The Story of Katie Caf Travel 

Thank you for showing interest in my life, here’s a little bit more detail into my past and what led me to create this website. 

Growing Up 

I grew up in a large Italian-American family in the suburbs of New York City. My family didn’t travel at all, and growing up “Going to the City” (a 30-minute drive from our house) was considered a big outing. I pretty much grew up in a concrete jungle with very little nature around. We were considered lucky that our town had sidewalks, which neighborhood kids would use to walk to the local Starbucks to hang out – Always, I craved a sense of adventure and freedom I was not getting at home. 

Corporate Life

After graduating college, I took the first corporate job I could get and started working as a UI/UX consultant in Manhattan. That job didn’t start until September, so I took the summer between the “Real World” to backpack Scotland – like with studying abroad, I thought it was my last opportunity to travel without work and life getting in the way. I was frankly disheartened by the corporate life (as so many of us are). During this time, I planned many trips abroad that never happened. Pinning different countries on my Pinterest Board became the closest thing I had to a hobby. 

First Trip to Indonesia – 2019 

I had left corporate life and decided, like so many other 20-somethings, that my true calling was to go to Graduate school – Spoiler, this didn’t wind up happening. Before classes started, I planned a 3-week trip to Indonesia with my then-boyfriend. Bali and Indonesia were at the top of my must-travel list. Yet again, I got the “this is my last chance to see the world” feeling I had gotten so many times before – like time was running out. 

I absolutely loved Indonesia! It was nowhere like I had ever been in my entire life. From the beautiful culture, nature, and endless diversity in the islands, I knew this was a place I wanted to come back to time and time again. Remote work wasn’t really a thing yet in 2019. I knew there were travel writers who had been living abroad and making a living off writing about their travels, but I didn’t think that could ever be me – So, I put my dream of living in Bali on the shelf and headed home. 

Deciding to Live Abroad – 2021 

After doing nothing for an entire year while the world was under mass quarantine in 2020, I decided to take the plunge and get out there. My intention was to take a gap year, or a gap of 6 months depending on when the money ran out, to just travel and “get it out of my system” – Little did I know I would still be wandering the globe three years later.

Starting KatieCafTravel – 2022 

In September 2021, while living abroad in Peru I started KatieCafTravel.com. However, it wasn’t until Spring 2022 that I got serious about the potential to run it as a business. I technically started KatieCafTravel under a different name all the way back in 2019 – I had written a few articles after my first trip to Indonesia. But I had no idea what to do with them! It was a chance encounter with a successful online publication owner in a Facebook group that led me to seek this as a career. After that, I was hooked on travel writing.

Full-Time Remote Worker – 2023 Onwards

Growing was slow going for a while and there were many times I wanted to give up, but being able to check my website’s metrics every day and see how far I had come from where I started kept me going. I began to trust my instincts more, trusting that my content was good and that there were people out there who were being helped by the advice I provided. In the winter of 2023, I passed the 50,000 readers per month threshold to be allowed into Mediavine, one of the best online advertising networks, which was a huge milestone for my site and encouraged me to continue to pursue travel writing.

More About Me & Katie Caf Travel

Follow Along On Instagram