I spent most of my 20s traveling all over the world. By 29, I was completely over it.

I'm glad I had the opportunity to travel the world, but the lifestyle had its challenges.

Alice Lemee

I grew up in New York during the era when high schoolers had green Student Metrocards and St. Marks was a grimy strip of dollar-pizza spots, underage tongue piercings, and cheap alcohol.I loved coming of age in New York City, but when I entered my early 20s, I started itching for a change. In 2019, at 22 years old, I went on a six-month solo backpacking trip across Southeast Asia — and I fell head over heels in love with traveling.When I returned home, all I could think was, "How can I get back out there?"I had zero desire to get a 9-to-5 and be chained to a cubicle, but having a corporate job felt like the only "legitimate" path. So, I started applying for jobs and landed a music-publishing internship, which I hoped to turn into a longer-term career. To pay the bills, I bartended and worked the front desk at a boxing gym. As my days morphed into a blur of boxing gloves, Excel spreadsheets, and Jägerbombs, my traveling dreams faded — and when the COVID-19 pandemic hit around the time my internship ended, I lost all three jobs in one fell swoop.It was a tough pill to swallow, but it gave me something I hadn't had in months: the time to rethink my career path and decide that I wanted to be a writer.