I met Erin Sullivan on a group trip to Italy and Greece a few years ago. My very first impression when meeting her was “Wow, she looks tough. I want to be like that one day.” I mean, she didn’t just look well-traveled, she was someone you could take one look at and just know you could rely on her. And to this day, I consider her an amazing role model.

Writing about her experiences traveling around the world, Erin inspires those who want to travel, gives advice to those planning to embark on trips, and also shares her own thoughts on life that young people can definitely relate to. Erin will tell it to you straight - complete transparency. Her blog, Erin Outdoors, is becoming increasingly popular since it’s release in December 2014. She is currently working and writing based in Colorado.

“Above all, my passion and path is really to inspire people and to help them live a really fulfilled life. It’s clear to me that this is something I have to do. I really do believe that people are here for a small amount of time and we should make it matter. I want every day to matter, because who knows? It could be over tomorrow,” Erin said.

It’s not always easy to backpack and travel without the luxury of tours or guides that guarantee safe transportation and housing. People need to understand the reality of being safe while traveling - especially traveling abroad. Erin often advises her readers to always have some sort of a plan/outline to go by, but also find time to make room for risk.

“It’s always important to be on the safe side until you determine when you can handle certain risks. Plan more than you think you need to and eliminate what you don’t need based on circumstance,” Erin said. “But it’s always better to be safe, and know that you will be safe than to just try to have too much freedom.”

As a woman in this day and age, there’s also the stigma that it isn’t safe for a woman to travel alone, or even embark on a solo adventure at all without a companion. Aside from the usual advice of dressing conservatively and matching the standards of the city/country that she travels to in order to ‘avoid trouble’, Erin elaborates on how she’s handled her solo adventures to places like around the U.S., Thailand, Portugal and more.

“Women have the gift of intuition and trusting [their] gut[s] within the context of travel or even going anywhere alone. You have to take extra safety measures than you think you need and then gather experience along the way to reflect the experience you’ll acquire through time. It’s unfortunate that we have to take those extra precautions, but we have to,” Erin said.

When mentioning her “close call with death” on her solo road trip through Idaho, Erin laughed. “Society will tell you that you shouldn’t travel alone, but what’s going to determine what you get out of a trip is you - not what society thinks,” Erin said. “For a lot of women, once you go for it, it’s not bad. It’s not as scary as you think it’d be. But there are things you just shouldn’t do. For example, you shouldn’t just go walking in a dark alley in Cuba or Thailand at night.”

Precautions to be safe include making sure your location is known and trusting your instinct. “Always tell someone where you are, where you’re going and when they can expect to hear from you. Usually, I call my mom or my roommate, even if I’m nowhere near home. Friends and family can send for help if they don’t hear from you,” Erin advised.

Erin believes that it’s also good to listen to fear. Obviously, many will argue: why even put yourself in the situation to feel fear, out of our comfort zones? However, fear isn’t something that we can wipe away from our lives - it’s a part of being human.

“It would be a case where the benefits will outweigh the possibility that you would be in danger. If you do the research and listen to your gut, you most likely won’t run into anything terrible,” she said. “I’ve never been mugged or anything, and I’ve been to some pretty sketchy places. I might get mugged one day. I expect that someday that might happen, but I will take proper precautions to handle the situation in case it does. You have to plan for the worst when traveling.”

Another fear is letting go of that aforementioned comfort zone. This comfort zone can contain a lot of fears, but a particular fear can stem from the judgment of your very own peers. When doing something that might be a risk, there will be those certain friends who might not relate to your path, or won’t even support it at all. In her post “How to Find Adventure in Every Day”, Erin writes “stop being satisfied with circumstantial friends”. This is a big struggle for most young people nowadays, especially when it’s so easy to see what your friends are up to on social media, and how they’re portraying themselves online.

“I know that some of my friends are annoyed by my blog, but this is a big part of who I am. This is part of the package deal. As I’ve gotten busier and working with Erin Outdoors, I’ve had to be deliberate with friendships. Along the way, they kind of shape themselves”, Erin said. “I’m more likely to hang out and connect with someone who's a social entrepreneur and be able to converse with passion about different ideas. I just wouldn't have the same kind of conversation with an old co-worker during a casual night in."

Erin adds, "As you follow your purpose, it becomes clear what kinds of people light you up in that true, pure way. And in that clarity, you see who you want to spend time with, and how much time you want to spend with them. You have to make that choice for yourself to say, ‘Maybe this person isn’t someone I connect with anymore.’ For me, some people just won’t hold the same space in my life like they used to.”

Traveling is definitely not easy to financially support. People often glamorize traveling, especially on social media. “I’m a firm believer that if you want to do something, you will make the time to do so. If you want to afford something, you will work for what you want to buy.”

All of Erin’s travels have been funded by herself. However, she does know that many don’t have this opportunity. “I recognize my inherent privilege as a white woman that grew up in the American suburbs. My starting point was higher than most people wanting to go on the same type of journey. My circumstances might not apply to those who didn’t have that start. But if there’s a will, there’s always a way. It’s sacrifice. Sometimes, it can mean selling your car. Sometimes it can mean working to live at a hostel where you’re traveling. There are different levels of sacrifice,” Erin said.

On the road to success, risk is definitely involved. When I asked Erin about why she continues to do what she does, she gave me an answer I’ll never forget.

“Travel and vacation are two different things. As a human being, you have a responsibility to get to know the world. You have the responsibility to attempt to understand a culture that isn’t your own. If you stay in your own bubble, then you are separating yourself from that bigger society that has all of these interesting stories and new discoveries. You need to experience all these amazing things that no one else could possibly understand unless they were actually there.”

Erin also is a part of a project called the Born Wild Project, a three-part film series about families experiencing time together outside. “We believe that having a connection to nature is vital and necessary for all people, especially children,” Erin said. You should definitely watch the series and follow along if you have some time!

On Erin’s blog, you can find a plethora of information about her travels, how she finances her travels and even how to turn your SUV into a camper for road trips. She also posts deals with brands she trusts and gets gear from herself, and it’s worth taking a look.