Hi, I’m Byron. I’m traveling around the world, carry-on only, and writing about it until I run out of money. What could go wrong?

My whole life has been leading to this. Travel is in my blood. My first time on a plane was from Washington D.C. to Jordan when I was 3 months old (I just needed to find myself, you know?). My ACTUAL job the past 8 years was to travel around the world and make people laugh. I’ve been to all the states, a slew of countries and a restricted U.S. military base on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. I’ve been lucky to have these opportunities; now I’m going to make them for myself. It feels like I’m just getting started.
Getting a laugh from King Hussein of Jordan and learning at a young age to bring your “A” material if your audience has a sidearm…
As a kid, I used to look out the airplane window. I’d gaze down on the world, projecting a story onto every cluster of lights I flew over. I remember being mesmerized for hours by a Tanzanian thunder storm lighting up the clouds below. I fed on the momentum of throttling down a runway hurtling towards an adventure where any stranger could become a new friend or regale me with a story or worldview I’d never encountered. In the past few years, I’ve lost that momentum. Gathering steam has turned into going through the motions. The adventures were obligations. Head down, aisle seat, next stop, repeat. I’ve been wasting my front row seat to the world because I couldn’t be bothered to revel in the details and take advantage of every moment I’m away from home. That ends now.
Challenged the local checkers champ to a game in Kenya. His friends went bonkers when I won.
I’m a planner. When going to a new destination I dig deep, researching restaurants, accumulating a list of the top sights and making sure I don’t miss a damn thing. I’m pretty sure this approach has led me to miss a lot of things. I need to inject a different mentality into this new adventure. That job I had touring around making people laugh? It was an improv show (you know, like Whose Line Is It Anyway)! Not knowing what comes next, thinking on your feet and always saying yes are the pillars of improv. Those sound like they’d work pretty well when traveling too! I’m embracing the prov, planning less and just getting lost wherever I go. Will I still see some popular sights and make sure I have a place to stay a day or two before I get there? Sure! I’m going try and find the balance between the popular spots and the local things that haven’t found their way to google yet. And those off-the-grid places DO exist! My favorite bar in Japan is a second story joint overlooking a canal lined with cherry blossoms. More of that please.
Flew unaccompanied from Los Angeles to London to meet up with my parents when I was 10. Here at the Tower of London throne room next to a guy who’s realizing he’ll have to wear that outfit every day to work.

So what’s this blog (art?) going to be? Good question (Editors note: He just complimented his own question…). A good friend recently said they love the postcards I send from the road because I focus on the sillier and more ridiculous aspects of the places I go. That’s what this will be!! I’m going to see world, have as much fun as possible and bring you along for the ride. There will be some long form posts that delve into the details and some shorter ones (this post is probably a tweener) that share my adventures in quick, funny and unique ways. It’s gonna be a fun hang. Oh, and my instagram (@TotallyEffnLost) is gonna be 🔥🔥🔥. Part of my journey is going to be in your hands. I’ll post polls on my Insta story asking which country I should go to next. Albania or Montenegro? Japan or Korea? Chile or Peru? It’s up to you!! Follow me on Facebook and Twitter while you’re at it. What else do you have to do other than check these same three apps 1000 times a day?

Here we go. Four days in Lisbon to start things off, Athens after that and then…who knows. It’s time to start looking out the window again, ditch the plans, and get totally effn’ lost. Who’s with me?