How Solo Travel Can Change Your Life with Kristina Bullock [Girls Go Abroad Episode 015]

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By far one of the best parts of solo travel is just how much of an impact it can have on your life. For Kristina Bullock, it completely changed not just her outlook, but the entire trajectory of her life!

Kristina is a family travel blogger at Million Miler Mom. After catching the travel bug in college studying abroad in Australia and South Africa, she spent most of her twenties solo traveling the globe and exploring all seven continents. In 2010, she met her husband in Jordan and they now have three children.

Having kids has not slowed down this family and they aim for at least 4 trips per year. When she is not traveling, Kristina works full-time as an HR professional in the tech sector. She and her family reside in San Jose, California.

Studying Abroad & Traveling Solo

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I went to Antarctica in 2004 and it has remained at the top of my list, even today. You can’t compare it to any other place. It was quite a journey to get there. Fly to Buenos Aires, drive across town to the domestic airport, fly to Ushuaia and depart from there. It takes 3 days to cross the Drake Passage and I spent those 3 days throwing up even though we had an easy crossing per the crew. 😳 But, once I was there, it was pure magic! Stunning landscape, seeing penguins and whales up close and seeing one of the last untouched spots on Earth. Even went to the British Research Station and they had a gift shop! Is Antarctica on your bucket list? Or have you already been? Share your experience or ask a question below. {Apologies for the graininess in the photo. This shows how much photography has evolved in 15 years!} . . . . #travel #travelmom #7continents #7continentsclub #Antarctica #PeregrineAdventures #traveling #traveladdict #adventuretravel #millionmilermom

A post shared by Kristina | Million Miler Mom (@millionmilermom) on Nov 6, 2019 at 6:33am PST

The travel bug first bit Kristina when she went on a 2-week travel study program to Australia over winter break. Just a week after getting back, she started planning a proper study abroad experience.

She chose South Africa because she wanted something non-traditional, and loved how the program let her learn about history by actually going to the places that she was studying.

Throughout college, she went on several more trips with family and friends, and it wasn’t until she was 21 that she took her first HUGE solo trip. She had won a raffle and was lucky enough to go on a 10-day cruise to Antarctica. Meaning that by 21, she had already set foot on all 7 continents.

After college, Kristina started working at a place where he boss was super supportive of her travels and she was able to travel at least once a quarter. She went all over the place and had some of the craziest adventures – which she talks all about in the podcast episode!

It All Changed in Jordan

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Flashback to one of my favorite pre-kid adventures: exploring Jordan and checking out the Dead Sea. Can’t believe this was nearly a decade ago! And the trip where I met my husband (we were on the same @gadventures tour!) . . Is the Dead Sea on your bucket list? . . . #travel #travelwithkids #travelmom #travelwithbaby #travelwithtoddler #travelblogger #millionmilermom #gadventures #visitjordan #deadsea #familytravel #shareyourjordan

A post shared by Kristina | Million Miler Mom (@millionmilermom) on Dec 9, 2019 at 12:34pm PST

Have you ever had a life-changing experience almost completely by chance? Well, that’s what happened to Kristina when she went to Jordan.

She picked the destination completely randomly when she was talking to a few coworkers and they realized that Petra was the only one of the New 7 Wonders of the World that she hadn’t been to yet.

So she picked a random group tour and signed up. And on the trip was cute British guy about her age. They hung out on the trip, but it wasn’t until she was on the plane home that Kristina realized she might just really like him.

So Mike (the cute British guy) came out to California and it was totally wonderful. After that, they met up every few months in a new place to see each other, exploring the world together.

Since then, Mike has moved to the US, they got married, and they now have 3 kids!

Traveling with Kids

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A post shared by Kristina | Million Miler Mom (@millionmilermom) on Nov 28, 2019 at 9:58pm PST

Of course, things can’t stay completely the same when it comes to traveling once you have kids. For one, it involves a lot more stuff!

Being such an avid traveler has definitely informed how Kristina parents, though. She knew from the start that she wanted her kids to be travelers, and they all get their passports when they’re still babies!

The family travels together regularly, and now that some of the kids are a bit older they’ve started incorporating them into the planning process, asking them where the want to go and planning trips based around what they’ve been learning in school.

Of course, Kristina still loves to solo travel – mostly for business, but she hopes to go on an amazing women’s retreat as soon as she can!

You can follow Kristina on Instagram at @millionmilermom and read her blog, Million Miler Mom.

Be sure to hit play on this episode to tune in and hear all of Kristina’s wisdom about solo travel!