Unlike many stories you read on websites like this, mine does not start with quitting a job to travel the world.

I have done that more times than I can count on two hands, but my story starts way before I even held a job.

I was raised free-range in the mountains of Lake Tahoe, California, by parents who love outdoor adventure. I spent much of my childhood road tripping, camping, hiking, and exploring all the national parks we could manage to squeeze into family vacation time.

When I was about 10 years old, I traveled to Montreal with my family. It was my first time out of the United States, and it was the first time I learned that part of Canada spoke French.

I was absolutely enthralled by everything so foreign to me. I even saved a grocery bag with French words on it, along with some of their cool foreign coins, and kept them in a secret drawer in my bedroom until I moved out and went to college.

At age 11, I started helping my older brother with his Spanish homework, and that was all it took for me.

I began studying Spanish myself at age 12 and continued until I had finished all the grammar studies available to me at my high school. I declared Spanish as my major at age 17, went off to college, and then moved to Costa Rica to study abroad for my sophomore year at age 18.

I got swept up in the Costa Rican culture, the food, the dancing, the people, the beautiful places, and, of course, the language. Spanish rolled off my tongue so easily that people started mistaking me for a local.

I lived with an incredible Costa Rican family that I clicked with from day one. I excelled in my studies. I became an expert street salsa dancer. I had a permanent tan. I dated guys who taught me how to talk on the phone in Spanish (much harder than in person). I befriended entire groups of people who didn’t speak English. I traveled every weekend. I wrote my journal in Spanish. I thought and dreamt in Spanish.

For possibly the first time in my life, I felt absolutely in my element.

Mind = blown. I was made for this. This was made for me. #byebyeblogspot

Believe it or not, that was mere months AFTER I quit my last job without a plan. The timing was perfect. I was ready to jump in with both feet, so…

• In 2013 I launched The Budget-Minded Traveler blog, already armed with a decade of international travel experience to carry me forward.
• In 2013 I also self-published my first book (which is no longer available online).
• In 2014 I launched The Budget-Minded Traveler Podcast (now JUMP Podcast), which for years has consistently ranked among the top travel podcasts worldwide and is the longest-running independent female-hosted travel podcast out there.
• In 2015 I started this Traveling Jackie blog in the midst of a major life shift and in my pursuit of true adventure and personal expansion.
• In 2016 I organized and led my first-ever group trip to Patagonia.
• In 2018 I hosted my first-ever women’s retreat in the highlands of Ecuador.
• In 2018 I also studied abroad in France and became conversational in my 5th language.
• In 2020 I cried, a lot.
• In 2021 I officially branded my (already 6-years running) group trips and introduced JUMP Adventures to the world.

I am a creative entrepreneur with more ideas and passions than can possibly fit inside one niche or outlet. I’m here for the adventure of it all: the good, the great, the hard, the ugly. I’m not done creating, I’m not done traveling (not even close), I’m not done writing or building businesses or studying abroad or living overseas…