Allison Bates

According to Psychology Today, only 8% of people turn their dreams into reality. The reasons behind this depressing fact sound all-too familiar: lack of clarity, fear of failure, and inconsistency top the list. As a result, 92% of people are stuck in lives they don’t find fulfilling.

I was one of them until March, 2025, when I said “Screw it!” and hit the detonator button on my life at age 45. I sold my house in a tough buyer’s market, kissing goodbye to my 2.9% interest rate and the only real asset I possessed. I quit my job despite a possible impending recession, saying “So long!” to a steady paycheck and full benefits. I even re-homed my two cats because I couldn’t take them with me to my new digs — my parents’ basement. All this to chase the dream that’s been lurking just out of reach for my entire adult life.

That dream? Become a travel a writer.

How it started …

I was fortunate enough to start traveling when I was young. Family vacations were spent in places like Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, and on multiple Caribbean cruises. But it was a semester of college studying abroad that really ignited my insatiable wanderlust. After four months living in the Swinging City of London and exploring Western Europe by plane, train, and automobile with my flatmates, it was pretty damn hard to return to Tallahassee, Florida, for my final semester. Even harder was the fact that I no longer wanted the Theatre degree I was about to earn, nor the life of a struggling actress I was about to embark on. Worse still — I had no idea what to do instead. All I knew is that I wanted to travel as much as humanly possible.

When my brief post-college stint as a character performer at Walt Disney World ended with me getting fired (turns out they don’t like it when you call in sick for two weeks straight over Christmas and New Year — WEIRD!), I decided to run away from home. I was slightly obsessed with Australia at the time, so I backpacked around the continent for a month and was accepted into a Creative Writing graduate course at the University of Sydney. My plans took another unexpected turn, however, when I followed my South African boyfriend to his home country and lived there with him for the next two years.

Meanwhile, I was devouring every Bill Bryson, Paul Theroux, and Jack Kerouac book I could get my hands on. I wanted so badly to do what they did, but I was clueless about how to make that happen. Travel writer didn’t even sound like a real job. I felt like a fool admitting out loud that that’s what I wanted to be.

I figured getting into the travel industry was the next-best thing, so I spent a few years working as a travel advisor and a customer service agent for a major airline. But making $9 an hour and being yelled at by disgruntled senior citizens who don’t understand how to use the Internet wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I knew I was wasting my potential. I knew I wanted to write. So, back to school I went, this time earning an MA in Journalism and Media Studies in 2009.

Over the next 16 years I crafted a successful career as a marketing copywriter, working with brands like IBM, OtterBox, Ericsson, CareCredit, KeyBank, Qualtrics, and many others. As of March 2025, I was earning close to six figures and working with a wonderful group of talented and supportive people.

But I was bored out of my mind.

The work was mentally challenging, but I couldn’t care less about the topics I was working on. The thought of spending the rest of my life writing about things like the energy-saving capabilities of 6G Radio Access Networks and the superiority of membrane-based water filtration solutions made me want to gauge my eyes out with a pen.

I realized that if I wanted my life to change, I had to be the one to change it — and that it would take some drastic, risky, border-line stupid decisions to get there.

How it’s going …

I currently have no health insurance. My checking account balance is laughable. I have to share a bathroom with my 12-year-old son. But I’m happier than I think I have ever been.

In the few short months since blowing up my life to chase my dream, I’ve traveled to Alaska, West Virginia, Croatia, Greece, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. I experienced my first hosted press trip (West Virginia) and landed a spot on a second one in October (Kentucky). And, I’m proud to say I published my first official byline as a travel writer.

What’s next …

I can only answer this question with Tom Petty lyrics.

There’s somethin’ good waitin’ down this road. I’m pickin’ up whatever is mine.

I’m runnin’ down a dream. It never would come to me. Workin’ on a mystery, goin’ where it leads. Yeah, I’m runnin’ down a dream.

Here goes everything.