I quit my job to travel the world… during coronavirus

[hheyimheidi]

Hi, my name is Heidi Liou and I’m a Level 5 Local Guide based in New York City and Phoenix, Arizona.

I am a proud Taiwanese-American. Growing up, I’d travel with my family every other summer from the United States to Taiwan to visit relatives. I used to be jealous of my American friends, always going on beach vacations or to Disneyland with their families and felt like going to Taiwan was a chore. Squat toilets, no AC at my grandparents’ house, odd food that I was forced to eat… is this what ‘travel’ is? But then my grandpa passed away at the age of 87. When I went back to Taiwan that summer, I suddenly realized that those trips to Taiwan were less about vacation than they were about family. Then the next time I went back, my grandma had passed away. The family home was empty and it felt different being there. Looking back, I understand how traveling to Taiwan a dozen times growing up actually made me a fearless traveler, open to new experiences, and constantly aware of how short life is. Today, I embrace every chance I get to travel – to Taiwan and beyond!

In August 2019, I decided to quit my job in New York and travel around the world with Taiwan being my home base. For the past 3 months I’ve been traveling in Southeast Asia seeking new experiences and perspectives on life! It just so happened that 2 weeks after I arrived, the coronavirus outbreak started in China. I immediately started taking extra precautions with my health, especially traveling through airports. Fortunately, none of my flights have been cancelled (no travel restrictions for the countries I was traveling to/from), so I was able to safely arrive home in Arizona. This actually led to the most interesting thing I’ve done as a Local Guide; writing reviews for airports that I’ve passed through, providing info and safety precautions about coronavirus. Reviews like the one I wrote below can help people be more informed and mentally prepared before going to the airport. I’ve also participated in many discussions about coronavirus on Local Guides Connect, to help provide information for my fellow travelers.

I’ve flown through the following airports since the start of Coronavirus:
TPE (Taipei, Taiwan)
FUK (Fukuoka, Japan)
KUL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
SGN (Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam)
SYD (Sydney, Australia)
LAX (Los Angeles, California, USA)
PHX (Phoenix, Arizona, USA)

[JanVanHaver]

Hello @hheyimheidi it looks like your post was accidentally caught in our spamfilter (which is pretty strict here; it can be triggered even by simply making edits to a recently published post). I have now released it from the spam folder.

[Zeg]

Good luck with the travel. The time will fly by.

[Meooluooi]

@hheyimheidi What a nice and also brave decision you’ve been doing! Hope you’re safe and take care now, and hope that this pandemic will be over soon.

[JacobLED]

@hheyimheidi while reading your post I had a flashback seeing me as a kid visiting my grandparents every year in Turkey. Same feelings, same memories while the most of the kids had fancy holidays we were visiting our grandparents which had other qualities, which you really value afterwards and learn what it all was about. Now they are old, very old and we have the memories of what we learned from them about a past life, which will probably not exist in that way anymore.

[hheyimheidi]

Wow, Turkey! I’ve never been. I’m sure you have seen/experienced so much more because of your family trips to Turkey. I’m always wondering how I can utilize my ‘global mindset’ / knowledge… always trying to think of what business I can start but no strong / passionate ideas yet!

[hheyimheidi]

Thank you so much. People think I’m brave but I think I’m just wired this way - I can’t imagine being at a desk job ever again!! I know I will need to find a ‘job’ but it’ll have to be something where I get to move around, travel, be in different offices…

[JacobLED]

Amazing energy/mindset @hheyimheidi that’s how my brain works too… I started an office job in Greece and it changed immediately into starting a food truck business with easy affordable but yummy food for all my colleagues. First of all it is more fun cooking then being a customer care agent and it gives you the feeling of success when you have good feedback for your cooking skills.

I hope we’ll meet this year at connect to exchange business ideas and hey who knows maybe it will be the start of a new startup. “Fingercrossing”

[JacobLED]

…by the way @hheyimheidi there is a lot to discover for me too here in Turkey… specially some new archeological sites recently opened to the public.

Attila K.

[system]

Great Job