From Redundancy to Adventure: How a Career Transition Sparked a Travel Blog
In May 2024, an unexpected shift in my career opened the door to an entirely new adventure. My employer announced they were exiting Ireland, leaving me with two options: assist with winding down operations or accept a redundancy package and move on. I chose the latter, embracing the opportunity for a fresh start.
After almost two decades of non-stop work, I realized it was time to pause and reevaluate. This change was a chance to reflect, recharge, and explore — both inwards and outwards. My goals were clear: tick a few items off my bucket list, spend quality time with my family, and carve out a roadmap for the next phase of my career.
One of the first decisions I made was to take my family on an unforgettable journey to Africa. We ventured into the heart of Botswana for a bush camping safari. The wilderness experience was raw, challenging, and utterly transformative. Returning home ignited something in me — a sense of adventure that refused to stay dormant.
Between job applications and interviews, I found myself with more free time than I’d had in years. This extra time led me to revisit an idea I’d long toyed with: starting a travel blog. As a family, we’d always kept travel diaries. Each of us — my wife, my daughter, and I — had taken turns penning our adventures. But the idea of turning these notes into a full-fledged blog always lingered at the edge of possibility.
Now seemed like the perfect moment.
To make this idea practical, I leaned on technology, turning to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and creating a customized version of the GPT tailored to my style. I fed it examples of my past writing to ensure it reflected my voice — an understated, conversational tone perfect for storytelling. The process was surprisingly seamless and allowed me to focus on recounting experiences rather than agonizing over structure and flow.
For fact-checking, I explored Perplexity.ai. Unlike ChatGPT, it accesses the internet, which proved invaluable for verifying details as I wrote. The combination of ChatGPT for drafting and Perplexity for validation streamlined my workflow remarkably. I also dipped my toes into programmatic access via OpenAI’s SDK and Python, learning how to integrate AI into content creation — a topic I’ll explore in a future tech-centric blog series.
With these tools at my disposal, I embarked on writing my first major blog series: a 30-part chronicle of our Botswana safari. From tracking wildlife to living in the wilderness, every moment was captivating, and capturing those moments in words has been equally rewarding.
I plan to publish these posts here on Medium in batches of 2–3 entries each week. My hope? That these stories entertain, inspire, or offer useful insights for anyone dreaming of their own African adventure.
