Young Planet Traveler Hopes To Inspire Some others To Journey By way of His Photography
Andrew Ingersoll is nicely recognised to viewers of Rick Ingersoll’s well known blog site, The Frugal Journey Dude, for the images of people today, places and cultures he is captured all-around the globe. At age 29, Andrew has by now frequented 47 international locations and, armed with all the no cost and frugal vacation techniques he is uncovered from his father, he is not about to stop.
“The recommendations I have picked up from ‘Pops’ have permitted me to continue on traveling at sensible price ranges and to share my experiences through my pictures,” Andrew mentioned not long ago.
Rick Ingersoll is a retired house loan banker who grew to become a “travel hacker” as a interest so that he and his wife, Katy, could shell out his retirement decades traveling the world. He began blogging about his suggestions and tactics for gathering recurrent flier miles and other free-travel procedures in 2007 (his present-day “bankroll” of frequent flier miles is up to 1.5 million) and authored the e book The Frugal Vacation Male Handbook in 2010. The hobby became a enterprise as readership grew and the travel marketplace began promotion on it.
It was not very long before Rick’s full family joined “the sport,” as he phone calls it — such as Andrew, who immediately figured out that “the world is a intriguing spot, and I want to be in a position to share some of its glories with many others who are not capable to pick up and go.”
He employs his photography to do that – photography whose high-quality defies Andrew’s “newbie” standing.
“It would be wonderful if I could inspire other folks to journey via my pics,” he mentioned. “Traveling and dealing with cultures and customs opens up minds and worries the ignorance and prejudices portrayed by the media.”
Rising up in Traverse Town, Michigan, Andrew graduated from Michigan Condition College with a Bachelor of Nursing diploma in 2004. He started off touring to Europe in holiday seasons and all through summer breaks when he was in school.
“That is when I found out that the entire world was so a great deal greater than white, center class The usa,” claimed the slim, sandy-haired photographer who is now ensconced in Antarctica. “This influenced me to take in as substantially from other nations and cultures as probable.”
Andrew commenced his photographic journal with a “point and shoot electronic digital camera,” he mentioned, and picked up a Nikon Coolpix in a Malaysian sector, “typically mainly because the value was suitable.” But when he produced the determination to pay a visit to all seven continents prior to he turned 30, he understood an upgrade was in order.
“I bought a excellent deal on a Nikon D5000 at Costco this last December and Antarctica was my demo backdrop.”
He moved to Seattle, Washington, following he graduated from Michigan Condition. “It was at this time when we, as a relatives, begun exploring the true rewards of frequent flier miles,” he stated. “My to start with excursion to Asia was on a United Mileage Furthermore reward ticket that took me from Seattle to Tokyo to Singapore. My eyes were being now fixated on cultures so unique from Northern Michigan, I was hooked. And to this working day, I enjoy Asian society.”
On a 28-working day Intrepid Tour of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, Andrew met an Australian man who gave him the concept of pursuing a postgraduate degree overseas.
“When I returned to Seattle, I observed the Masters of Worldwide General public Wellness program at the College of Sydney,” he explained. “Calculating the price tag advantage examination of attending a college in Australia as opposed to America, I was prepared to leap ship. I manufactured the motivation to go after Australia, but not without having ticking off 1 of the issues on my ‘bucket list’ very first.”
Andrew’s “bucket record” – which he insists he manufactured extended ahead of the film “The Bucket Record” came out — was basically a Prime 25 record that a good friend recommended he make. She could see he was struggling with what route to go in his lifetime immediately after he’d received his undergraduate diploma.
“So she experienced me jot down the prime 25 ordeals I needed out of daily life,” he recalled. “I nonetheless have that checklist right now.”
The record influenced him to be part of a medical mission to Mali, West Africa, in which he worked alongside neighborhood Malian doctors and nurses at a clinic for women of all ages and young children. His job was section of a aid team that assisted community employees with large-hazard childbirth.
“Once again, my eyes had been opened and my brain raced. I was so grateful for the possibilities I had been granted,” he explained. “So following some very emotional instances in Mali with some of the most astounding people, I joined an additional Intrepid tour to invest 15 times in Morocco. That was my initially flavor of Arabic and Muslim society. And I wanted to knowledge it as impartial as attainable.”
In February 2008, Andrew moved to Sydney, Australia, exactly where he received his MIPH degree and from time to time labored as an evacuation and repatriation nurse — nurses who deliver sick and hurt men and women to Australia from South Pacific islands for remedy they couldn’t obtain in any other case.
“This is wonderful entertaining and really gratifying — traveling off into the South Pacific to pick up anyone and deliver him or her to Australia for treatment method,” he reported. “I’ve absent to New Caledonia, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Kirabati, Tahiti, Norfolk Island, Tonga and Vanuatu.”
Andrew is now doing work section time in medical exploration before he begins pursuing a Juris Doctor degree at the College of New South Wales in February, a a few-12 months postgraduate regulation degree designed for experts getting into into a occupation in legislation. “I am assured The Frugal Travel Male site will go on to give me with the important applications to allow me to fulfill my personal targets of vacation,” he said.
What’s up coming on his agenda? “Caving in Malaysian Borneo and camper-van vacation in New Zealand,” he stated. “And I’m continue to in the organizing procedure of checking out the Fantastic Wall of China with pricey aged Father.”
Also on his would like record: Nepal, Ghana, Bolivia, Mongolia, Croatia, and Maldives. No 1 uncertainties that he’ll fulfill his wishes, the very least of all his father.
“I wish I experienced the bravery to undertake some of the adventures Andrew has been on,” Rick claimed. “Not only does he see the planet at price ranges he can afford to pay for, he does it at situations in the most basic of indigenous accommodations. He seriously will get in the lifestyle a lot more than I have ever been capable of. I am just a vacationer when I compare my travels to Andrew’s. He is a genuine entire world traveler.”
Andrew posts his vacation shots and humorous commentary on The Frugal Vacation Person weblog each Wednesday and Sunday. To see an archive of his posts, check out http://frugaltravelguy.blogspot.com.