“This was a fantastic event! It made me realize that taking a career break for long-term travel is a completely realistic goal and that I have amazing company also doing the same.”
- 2010 Attendee

Honolulu Panelists

Shaun Henderson
As a typical adolescent, Shaun’s imagination was boundless. As a teenager in 1980s era New Jersey, somehow the ocean inspired him. Searching for waves along the Jersey Shore and eastern United States is what first introduced Shaun to exploration. The roots of his passion for travel are part adventurous and part philosophical. Adventurous in the sense of exploring mountains, rivers, oceans and trails through various sports. Philosophical due to a growing interest in trying to understand how people develop their cultural identity. The rest of the story is a mixture of adventure travel, soul searching, and a long list of ridiculous jobs in faraway places.

The word 'career' was not part of Shaun's vernacular until much later in life. Nor was the word 'vacation' for that matter. Instead, a book titled "Work Your Way Around The World", by Susan Griffith served as his trail map. Consequently, Shaun has traveled extensively and worked a variety of jobs including guiding multi-day mountain bike tours, freelance illustrator, and hot air balloon chase crew. Unburdened by any singular mission in life, he was able to spend most of his second decade on planet earth seeking adventures, learning about new cultures, falling in and out of love, and living life to the fullest as any selfish, idealistic, privileged middle class citizen of a developed country should.

Nowadays, Shaun takes vacations. And he is no longer afraid of the word 'career'. He still travels more often than most, and still has his life lists and wild dreams. Most of his journeys are still centered around some adventure or another. His knees hurt a bit more than they used to, but they still work. Currently, Shaun lives in Hawaii with his beautiful lilikoi vine and two loving fish.

Czarina Lam
Czarina is originally from Hong Kong, and left for college to the Big Island, Hawaii, USA. This was the start of her traveling, initially all over the US and then internationally to Europe. She's been to 23 countries so far and tries to go 1-3 different countries a year. She studied travel industry management and has been in the hotel industry for 20 years. She took a break for a couple of months to travel and re-entered the workforce. While on break she embraced a better way of travel, discovered a way of life, and renewed her passion for exploring.
Her passion for travel is beyond the usual picture taking of monuments and crowd attractions - she embraces the cultures and appreciates the differences and similarities. Her motto is "jump in and feel, smell, touch, and breathe" travel.

MORE TO COME

Meet Your Host: Yen Phan

Yen Phan is a self-described beach bum, living and loving Oahu since July 2009. The travel bug hit her while planning a trip to Bali for her best friend's wedding in July 2008. A two-week wedding vacation ended up being 6-weeks of semi-solo trekking across Thailand, Vietnam, and China.

Her time in Bali inspired her to relocate to Hawaii with her company. But even in Hawaii life’s never perfect, and she left the steady 8-5 cubicle life last year. She is enjoying her break planning various trips and bumming the beaches and hiking the mountains of Hawaii in between. She is looking forward to connecting with people who are passionate about traveling and encouraging others to experience life's journeys through travel.

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