondess? A vagabondess has earth and salt to balance her air. Her lifestyle is not a romantic, Instagram-filter utopia, but rather gritty and smeared with sweat. A vagabondess is not a symbol of an ideal of a life. She is alive.
A vagabondess weaves magic into the everyday and touches the profound with her toes as she wanders—aimlessly, purposefully—through her inner landscape and the outer wilderness of the modern world. She unites nostalgia for a freer past and hope for a liberated future by living squarely in the present tense. For solo female travelers, the vagabondess is an attainable objective, not a holy grail. She is within easy reach, if only we look in the right place: inside.”