About Me

My name is Shane

My motto in life is figure it out. That’s basically been my story and really how traveling around the world and moving abroad started.
 
After a layoff in 2023, I sold everything except a few things stored at relatives’ homes and enough to overpack for a 7.5 month trip across the world. During that trip, I made countless friends, saw the sites I’d dreamed of, and ate so much good food. 

Along this trip, I took copious notes, captured photos and videos of almost every meal I ate, and actually did nothing with them except the photos I captured with my Sony mirrorless camera. 

And this is why I call myself a content collector. I had so much to share about traveling, but didn’t. I’ve never been one to share much about my personal life online. But when many of my friends asked for travel advice, I was unprepared. I hadn’t posted on social media or anywhere else. 

After traveling for all that time, I returned home and didn’t want to stay. I had a chance to do one more thing I had always dreamed of—move out of the United States. And yet I still didn’t share anything online. 

From the friends that did know about my adventures, I was constantly asked how I did it or was complimented on having the guts to actually do it. Whereas I thought it was just a matter of figuring it out, I learned that it takes someone kind of crazy to do what I did—travel to places where I don’t know anyone and enjoy it.

This website, Laid Off Traveler, is where I share my story. Where I share everything I learned from traveling and moving abroad and hopefully someone else on their travels.