Life Abroad — Tony Fahmy

On: How I Left the United States and Became a World Traveler

It was May of 2023, and me and all my Brandcenter friends were graduating and looking for their next career step. The pressure was on, and competition for jobs, especially given a looming market slowdown, was fierce. I thought about joining in on that race. It was certainly what my mother would have wanted. A salaried job promised security, stability, health benefits. But I had already decided that what I really needed to do first was head back across the Atlantic to Europe. The previous trip (now memorialized in the “Midjourney Travelogs” section of this website) had gotten me hooked on solo travel, so instead of scrambling for full-time employment immediately after grad school, I decided to leave. I shoved all my stuff into a storage locker, gave my car to a friend for safekeeping, and bought a one-way ticket to Lisbon.

The next six and a half months would prove to be a life-changing experience for me. I went fully nomadic, hopping from hostel to hostel in more than a dozen Eurasian countries, making memories, mistakes, and friends. I now know at least four words in about eight different languages, am about half-European, and am more confident, fearless, and happy than I’ve ever been before. And I’ve started freelancing as a brand strategist and researcher, which is part of why all this is on my site. I’d like to show you just how curious, insightful, and observant I can be, and I can think of no better way to do that than to take you through my life on the road.

These journals are split up into two parts. The Grand Tour covers my fast travel days of hostel hopping, sightseeing, and exploring a new country or region every week. Life In Romania is a partial documentary of what it was like to stay, work, and hang out in Romania for 3 or so months.

Click on any of the pictures for the full story