Dear Ladies: This Can Be Your Life, Too.

Every now and then, I receive an email or a Facebook comment from one of my girlfriends that contains the following phrase:

“You’re so lucky, Kate.”

I appreciate their words, but I disagree wholeheartedly.

I’m not lucky at all.

I’m in the same boat as all of you — I just made travel a priority in my life.

What’s your priority?  Creating a beautiful home?  Moving upward in your career?  Living the VIP life around town?

Think about it. Where does your money go?  Where does your spare time go?

The results may surprise you.

I know that not every woman wants to travel the way I do.  And that’s fine!

That said, many of you email me saying that you dream of traveling the world — but have no idea if you can.

Here’s the truth:

You can keep waiting for your life to change, or you can choose to do something about it.

You can choose to travel solo, instead of waiting for friends who may never be ready.

You can choose to save your money instead of living barely within your means.

You can choose to dump the boyfriend who doesn’t want you to travel.  Or to tell him that it’s great that he has an opinion, and you’ll see him when you get back.

Yes, ladies.  You can do this, too. But only if you choose.

Only a year ago, I was in a completely different place.  I worked 8-5 in an office job — the pay was good, the field was great, and I was so miserable that I would tally every thirty-minute interval that passed.

It was more than just the job. I was tired of living in the cold for eight months of the year.  I was sick of punctuating the drudgery with amazingly fun but brief and expensive trips to Las Vegas.

I never thought I’d be 25 years old and still living in Boston, a mere 20 minutes from where I grew up.  I always thought I’d be doing something artistic for a living — writing, music, some kind of design.  Any kind of design.

This was not the life of which I had dreamed.

So I rearranged my priorities. I gave up my downtown Boston apartment.  I took on mountains of freelance work.  I stopped going out for drinks all the time.  I lived on very little, saving every spare penny for travel.

After just a few months of saving, I had enough money for seven months in exotic, fun, and super-cheap Southeast Asia.

You know how it’s been — you’ve been reading the site!  This trip has changed my life, and I’ve never been so happy.

And this can be your life, too.

You can find the island paradise you never expected.

You can make amazing friends while traveling — more than once.

You can have stories that bring the house down at every future party you attend.

And, as cliche as it sounds, you can find true love — or people whom you love dearly.

But it won’t happen unless you make travel a priority in your life — beyond the designer sample sales, beyond the concerts and sports games, beyond the nice restaurants and nights out.

You could buy that 70% off Dior bag…or spend three days learning to kitesurf in Mui Ne, Vietnam.

You could have the jumbo sea scallops with saffron and a lemon drop martini…or an overnight trek in northern Laos.

You could have a blowout weekend in Vegas…or a blowout month on Thailand’s Andaman Coast.

How important is it to have a life of adventure?

I created this site to encourage women to go after their dreams of traveling the world — and to show that solo female travel is easier than you think, cheaper than you think, and incredibly rewarding.

Don’t call me lucky.  Anyone can do this.

Now…what’s stopping you from getting out there?