Disclosure: Delta Air Lines sponsored this post through their partnership with POPSUGAR. While I was compensated by POPSUGAR to write a post about Delta Air Lines, all opinions are my own.

At first, travel was just a guilty obsession of mine. It was a treat for working hard or a quick trip that I would squeeze in over Spring break in college. Over the years, what I’ve learned is that traveling provides you with valuable life skills. When I moved abroad to Santiago, Chile, in 2014, I had no idea how much this change would affect me. It threw me out of my comfort zone and caused me to develop professionally in a way that I never could’ve predicted.

Looking back, I feel so grateful to live in a day and age where the ability to jump from city to city via airplane has become so commonplace. Not only that, but also that the ability to create a career is becoming increasingly location independent, allowing us to harness the possibilities of travel truly. We are living in an extraordinary time in history, especially for women, where numerous opportunities are finally open for the taking.

Many readers have asked what I do as a job that allows me to travel so often, and this can be a hard question to answer. You see, my primary position is as a Spanish-English research translator, which enables me to work remotely. In essence, I receive documents from researchers at different Spanish-speaking universities and then translate them into English for these manuscripts to be eventually submitted and published in academic journals. So, I can work from anywhere as long as I have stable Wi-Fi and my soundproof headphones! On top of that, I began my travel blog in 2016 as a way to share my knowledge of linguistics, culture, and travel tips. Since then, it’s become an additional source of income. Imagine me trying to explain all of that to my grandmother!

On my first anniversary working remotely, I celebrated by taking my first trip to New York City with Delta. Since I travel so often, I like to fly with a company I can trust. I feel like I can relate to Delta since it’s a company that’s continuously seeking to progress and to create positive change. When reserving my flights for work trips, I always book with Delta Air Lines because I can count on arriving on time for important events and meetings.

Most of you are probably wondering, why did you choose New York City? Well, for those of you who don’t know, I’m from a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia. Being more of a country girl, New York City has always been a symbol of “making it” in the world to me. During my five-day visit, I got to witness the city skyline from above, visit the MET, and walk through Central Park. Through these experiences in the “big city,” I felt newly inspired to persevere with my career goals and to keep moving forward.

So, the question remains, how did I get to where I am today? To put it: a lot of hard work and dedication. I consider my education, both from university and from traveling, to be my biggest asset. As far as my classroom education goes, I hold a B.A. in Spanish and a Master’s in Translation and Interpreting studies, and these degrees have helped me establish myself. Nonetheless, I would not be as unique if I didn’t have travel in my life. Traveling helped me learn my third language: Portuguese! Starting my blog was more of a spur of the moment decision. After a few months of debating whether or not to take the plunge, I decided to start Gringa Journeys in early 2016. In time, it became a creative outlet through which I could share my adventures, ultimately helping me develop my experience in social media. From choosing to learn new skills during my free time, I’ve gained valuable experience as a social media consultant and influencer, and even within marketing!

For those of you who are hoping to one day make travel an integral part of your careers, my advice is to make yourself valuable through your experiences. I genuinely believe that people don’t realize the type of skills that they can develop while traveling and how this can push them in new directions professionally. For example, when I arrived in Chile, I was a newly graduated student with limited experience. A few months in a different place taught me about networking, furthered my language skills, and in general, caused me to become less timid when it came to addressing my career goals. Travel made me valuable as an employee, which ultimately led to me getting to work from home and provided me with the skills to create my own business too! I hope that reading my story has helped to clarify a few things about myself and my career, and I also hope that it inspires you to reach for your dreams. At the end of the day, whatever it is you want to do, I encourage you to pursue that goal unabashedly.

Did you enjoy this post? Pin it for later!