Name: Larissa Leung
Occupation: Media/Telecom
Website: thetravelingmonograph.com
Currently Living In: Vancouver, Canada
Travel Motto: "The most dangerous risk of all is the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet that you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later." - Randy Komisar
Favorite Travel Destinations: Cinque Terre, Barcelona, anywhere along the Amalfi Coast, Marrakech and New York.
What Makes Her Want to See the Globe: I like to be outside my comfort zone. Traveling is the best way to plant yourself into an unfamiliar and challenging situation. I also enjoy building relationships and making friends with people from all walks of life. When you travel, you'll have to rely on people you don't know, and I think it's a great skill to have for personal development. I think the more setbacks you've encountered on your travels (missed connections, lost luggage, being cheated on a cab fare, etc.), it's all part of character building and makes you much more confident to overcome adversity later on. I'm also naturally a very curious person.
Ultimate Bucket List Trip:
- Taking the Trans-Siberian Express from Russia to Asia and crossing 10 time zones
- Walking across the Salar de Uyuni (Bolivian Salt Flats)
- Seeing the Bioluminescent Lake/Milky Way in Gippslend Australia
- Skinny Dipping the Blue Lagoon in Iceland
- Cycling through the Bamboo forest of Arashiyama, Japan
Best Way to Maximize Vacation Days: Try not to save your holidays until year-end or wait a few years until you've saved enough holidays for a big trip that might never really happen. The world welcomes you with open arms year-round, so don't bank on the future and go live now.
Advice for Those Who Want to Travel More: Travel More. Traveling is a life-long endeavor. Save up! Thirty years from now, you won't remember that fancy handbag you bought. Spend wisely and don't hoard too many material things. I once made a pair of flip flops from a plastic bag and a rubber band to get my way out of a monsoon in Malaysia. This has proven more valuable to me than any pair of shoes in my entire lifetime. Nothing is impossible, so dream big.