"It's a great event for people with 'normal' jobs looking for inspiration/advice to follow their dreams of travel."
- 2011 Attendee

Keynote Speaker: Jefre Outlaw

Jefre C. Outlaw has traveled almost non-stop for the past 3 years travelling in and through 96 countries, 250 cities and 500 sacred sites on 6 continents. After a health crisis caused him to re-evaluate his life priorities in 2009, Jefre decided to follow many others into the adventure of downsizing his US life and up-sizing his world view by backpacking the planet. Jefre is an experienced world traveler and is currently in Alaska planning his driving attempt of the famous Ice Road (The Haul) from Fairbanks to Deadhorse on Prudhoe Bay this August 2012 for a dip in the Arctic Ocean.

Website: The Outlawlist | Facebook: Jefre Outlaw

Meet Your Host: Shelley Seale and Keith Hajovsky

Shelley Seale has been traveling since right out of high school 25 years ago. For the last 10 years she's been a full time professional writer, doing about 50% travel writing. She travels about 8-10 times a year domestically, and 3-6 times a year internationally - often for weeks or months at a time. Along with Keith, she wrote a book about traveling as close to free as possible, and has made her lifestyle and business all about travel and writing. She's authored or contributed to six books, and has written for National Geographic, Globe Pequot Press, Andrew Harper Traveler, BootsnAll, Intrepid Travel, Matador Network and many others.

Website: Shelley Seale | Twitter: @shelleyseale | Facebook: How To Travel For Free

Keith Hajovsky has been a big traveler since he was 19, spending close to 5 years of his life in over 40 countries backpacking, working, studying, and volunteering. In one of his many breaks from work he actually took 2 years off to travel around Southeast and South Asia. About 3 years ago he left the corporate 'real' world for good to start his own tour company, and about a year ago he started working for a startup nonprofit as their Director of Overseas Projects.

Website: Travel Sherpa Keith | Twitter: @SherpaKeith | Facebook: TravelSherpaKeith

Austin Panelists

Tiffany and Billy Toomey
We are Tiffany and Bill Toomey. We have 4 children, ages 11, 10, 9 and 7 years old. 2 years ago, we arrived in Costa Rica for our year-long adventure. Leading up to the trip, we sold almost everything we had, applied for passports, bought one-way tickets, and off we went. The reason we wanted to live overseas? Well, there are a few:
1. Bill and I had visited Costa Rica a couple of times, and loved the simplicity of life, happiness of the children, and the beauty of nature.
2. With Bill in the mortgage company, and income starting to decline, we knew there was more to life than money and material things. We wanted to show our kids a different kind of life, a simple one, along with wanting to live it ourselves. I homeschooled the kids for 6 months, then we enrolled them in a Costa Rican public school for 5 months. The whole experience was amazing!

Website: Toomey Family Adventures

Greg Davis
After ten successful years in the technology business, Greg resigned from his position in 2004 and traveled the world for one year. Upon his return to America, the images he captured soon became his life. One image in particular stands out in its ability to touch people. That image is the “Blanket Weaver”. Over the past few years this simple but striking image has surfaced as his signature piece and clearly embraces a story that he is intended to tell. He aims to return to Vietnam in a few years time and find this woman who has changed his life. He will then write a book about his journey. Greg has exhibited his work at the Open Shutter Gallery in Durango (group exhbiition juried by Steve McCurry), the Visions at the Paseo in Oklahoma City, Exposure Gallery of Fine Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Austin Museum of Art's 'Night in the Galleries', The International Art Expo in New York City, the Audi Forum in New York City and many other spaces around the nation. Greg's is a National Geographic Image Collection Photographer and a Founding Member of the Austin Center for Photography.

Website: Greg Davis Photography | Twitter: @gregdavisphoto | Facebook: Greg Davis Photography

Sofia Martinez
Born and raised in El Paso, Texas, Sofia Martinez considers herself a "border child," constantly going back and forth between El Paso and the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Her first language is Spanish, and she is the eldest of 5 siblings. During her sophomore year at St. Edward's University (at which she received a full-tuition scholarship), Sofia studied French and business administration in Angers, France. She secured a newly-minted internship at the International Relations Department at Angers City Hall. Not wanting to stop traveling, Sofia received a prestigious scholarship to attend a 2-month summer session at Notre Dame University in Lebanon. It was there that she began studying the basics of Arabic, hoping to attain fluency in a 4th language. Sofia hopes to land a job with a top experiential marketing agency where she can utilize her trilingual skills. Her next destination? Rio de Janeiro.

Twitter: @sofiaelisa | Facebook: Sofia Martinez

Jean Warneke and Barbara Baggett
JB Journeys is an Austin-based, woman-owned travel company, dedicated to sustainable travel around the world. Our boutique travel portfolio consists of hand-picked, quality, adventure vacation options, including boutique hotels and off-the-beaten path excursions. Each aspect has been carefully chosen to provide you with authenticity, cultural immersion, active adventure, and life-enriching travel, and to respect the environment, promote the economy, and preserve the cultural heritage of the destination. We've traveled the world and done the research for you. We are destination specialists with firsthand experience, able to provide you with excellent customer service, attention to detail and professional input. Our goal is that your vacation has a positive social and environmental impact on the region you are visiting. Jean Warneke and Barbara Baggett are Certified Travel Consultants with a combined 50+ years in the industry.

Website: JB Journeys | Facebook: JB-Journeys

Jade Whitham
Hailing from the Texas Capitol but having lived as far as the west coast and the UK, Jade is the ultimate lady on the move. She considers herself a "Jane-of-all-trades, master of everything", having previously worked as a writer, professional chef, and now Airbnb Community Manager. Jade's biggest love is her husband Oliver, but a not-too-far second is travel, and she takes pride in knowing she can cram 6 months into 1 backpack.  She now lives and works in Austin with Oli, Tina Turner (the yorkshire terrier), and a constantly rotating population of Airbnb guests.

Website: Jade Whitham | Twitter: @ladywhitham | Facebook: LadyWhitham