A woman who has been solo travelling full-time for 15 years has revealed why she refuses to settle down.
At 33, many women are looking to the future, finding a place to call home, often with a partner and perhaps children too.
But Daisy Dyke is anything but traditional.
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Her gap year in Australia at the age of 18 has never ended, with the globetrotter going on to visit 69 countries and continuing her travels almost non-stop for the past 15 years.
She has gone on to build a following of nearly 200,000 by documenting her adventures online, and jokingly dubs herself a “miserable spinster” in response to trolls that criticise her lifestyle.
“I’ve never had the urge to settle down and have a ‘normal’ life,” Daisy, a content creator from Dorset, UK, told What’s The Jam.
“18-year-old me would be in shock – I thought 30 was so old and grown up back then, I wouldn’t believe I was still single and travelling at this age.
“I’m 33, single, and doing a job that didn’t even exist for the first few years I travelled.
“I never imagined my life would turn out like this – but it’s also turned out better than I ever could’ve imagined.”
When Daisy left for Australia in 2010 on a working holiday visa, she planned to “get the travel out of her system” – but has instead done the opposite.
After working on a ranch as a cowgirl, she saved up and travelled the East Coast, before travelling on to Thailand, Kuala Lumpur and living with a tribe in the Borneo jungle.
She came back to the UK to study in Liverpool for three years, but saved as much money as she could in order to spend the long spring and summer break abroad, interrailing around Europe.
By the time she graduated, she knew there was no way she’d settle down into a traditional life path anytime soon.
Daisy said: “The more I travelled, the more opportunities and jobs arose, so one thing would lead to another, and my travel list kept getting longer.”
She moved to Greece to work as a waitress in 2014, before returning home briefly to work a 9-5 to save up more money to backpack around South America.
From there, she flew to New Zealand and spent two years working there as a professional fairy, horse trekking guide, and on a glass-bottom boat.
She also volunteered in exchange for accommodation in Tonga and Hawaii during this time, and holidayed in the Philippines and the Cook Islands.
Next came a stint leading travel groups in Europe, which led to hefty discounts on her own further travels, taking her to six countries in Africa.
When Covid struck, she lost her job and was forced to move back home temporarily, working full-time as a marketing manager before getting back on the road and flying to Mexico on a one-way ticket in May 2021.
There, she taught English and started working online remotely – which triggered her to think about other ways of making money online, including content creator.
Daisy said: “I’d attempted to become a creator a few times but always gave up and lacked belief in myself.
“Then my ex and I broke up, and I quit my job, so I flew home feeling like an absolute failure.
“I had nothing to lose, so I started posting more intentionally on Instagram.
“There’s nothing like heartbreak to motivate you!”
Her platform grew and grew, swelling to 196,000 on Instagram, @daisystraveldiaries, with followers hooked on Daisy’s travels around the globe, and how she has managed to sustain it for so long, as well as her refreshingly honest take on “feeling clueless” in her 30s.
She has had doubts along the way – including a period in 2019 when she turned down a job in Japan, worried she should be settling down, and flew back to the UK.
Daisy, who runs a digital community called Globe Strutters, said: “I definitely doubted myself a lot, comparing my life to friends at home who were getting married, working corporate jobs, and having babies.
“For some strange reason, I convinced myself that I should try and settle down in London and felt like I was weird for not wanting that life.
“I soon hated it and emailed the employers in Japan during a rave at 2am asking for my job back!
“I don’t regret it as it made me realise it’s not what makes me happy.
“There is so much to see and so many things I want to do around the globe – I have never felt that urge to ‘settle’.
“The more I travel, the longer my list gets!”
While Daisy loves the life she has created for herself, she admits there are drawbacks.
She said: “The only big one for me is missing out on things at home.
“My family is super close, and I miss events and parties – although I do always go home for friends’ weddings.
“Relationships are tough too – you may meet an amazing man and get on well, but then have to say goodbye.
“But I also think that when the right one comes along, it will work.”
As a result of being single and not tied down in her thirties, as well as having a large platform, Daisy has faced trolling – something she now leans into, jokingly dubbing herself a “miserable spinster” while showing the incredible experiences she has every day on the road.
She said: “Trolls are my biggest inspo.
“Every time a Reel goes viral where it says I’ve been travelling for 14 years, I’m in my thirties and single, trolls enter assuming I’m a w***e or a trust fund baby.
“So I thought f**k it and used their comments as a script – now it’s become a thing!
“There is no ‘right way’ to live a life that makes you happy.
“There are so many voices, especially to women, saying we should live a certain way – but that’s ridiculous!
“Choose the life that makes you happy, and as you get out there and start your travel, you realise how many other people there are living this life.
“I’m also super happy for my friends who have beautiful babies, fur babies, who are corporate baddies, and who are buying houses.
“We are all on different journeys and each one should be celebrated equally.”
