Anna and her boyfriend, Vitaliy, ditched their belongings, left their home in New York City, and began an adventure inspired by their love of travel: a year on the road traversing the United States. Anna, who is a raw vegan (hence her blog, dubbed “Raw on the Road”), shares her travels on instagram @rawontheroad and on her blog, rawontheroad.org. She is originally from St. Petersburg, Russia and writes in both English and Russian for her international audience.
Today we’re sharing a portion of Anna and Vitaliy’s adventure through the US. If you follow along with her now, you’ll find that they have moved their explorations to South America.
It seems very impulsive to pick up your life and decide to travel indefinitely. How much did you plan for this adventure?
Honestly, less than a month. It was a spontaneous decision – one day we just realized that living in New York wasn’t for us anymore and that we wanted to do something different with our lives. We decided to sell most of our belongings online, let our landlord know that we would be moving out in a few weeks’ time (fortunately, she didn’t give us much trouble!), and booked one-way tickets to Portland, Oregon.
What parts of America brought you the most joy?
I really enjoyed the Southwest. Both Vitaliy and I grew up in cities, so seeing the mountains and the desert was a completely new experience. We drove from California to Texas and the scenery at every turn was incredible. The Grand Canyon was definitely a highlight, but we fell in love with the colors, energy and atmosphere in Sedona, Arizona and Santa Fe, New Mexico as well.
If you had to pick somewhere from this trip to live for a while, which American city would it be?
New York. It’s the reason why I moved to the United States from Russia in the first place, and I still love almost everything about it: the beautiful architecture, the amazing restaurants and great museums, and most
of all, the people. I could just walk around the city for hours, people-watching. Another great thing about the city is that no matter where you go, there is always something interesting going on.
What would you recommend to someone who has a similar aspiration of travel? What inspired you to go out and do it?
I used to watch many travel documentaries and read lots travel blogs – those inspired me the most. It was fun to dream about visiting the places I saw on screen. For those who also aspire to travel, my
advice is to not think too much about it; just go ahead and start. Sometimes, overthinking decisions can paralyze you; it’s best to just trust and follow your instincts. Plus, if something doesn’t work out, or if travel becomes unmanageable, you can always return home – trips don’t have to be super long-term, intensive, complex things.
What are you up to now, and how can we keep up with you?
Vitaliy and I been traveling across South America for the past few months. So far, we’ve made it to Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Colombia. Brazil will be our last stop and we’ll be there next week! From there, fly we’ll fly back home to Russia/Ukraine for the summer, and after that I hope to continue traveling and exploring new countries and continents. You can follow my adventures on Instagram @rawontheroad, as well as on my blog, http://www.rawontheroad.org.
