About Me
HELLO AND HI!
It's a pleasure to meet you! I'm Sandra, I'm South African and Polish and in 2012, at 18 years old, I booked a one-way ticket, left my home in South Africa, and moved to the UK. I've been living abroad now for over 13 years, and in that time, I've lived in 5 countries.
I'm now based in the Isle of Man and I take any opportunity to travel! I freelance as a way to make an additional income, partly to help fund my travels.
My passion for travel started when I was in school. I took Tourism as a subject (yes, my school had Tourism as a subject - how cool!), and I fell in love with the idea of being able to travel and explore this beautiful and diverse world. I lived in a smaller, lesser-known city in South Africa, and I never in my wildest imagination thought that I would have the opportunity to live abroad and travel as much as I have been fortunate enough to do. It's crazy what can happen when you take a chance in life.
THE SPARK IGNITED
Moving to the UK at 18 years old was pretty daunting. Before then, my only experience of travelling outside of South Africa was when I was 7 years old and went on holiday to Poland to visit my family - it was their first time ever meeting me.
I was fortunate to get a job pretty quickly after I moved to the UK. It was in hospitality and events and looking back now, it was a pivotal job in shaping who I am today. I not only got to travel and work in different cities, work at different events, and constantly be meeting new people, but more importantly, I got to know myself. I also made lifelong friends for which I'm eternally thankful.
It's funny, within my first year of working there, I got awarded a certificate for 'Most Improved'. I laugh about it now because I truly did come out of my shell and learn a lot within that first year, but at the time, I was so embarrassed to have been awarded it and thinking to myself, "wow, was I really that bad???". I mean, when I first moved to the UK, I was timid, reserved, had a serious case of constant self doubt but hey - I was in a new country away from my family at 18! Looking back, it was actually pretty cool to have my improvements recognised.
This job and getting to travel around the country is what ignited the spark that started as a childhood fantasy of wanting to explore the world, even if I didn't realise it at the time. I'd save up enough to travel a bit here and there. Mostly, I spent my free time in Krakow, Poland. Since I was born and grew up in South Africa, I never got to fully experience Polish culture or the country.
In my early twenties, I wanted to explore and travel more, but at the time, I was too afraid to solo-travel. When I got to my mid-twenties, I realised that I was tired of waiting for others to be available in order to plan and travel, so I decided to try out this solo travel thing. I'm so glad I did because getting out of my comfort zone further taught me lessons about myself that I wouldn't have otherwise learned.
I've learned time and time again that magical things happen when you step outside of your comfort zone. Now, I embrace the solo travel life with open arms, having travelled solo many times, including internationally, and I've lived in 5 countries (South Africa, England, Isle of Man, Portugal, and Greece). Things that timid 18 year old Sandra would never believe you if you told her!
WHAT COMFORT ZONE?
The good old saying that a comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there, one of many idioms about comfort zones, is so true. I've realised this more and more over the years.
Travelling solo for the first time - uncomfortable. Learning a new skill - uncomfortable. Starting a new job - uncomfortable. Trying to start a business - uncomfortable. Trying to make friends as an adult - very uncomfortable. All things that start out uncomfortable but with time and effort become easier each time, and through these efforts, you probably don't even notice that you've grown!
Personal growth is a topic close to my heart because it's an intentional journey I've been on for a few years now. I want to make conscious choices about the person I become. The pandemic put a bit of a dent in that journey for me because one of the ways I wanted to grow was socially - my confidence.
During the pandemic, I lived alone and pretty much all of my social interactions were online, until seeing people in person again was possible. This led to one socially awkward Sandra for a quite a long time, until I made the conscious effort to put the work in and change it, and now, I welcome social interactions and realised that people are only as 'scary' as we give them power to be in our own minds.
Through this growth journey, I recently came to the realisation that life is too short not to bet on yourself or to be too afraid to go for what you want - no matter how delusional the dream. I don't want to look back on my life and have regrets. I want to be the kind of person who doesn't just say I want to do the thing, but I actually want to do the thing. To travel more, to learn the skills, to start a business, to put myself out there by documenting and sharing this journey that I know others out there might also be on.
So this brings me to now...
MISSION: LIFE OF NO REGRETS
One of my biggest goals is that I want to travel full-time. To explore the world as a slow traveller so I can really get to know a place and it's locals and show the real side. Authenticity is very important to me, and this means showing the good and the bad - all of it. This is what excites me and sets my soul on fire. But there's a lot of work to do in order to get there.
Another big goal is to start an online business, often referred to as a 'lifestyle business', to create something of my own for the future. So many creators and entrepreneurs make it seem like starting an online business is simple and easy nowadays. While I'm sure someone who has gone through the process may already feel that way, for someone like myself who has never dipped my toe into entrepreneurial waters, at the moment it feels like choppy waters to be swimming in - so we're going to learn together!
I've created this website as a central place to document my journey and travels, which I share over on my Instagram account - linked below. Share my knowledge and resources, which I've learned over the 13 years of living abroad and travelling. Offer my services, knowing I have so much value to bring, and hopefully inspire someone out there to embark on their own journey.
Ultimately, I want to take intentional steps forward in my thirties to create a life I love and am absolutely obsessed with waking up to every morning. A life of no regrets.
So, if you've read up until this point, then firstly - thank you. Thank you for learning about my journey, and I hope that I've inspired you to reflect on or take a step forward in your own journey.
I'd love to connect so please feel free to fill out the contact form below if you would like to work together, or follow me over on my Instagram account - you can find the link to my socials below - and don't forget to drop me a DM - I look forward to seeing you there!
With love,
Sandra xx
