Blogger Interview With Ayngelina Brogan- Author of Bacon Is Magic!

From Belgium to Honduras, Columbia to Maui, Ayngelina Brogan has explored it all! Bitten by the travel bug early, this enthusiastic adventurer has built herself quite the travel centric life. She never gave up on following her dream, completely cognizant of the fact that she was leaving behind numerous parts of her life that were near and dear to her. Despite the paralyzing fear of venturing out on her own, Ayngelina continued to persevere in an attempt to figure out what her life was all about. As someone who follows the beat of her own drum, we were delighted to have the opportunity to interview this fantastic voyager/blogger. Now, we are pleased to share her stories with you in the following blogger interview and hope her experiences inspire all our readers in their future endeavors!

Tours4Fun: What have you found to be the most challenging part of your travel-centric life?
Ayngelina: Spending enough time at home. I find it tough to turn down travel but it means I am away from Toronto much more than expected. For example I had planned to spend the summer in Toronto but then I went to Portland, Washington State, Seattle, New York and Montana over July and August – hardly a summer in Toronto but not something I should complain about.

Tours4Fun: In an attempt to follow your dream of traveling, you left many things dear to you behind. What was one thing that propelled you to go through with it and continue chasing that dream while knowing what you had to give up?
Ayngelina: My father died when I was 5 so I have always had a sense of my own mortality. I would much rather die regretting things I had done than things I wish I had done.

Tours4Fun: From your blog we’ve gathered that you’ve visited 21 destinations. If you had to pick a favorite, which one would it be and why?
Ayngelina: I never count countries and I traveled quite a bit before this trip so I have no idea what the real number is. This is actually my least favourite question as it is difficult to answer, some countries I loved for the party and some countries I loves for the tranquility. I can’t really compare them.

Tours4Fun: What is the first thing you want to experience when you visit a new place?
Ayngelina: The food. Usually I find the local market and walk around just to see what is available.

Tours4Fun: What is it about travel that inspires you and continually leaves you thirsting for more?
Ayngelina: I wrote a post called the 35 things I learned from traveling Latin America. It may sound cheesy but I am a student for life and travel is constantly challenging me and encouraging me to learn more. Sometimes it’s a culture, language or politics but most often I am learning about myself. It is endless.

Tours4Fun: When you venture out to foreign lands, it could be very easy to mismanage money. How do you handle your budgeting? Are there certain goals/limitations you set for yourself? How do you stretch your dollar to get the optimum value out of it?
Ayngelina: I keep a tally of my daily spending and in Latin America I stick to 30 per day which ends in 1000 per month. It is why I don’t spend much time in Europe – it’s far too expensive for me.

Tours4Fun: What are some of the most important lessons you’ve learned over your travels?
Ayngelina: It’s not so much about the world but about people, we spend too much time putting on a brave face and if we could just open up about our insecurities we would feel far less lonely.

Tours4Fun: When visiting a foreign country, have you met any locals that have made an impact on you? If so, describe them to us and tell us how and why they resonated with you.
Ayngelina: Oh wow I could write a book on this, there are so many people I have met but one person I wrote about that made me realize just how lucky we are was in a post called Have you met Andres.

Tours4Fun: Finally, where and when is your next adventure going to take place?
Ayngelina: Good question. Next month I’m heading back to Nova Scotia to spend the month and holidays with my family. That is the best adventure anyone could ask for.