Why We Chose to Redefine Our Careers and Travel the World

For the past five years, we’ve both been dedicated to our careers—Andrew in scuba sales and Brandie in bio-tech. We loved the opportunities these roles gave us to grow, challenge ourselves, and make a meaningful impact. As we worked hard and planned for the future, we often talked about the incredible places we would one day travel to and the adventures we would have. But as we continued saving and dreaming of "someday," we began to realize something important: if we kept waiting, we might miss out on the chance to live out that dream while we were still young, energetic, and able to fully embrace it.

During this time, both of our parents reached retirement age. Watching them embrace their dreams of traveling the world was inspiring, but we also saw the challenges that came with it—health concerns, doctor’s appointments, and reduced energy. Despite their best efforts, these obstacles sometimes kept them from fully enjoying the freedom they had worked so hard to achieve. They often said, “I wish I had traveled more when I was younger and had more energy.”

Their words stayed with us and made us reflect. If we waited until retirement to start living our dream of traveling the world, would we face the same challenges? Would we regret not taking the leap sooner? The more we thought about it, the clearer it became: the best time to pursue this dream wasn’t “someday” in the distant future—it was nNow.

With that realization, we started saving every penny we could to build a travel fund, determined to find a way to turn our traditional 9-to-5 jobs into something more flexible—something that would allow us to continue working while also traveling and living our dream. It wasn’t about leaving our careers behind; it was about redefining them in a way that prioritized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore the world while we were still able to fully enjoy it.

Once we committed to the idea, we knew we needed a clear goal to guide our journey. That inspiration came while reading National Geographic’s 100 Dives of a Lifetime and dreaming about the incredible dive sites we wanted to explore. We were captivated by the idea of following in Carrie Miller’s footsteps—traveling to and reviewing all 100 dives. It felt like the perfect way to combine our love for scuba diving with our passion for travel, all while giving us a structured yet adventurous itinerary.

From the world-famous wrecks of Chuuk Lagoon to the mesmerizing cenotes of Mexico, we’re now on a mission to explore the best dive sites the world has to offer—and to live out our dream, one dive at a time.