tandrew

[tandrew]

Hello all! I can't believe it's already been 2 years since I began my journey of healing, self-discovery, and self-love.

As I reflect on my personal growth and experiences over the past two years and what lies ahead, I wanted to give an update and some background for those who have started following my journey along the way.

Last week, I started a full-time position as a project manager for a utility in New York helping them implement technology that will help them automate and manage their grid of the future. My plan is that once the project is completed, I want to take some time off to backpack through South America, hopefully in late 2024/early 2025!

Despite having been privileged enough to able to live my life on my own terms and being much happier than I've ever been since I caught the travel bug studying exchange in Singapore in 12 years ago, I still have a lot of healing to go and more therapy and self-therapy to help me get there. But I have come such a long way from the emotional trauma that pushed me to start this journey in the first place, which was a blessing in disguise and am grateful to be alive and healthy on this journey!

Here's a quick recap of my travel adventures:

• I went on an amazing 4 month road trip across the US where I visited 21 national parks, 5 national forests/monuments, hit all 4 corners of the continental US, and drove just a little over 20,000 miles through 36 states (many of them for the first time!).

• I went on several domestic and international trips, mainly solo trips to visit friends and family and a few spontaneous solo adventures using my Frontier Airlines all you can fly pass, but I also went on my first group trip to Galapagos with 10xTravel Insiders (where I learned how to pay for travel using credit card points and miles by being strategic with which credit cards I use to pay for my expenses without changing my spending habits).

• I logged close to 100,000 flight miles over 48 flights, spending almost 9 days in the air, visiting 30 airports in 11 countries, and taking 15 different airlines.

• I hiked to the top of Mount Washington with a new group of friends I met and chased the New England foliage from the White Mountains in New Hampshire down to Bear Mountain in CT.

And in terms of work:

• I worked as a staff accountant part-time for a small CPA firm and worked two tax seasons helping many minority and low income individuals and families with their taxes as well as non-profits and churches with financial statements.

• I also picked up another part-time job as a principal electrical engineer with a large infrastructure and defense engineering company (Parsons Corporation) helping them grow their utility business.

#personaljourney #flighty #nationalparkroadtrip #takenoniphone #archesnationalpark #redwoodnationalpark #craterlake #nyc #newjob #grateful #personalgrowth

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Monkey Rock, near Denmark, Western Australia

After exploring William Bay National Park, there was just enough sunlight to sneak in one last hike so we decided to check out Monkey Rock just before sunset.

It wasn't a long nor difficult hike since we were out and back in under an hour and it was super fun playing in the rocks! There was a rope installed to help get up to the rocks and once we were up there the view of the area was beautiful! It was pretty surreal watching the trees sway in the wind.

Afterwards, we jogged back to the car and headed to the motel to check in where we saw some kangaroos right in the backyard! We checked in, dropped off our stuff, and went next to the pub next door for a celebratory dinner and beverages to end the solid day! We did a lot that day - on top of driving several hours, we did our spontaneous hike up to Bluff Knoll, explored William Bay National Park, and finished off with Monkey Rock!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/660127932758113

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxggpqMPwQo/

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #denmarkwa #monkeyrock #kangaroos #sunsethike

[tandrew]

January 2023 - William Bay National Park, near Denmark, Western Australia

After Bluff Knoll, our last stop before heading back to Perth was Denmark. Since we were passing through Mt. Barker again, we had to make another stop at the bakery and got ourselves another cheesecake!

We had some time before sunset so we went to check out Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks at William Bay National Park. It was a nice drive with more tree canopies as we got closer so it was a nice change in scenery.

A bonus neither of us expected was that we saw waterfall beach on the map and we hadn't seen any waterfalls yet on the road trip so we had to check it out. It turned out to be the best part of our stop at William Bay National Park!

At first I was like…uh…you call that a waterfall? But then it was the perfect size to be almost like an outdoor shower and the cold clean water was so refreshing especially after sweating from our climb up Bluff Knoll!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/253517577032774

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CwkP8MPsI2u/

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #greenspool #elephantrocks #williambaynationalpark #williambay #treecanopy #waterfall #refreshing #beach #waterfallbeach

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Bluff Knoll - Stirling Mountain Range, Western Australia

As we were driving from Esperance back towards Perth, the mountains of the Stirling Range came into view. As soon as I saw the mountains, I knew I had to climb to the top and when Susanna Tan talked about her experience last time hiking to the top and how long it took, it sealed the deal. I decided I wanted to make a stop and climb one of the highest peaks in Western Australia! It was probably the most spontaneous decision I’ve ever made, and to be honest, I was kind of intimidated especially as we drove closer to the trailhead and saw how much it towered in front of us!

The hike up was no joke - 613 meters (2,012 feet) elevation gain over only about 3 kilometers (1.6 miles) each way so it was pretty much like going up stairs most of the way. We were out and back in just under 2 hours and even spent some time at the top taking in the views. It was a perfect clear day where we could see for miles and got to enjoy our packed sandwiches with a spectacular view of the range and surrounding area!

On the way down, we trail ran most of the way and actually caught up to and passed everyone coming down as we were going up except for one group so we were really moving lol. Initially I was very cautious since it was a bit scary to be honest. One wrong move and I’d be tumbling down the side of the mountain! But I somehow gained some confidence and went faster and faster as we went further down which was quite thrilling!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1028722134964937

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvlgmMugZOB/

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #stirlingmountainrange #stirlingmountains #bluffknoll #spontaneoushikes #trailrunning #mountains #mountainpeaks #beautifulviews

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Lucky Bay Brewing, Esperance, Western Australia

After we cooked enough in the sun, we made our way back to the car. On the hike back I saw my first kangaroo in the wild but was too slow with the camera to get a photo or video. So that day alone we saw both an emu and kangaroo in the wild! On the way to Esperance I wanted to stop by Lucky Bay Brewery again for a few last beers to finish off the day and our time in Esperance since this was our last day before making our way back to Perth.

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #capearidnationalpark #capearid #luckybaybrewing

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Kennedy Beach, Cape Arid National Park, near Esperance, Western Australia

When we reached the end of the trail we were rewarded with the best beach of the trip!

It was pristine, there was no seaweed, the waves were pretty calm, it was shallow so you could walk pretty far out, there was a nice clean rock to lay out and put our stuff on, and even a little pool of water next to the rock filled with ice cold Antarctic water we used to keep our non-alcoholic beers cold! I think we even found a rock completely full of abalone in the wild just chillin there!

Best part is we had it all to ourselves! Since we found our beach we hung out for a while and enjoyed our packed sandwiches and cold non-alcoholic beers!

I've been missing Australia since I got back 6 months ago but with this heat wave I'm really wishing I was back in Australia right now!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1433406507436530/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cuc8NbbA8An

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #capearidnationalpark #capearid #coastalhikes #beautifulbeaches #cousinbonding #kennedybeach #privatebeach

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Tagon Bay, Cape Arid National Park, near Esperance, Western Australia

We grew a bit restless after hanging out in Yokinup Bay so we decided to check out the Tagon Coastal Trail and see the other beaches. It was fun except for when we had to walk along tagon bay which was a long 1km stretch where it was all beach and felt like forever!

We first stopped at Dolphin Cove but weren't really feeling it since there was nowhere to hang up the hammock so we dropped the hammock back in the car and decided to head to the end of the trail and then hang out at the beach we liked the most on the way back (spoiler alert: kennedy beach at the end was our fav which I'll be posting about next!)

We came across a rocky area on the way that was fun watching the waves crash and seeing the different colors of water from the algae on the rocks!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1433406507436530/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cuc8NbbA8An/?igshid=MTIzZWMxMTBkOA==

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #capearidnationalpark #capearid #coastalhikes #coolrocks #beautifulbeaches #cousinbonding #tagonbay

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Yokinup Bay, Cape Arid National Park, near Esperance, Western Australia

The next day we were on the fence on whether we wanted to go to Cape Arid National Park. After doing some research it was very remote - almost a 2 hour drive each way and involved some beach driving as well and looking on google maps looked like it could be sketchy. The trailhead to Mount Arid required driving like 20 miles of beach!

I'm so glad we ultimately decided to at least check it out because we saw our first and only emu in the wild and were pretty much the only ones in a 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) stretch of beach for most of the time so it felt like we had the whole park to ourselves! We were able to get away without too much beach driving and didn't get bogged!

We started at Yokinup bay. We took a bit of a chance and drove onto the beach after scoping it out first and made it out ok! 

When I left Penang, my aunt gave me shrimp chips that I had been carrying around with me that somehow remained intact so we finished them on the beach! It was so chill and we didn't want to go but we wanted to check out the other beaches and glad we did! The beach there was nice and thought it was our favorite beach lol until we went beach hopping and found our beach which I'll post about next!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin/IG photographer/travel buddy/twin!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1433406507436530/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cuc8NbbA8An/?igshid=MTIzZWMxMTBkOA==

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #capearidnationalpark #capearid #coastalhikes #coolrocks #beautifulbeaches #cousinbonding #yokinupbay

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Hellfire Bay to Le Grand Beach, Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance, Western Australia

The last hike was rough since I was overconfident in my ability to hike without drinking much water. As I started feeling dehydrated, almost right on cue, clouds rolled in and gave us the relief we needed since it was super hot and we were pretty much exposed to the sun the entire time. I didn’t think to fill up my water bottle so I only had half a bottle to begin with. Lesson learned!

We started off with a jog on the beach at Hellfire Bay. When we got to the start of the trail over to Le Grand Beach, it was a very steep climb up and thinking about coming back down was unsettling since one wrong step and I’m sliding all the way down. It seemed steeper than Frenchman Peak but beautiful view of Hellfire Bay! Luckily the rain held out until we got back to Hellfire Bay otherwise those rocks would have been super sketchy to traverse down!

The hike towards Le Grand beach wasn’t as scenic as the hikes earlier in the day and it was also pretty challenging since we had to hike an an angle in many spots so it was rough on the ankles, it was not well marked at some spots so we had to find the cairns, and I was struggling with dehydration so didn’t take so many pictures in between lol. Also Susanna Tan and I had some great very deep conversations too. We found a nice spot on the rocks to enjoy our sandwiches and heineken zeros!

When we got back to Hellfire Bay, we cooled off in the water for a few minutes just before it started to rain and I also realized that someone mentioned the squeaky sand which I finally noticed haha. But the timing worked since we got back to the car just as it started to rain harder.

It was a longer 7.5 mile (12.15 kilometer) round trip hike with 1,095.8 feet (334 meter) elevation gain so it was the most strenuous hike of the 3, but a solid hike to end a solid day. We drove down to the end of the at Rossitier Bay which wasn’t really much to see and stopped by Lucky Bay again to see if maybe the Kangaroos might be out since it was around sunset but no luck. So we called it a day and headed over to Lucky Bay Brewing to end the night!

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/229447086558246

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuAqvMpgMGr/

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #capelegrandnationalpark #capelegrand #hiking #hellfirebay #deepconvos #cousinbonding

[tandrew]

Back to posting from my January 2023 Malaysia/Australia Trip!

January 2023 - Thistle Cove to Lucky Bay, Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance, Western Australia

Our next stop in Cape Le Grand National Park after Frenchman Peak was one I had been excited to check out which is Lucky Bay where supposedly you could find kangaroos hanging out by the beach.

Unfortunately we didn't see any kangaroos, but we still had a nice scenic coastal trail run starting at Thistle Cove over to Lucky Bay and then back. It was a pretty short and flat 1.2 mile (2 kilometer) trail run with only 570.9 feet (174 meter) elevation gain.

We ran into another family (no pun intended!) and chatted a bit since they too were disappointed that they didn't see any kangaroos. We ran into them again as we turned around at Lucky Bay and then ran into them a third time when we got back to Thistle Cove lol. And when we were at Lucky Bay Brewing, when we ran into the first family who jokingly thought we found an elevator at Frenchman Peak, the two families happened to be friends!

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin, twin sister, and road trip buddy!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/215387678113964

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ctw10OApHDJ/

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #capelegrandnationalpark #capelegrand #hiking #trailrunning #luckybayesperance #luckybay #thistlecove

[tandrew]

Taking a quick break from posting about my January 2023 trip to Malaysia and Australia.

Yesterday was my last day of having a fixed work schedule. I am starting the next phase of my journey today with my first flight both on Frontier Airlines and using my Frontier GoWild! all you can fly pass!

It was very bittersweet 🥲 - Even though I felt like I was holding myself back while I finished off the year-long commitment I made, it gave me the stability and kept me grounded when I needed it the most and it was also fun spending some quality time with Joe, Sandra, and Lucian, practicing my Spanish, and most importantly, enjoying Sandra's amazing cooking! Also, I was able to continue my growth professionally and set myself up for even more options for flexible remote work.

I'm so grateful for everything that has happened to me both good and bad over the last few years - the circumstances that led me to decide to leave Eversource and kicked off my spiritual journey of healing, self-discovery, and self-love to the opportunity to have worked with Joe, Sandra, and Lucian over the past year, and future opportunities to continue to help their firm and have another stream of income!

#newbeginnings #journey #friendship #appreciation #bittersweet

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Frenchman Peak, Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance, Western Australia

Our first stop when we got to Cape Le Grand National Park was Frenchman Peak, which was a super fun hike with some scrambling and beautiful panoramic views of the whole area once we got up to the top.

It was a short but steep 1.2 mile (2 kilometer) total out and back hike with 570.9 feet (174 meter) elevation gain so slightly shorter in distance but higher in elevation than East Mount Barren.

We figured since we wanted to try and see as much as we could that day we'd start off with a jog up until we started climbing and instead of following the switchback path we just headed straight to the top.

There was a family in the parking lot that we chatted with as we started the hike that we ended up running into again later at Lucky Bay Brewing who joked that they thought we found an elevator cuz when they turned around we were already at the top haha.

📸 Susanna Tan (my cousin, twin sister, and road trip buddy!)

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook reel: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1965451313792284

Public Instagram reel: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtS17m1AFZI/

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #capelegrandnationalpark #capelegrand #hiking #trailrunning #frenchmanpeak #scrambling #panoramicviews

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Cape Le Grand National Park, Esperance, Western Australia

After 3 full days on the road my cousin Susanna Tan and I finally made it to Esperance where we'd spend the next two full days before starting to make our way back to Perth.

Our first full day at Esperance was a long one! We got super lucky with the weather - it was beautiful right up until we were back on the beach finishing up our last hike of the day when it started raining.

We did 3 solid hikes with some trail running for a total of 11.6 miles (18.65 kilometers) and a total elevation gain of 1,984.9 feet (605 meters).

We finished off the day at the Lucky Bay Brewing with some great local beer and pizza!

#westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #capelegrandnationalpark #hiking #whitesandbeach #trailrunning #squeakysand #frenchmanspeak #luckybaybrewing #luckybay #luckbayesperance #local beer #pizza

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Tanker Jetty, Esperance, Western Australia After some nice R&R in our private white sand beach my cousin Susanna Tan and I headed back on the road and our next stop was Esperance where we'd spend the next few days exploring!

We first stopped at a local bakery in Hopetoun on the way to pick up some more sourdough bread for our sandwiches but it was nothing like Mt. Barker Bakery. We tried to make it to another local bakery in Esperance only to be disappointed again lol so we checked into the holiday park where we'd be staying the next few days to freshen up.

Afterwards we first went to check out Pink Lake but there wasn't much to see since it just looked like a normal lake. We then headed to the Tanker Jetty and had a nice walk up and down the jetty.

The original plan was to then check out the night life but we were both feeling pretty lazy and just headed back to cook and relax for the night since we had a big day the next day checking out Cape Le Grande National Park and hopefully catching some kangaroos by the beach!

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/reel/6113702225403872

Public Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CtCRcyfgvrC/

#westernaustralia #westernaustrliaroadtrip #roadtrip #esperance #esperancewa #esperancetankerjetty #esperancejetty #sunsetwalk #sunset #pinklake #funnyroadsigns

[tandrew]

January 2023 - West Beach, Fitzgerald River National Park, near Hopetoun, Western Australia

After catching our breath from jogging back on the Hakea trail and working up a sweat it was so refreshing to finally jump in the water and lounge at the beach with my cousin!

For the full experience (no login required if viewed on a web browser - just click the links!):

Public Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/reel/3345206989124066/?s=single_unit

Public Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CssBrGSA2R-/?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg==

#fitzgeraldrivernationalpark westernaustralia westernaustraliaroadtrip roadtrip westbeachfitzgeraldrivernationalpark beachlife beachtime beac

[tandrew]

January 2023 - Hakea Trail, Fitzgerald River National Park, near Hopetoun, Western Australia

After our hike up East Mount Barren our next stop was West Beach a little further down the road. We felt that we could get another hike in before hitting the beach so we decided to do another quick coastal hike on part of the Hakea Trail.

It was a much different vibe and not nearly as much elevation gain but had beautiful coastal views and we decided to jog the way back. It was 3.5 mile (5.6 kilometers) out and back with 295 feet (90 meters) of elevation gain and a nice view of West Beach at the top.

Once again I struggled to keep up with my cousin lol but glad she took the lead cuz if I did I def would have stopped part way. She powered through the entire 2.5km back!

We were both out of breath at the end and ready to hit the beach which we had all to ourselves!

For the full experience:

Public Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/reel/636743847905645/?s=single_unit

Public Instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CsXN1t3A_e1/?igshid=MmJiY2I4NDBkZg==

#fitzgeraldrivernationalpark westernaustralia westernaustraliaroadtrip roadtrip hakeatrail coastalhike hiking beautifulview beautifullandscap

[tandrew]

January 2023 - East Mount Barren, Fitzgerald River National Park, near Hopetoun, Western Australia

The next morning, we headed over to Fitzgerald River National Park and started off the day with a short but steep out and back hike to the top of East Mount Barren.

It was much shorter and not as much elevation gain as Bald Head - 1.6 miles (2.5 kilometers) and 535 feet (163 meters) elevation gain - but it was definitely more technical with some scrambling and very unmarked trail (no luxurious concrete pavings lol) so it was fun to navigate and get around. Lol we went down a few almost trails and got a bit lost before we reached the end.

There was only one other group of 2 we ran into on the way to the top and they happened to be from Esperance! So they gave us some tips for when we would head there later that day which was great! On the way back we ran into some more people but for the most part had the trail to ourselves. There were many beautiful lookout points and you could see so far out since the landscape around was mostly flat.

Overall it was a fun trail to kick off the day, get the heart pumping and to work up a sweat since our next stop was the beach!

📸 @suziesuntan

For the full experience:

Public Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/andrewytan/posts/pfbid02LdmtN613VGLffsE4FYNvNekGSeuHYJHtBZHEg939nPQomwakXPd5fQf5QxqRpegDl

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#fitzgeraldrivernationalpark #westernaustralia #westernaustraliaroadtrip #roadtrip #eastmountbarren #hiking #beautifulview #beautifullandscape #hikingadventures