EP1. From College Backpacks to European Backpacking

Ryan Casper recently graduated from the University of Arkansas and decided to embark on a 50-day backpacking trip through Europe with his friend, Will Strong. They visited various countries and had memorable experiences despite the lack of planning. The trip had a transformative effect on Ryan, improving his outlook on life and teaching him the importance of stepping out of his comfort zone. After returning to the US, Ryan faced a stressful job that made him realize the importance of work-life balance. He eventually quit and found a new job as a writing tutor, where he focuses on inspiring and teaching kids. The backpacking trip had a profound impact on Ryan's life and he is now happier than ever. It was summer of 2022 when Ryan Casper found himself freshly graduated from the University of Arkansas. It was this very summer that he left school in the past for the rest of his life. The one stretching ahead of him was luring seduction. Now, that is not to say there wasn't ample life already lived, as Casper's childhood and teenage years were a swarm of family vacations and traveling. However, it was not until these exact sultry dog days, with a crisp diploma in his hand, and everyone asking what his plans were, that he decided to take the leap to go on the 50-day backpacking trip throughout Europe that he and his best friend, Will Strong, had talked about for ages. Flying out of Houston, near their hometown of New Braunfels, Texas, Casper and Strong touched down in Amsterdam, Netherlands, a new country for both of them. With that, the summer of adventure kicked off, a whirlwind of boats, trains, and planes visiting Bakarach in Munich, Germany, Prague, Czech Republic, Budapest, Hungary, Split, Croatia, Naples, Capri of the Amalfi Coast, Rome, Florence, and Lake Como, Italy, Zermatt and Interlaken, Switzerland, Paris, France, Majorca, Spain, and Barcelona, then finally back home to Houston. Despite nights spent in smelly, loud hostels, hours spent hurtling through the continent on stuffy trains, and verbal attacks by Europeans fed up with their American ways, this was the best and most monumental trip of Ryan's existence. His outlook on living, patience, positivity, anxiety, and gratitude for the slow moments improved tremendously, changing his life completely. It is all thanks to his transformative travel, the very name of this podcast, which delves into the life-changing places, experiences, and impacts of traveling in your 20s. I'm your host, Alyssa Riley, and this is From College Backpacks to European Backpacking, Episode 1. Armand Moras, 26, works remotely out of Austin, Texas, as a group travel advisor and tour operator with Universal Travel out of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Having gone on many trips herself, both before and through her career, Armand knows a thing or two about traveling internationally. A great way to travel is solo travel and self-discovery. That is a big thing in the travel industry, and that can be really beneficial to someone's health. If I was directed in traveling anybody, it would be with a close companion. As far as their budget would go, then I would be able to suggest places for them to stay, because when you're at hostels, they're a really big thing, and that is a great way to travel if you are on a budget. This is the exact thought that Ryan and Will had, why they chose to embark on this type of trip. We just decided, we were like, we both want to go visit all of these countries together, we both want to do this, so why not now? I mean, we're both going to be working for the rest of our lives. That was the pushing factor for us was the time. We were like, we're free, we're both out of work right now, we both are looking for jobs. Why not halt this for a minute, halt looking for jobs, and go travel the world while we can? Typically, this trip is not the kind of spontaneity that anyone can accomplish. International travel takes unbelievable planning, coordinating, and, well, funds. According to Backcountry Emily, a travel blog, backpackers should start planning their trip a year in advance. Also, according to Travel Limbing Blog, those planning to backpack through Europe for two months should plan to spend $6,000 maximum, and that's while sticking to a strict budget. A big thing for me is do your research. Yet, leave it to two 23-year-old men to throw caution to the wind, scrounge up their life savings, and embark on a 50-day trip full of unknowns. The biggest struggle was probably planning it. We had this plan, like, oh, we'll do one a week, and by the time we get to the date, we'll have it all planned out. Obviously, that didn't happen. We pretty much did all the planning the night before at my mom's house before we left. But at the same time, I think that's also what made the trip great. A lot of the stuff that we did that was unplanned are some of the most memorable experiences. We took it right out of our bank accounts, and we ended with not a lot of money, but we both knew money will eventually come. So why not drain our bank account and have the time of our lives together? Because we'll never have a time like this ever again. It was definitely the best time of my entire life with my best friend. I think everyone can travel. I know it might seem like, oh, it's just too expensive. Yes, traveling does take some money, but it is possible to do it on a budget. I truly believe that everybody can afford that luxury. No matter how small the trip, everyone should travel if they can, because it is beneficial to your health and your mental health, and it's fun. The duo made it to their last stop of Germany, Munich. Here, they were welcomed by their first hostel experience. A hostel is where a bunch of people our age or even older can all stay in the same room, and it's very cheap. There was about 12 people in our room for this hostel, and we met people from England, Ireland, Japan, and Korea. It was truly amazing. We met a lot of good people that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. They ventured to Italy, where things began to change, where Ryan began to change. We flew to Naples, Italy, right on the bottom part of Italy. We had some of the greatest pizza we've ever had in our entire lives. Pizza was invented there, so it's a sin if you don't get pizza in Naples, Italy. We booked a boat to Capri, and Capri is this quaint little island right off the coast of Naples. We went to the Amalfi Coast, a coastline of houses on cliffs and beautiful beaches and crystal-clear water, and we took a train to Rome. It was one of our favorite spots because we saw the Colosseum, Pompeii, the famous Trevi Fountain, and we went to Florence, Italy. The food was just phenomenal. We took a train to Lake Como. To have a great experience in Lake Como, you have to be filthy rich. We are not filthy rich. We have just decided to go on a backpacking trip and use all of our money on it. Aside from learning to slow down, being there present, and not always looking forward to something, something that I took home was getting outside your comfort zone more. I always wanted to go to Europe in a backpack, and it was scary to me. I learned that a lot of things are a lot scarier in your head than actually doing them. Forcing yourself to get outside your comfort zone is where you're going to grow the most. After the trip, being back in the States, Ryan received a job offer to be a sports journalist for a Fayetteville local sports publication. This was the job he had wanted his entire life, what he worked towards in college. It should have been amazing. It was anything but. He was immediately taken back to that place of constant anxiety. And it wasn't simply the fact of becoming an adult. No, it was his boss who did the trick, who took an opposite approach to work-life balance than what Ryan learned in Europe. Constant impatience, badgering, insulting his work, and overloading his schedule were a few of the things that welcomed him to the first few weeks on the job. Do you think that's connected to your job with the sports publication and how you're like, I don't need this stress. I don't need you berating me. I'm better off cutting my losses and finding something that promotes peace in my life. Absolutely. A hundred percent. The hustle and bustle of journalism is a lot. If there's not the right people supporting you, it can be a mountain of stress that's put on you. When you do get that wrong person, like my boss in my last job, I've had enough. I was like, I don't need this in my life. It's not worth it. I'm stressing about something so minimal and he's making me feel like an idiot. I'm done with this. It gave me a newfound inspiration added on through everything. After taking the leap and quitting his job, Ryan moved back home to New Brunswick to live with his parents. A few months later, he began his new job as a writing tutor at Mountain Valley Middle School. In Italy, they really focus on working to live rather than living to work. An aspect of your life can be working to live, but it's super important that your work reflects you and the values that you have. From what it sounds like, that's something that you kind of learned, took away from that trip. Work doesn't have to be go, go, go, stress, get this done, make this money. I want to inspire kids to learn and that's what got me into teaching. Learning to live in the present and be that role model for these kids is so powerful to me. They're stressed about this test in middle school. I'm like, don't be stressed about this test. You're going to have so much more in life to live for than to be stressed about a little test. I wish somebody would have told me that because it completely probably would have changed a whole lot of my life. I do tell them a lot that I learned from the trip that I took. A lot of how to live your life brought me into my new job and I'm happy I'm able to teach these kids all these awesome lessons. With everything said and done, it is quite obvious the effects this backpacking trip had on both Ryan and Will. Just go, enjoy it and have the best freaking time of your life. Any trip that you go on is going to be so memorable and worth it. I absolutely love my new life and I'm happier than I've ever been. Honestly, I have little stress. I enjoy literally everything. I love everybody in my life. And it's all thanks to transformative travel. I'm your host, Alyssa Riley, and I thank you for listening to today's episode, From College Backpacks to European Backpacking. I hope to have you here with me again next time for episode two, Gibbons Goes Global for Scottish and English Health Perspectives, where I will discuss how studying different health policies abroad impacted Reece Gibbons' outlook on travel, the world, and her future career in nursing.