The personal Website of Andy Schön of New York. Now in its 16th year on the Web.
MAIN | FAVORITE PLACES | SEVEN WONDERS | U.S. STATES | COUNTRIES | CONTINENTS | TRIPS
Woo, ANTARCTICA at long last! (2010-11-00 - 2010-12-00)
Labor Day Weekend in PA (2010-09-03 - 2010-09-06)
Skydiving (2010-07-31 - 2010-07-31)
Memorial Day in Btown (2010-05-31 - 2010-05-31)
Immediate Family Xmas Celebration (2009-12-26 - 2009-12-26)
Xmas Eve inc. Church (2009-12-24 - 2009-12-24)
In 2001, I was 23 years old and had only once traveled beyond a six hour drive from Boyertown, PA, where I was raised - a senior class trip to Orlando when I was 18. I had only ever flown that once, and had almost never stayed in a hotel all my life. This wasn't due to any lack of interest in travel on my part, but rather a result of some aspects of my upbringing that may be detailed more later in my Autobiography Project.
Over the next two years, I continued to develop a strong interest in traveling, but I also continued to have fairly limited time and money for it due to cramming in lots of classes during college and while working full-time, and due to acquiring $100K in college loans and paying New York City rent during a peak of the market. The complete extent of my travels when I was 25 (2003) was only negligibly extended from that of 2001.
After several years of excessively frugal living (aside from Manhattan rent), in 2003 I almost simultaneously completed my Masters Degree and paid off all of my college loans. I had earned a few promotions at my job in the meantime as well. With the suddenly increased time and money for traveling, I did quite a bit of catch-up travel over these past six years. While still working full-time and taking some university classes here and there (with the exception of the tail 3 months, which is my leave of absence), I visited all 48 lower U.S. states and 34 countries, specifically the places illustrated in the map below.
