JennieRae

JennieRae

JennieRae

I’m JennieRae Paker. I was born and raised in San Jose, California which some people know better as Silicon Valley and it is located about 1 hour south of San Francisco. I graduated Santa Teresa High School in 1992 and then moved onto DeAnza College to complete my general education classes. After DeAnza I went to UC Davis where I majored in History and minored in German. It was there that I decided I wanted to travel. I found a work exchange program so for the summer of 1996 I spent my first of many summers away. That summer I lived and worked at Hansa Park in the very north of Germany. It was such a great experience and I got to see a lot of Europe. After I graduated in 1997, I decided I wanted to do it again although this time I wanted a proper city so I choose Berlin. That was an amazing summer! Since I had graduated, I didn’t even bother having a return flight. I was going to try to stay as long as possible. I was working at a bakery and I would travel and sightsee on my days off. Through the program, I had a work visa for three months. When it expired, I halfheartedly tried to renew it, but I kept getting the run around so I decided to travel. I got a cash advance from my parent’s credit card (thanks again Daddy!) and spent two months traveling around western Europe. It was all over from there. I learned that I love to travel and that traveling alone was totally fine. Since then I’ve done a total of fourteen trips to Europe, one trip to South America (Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, & Chile), two trips to Asia (Vietnam & China), one trip to the Middle East (Turkey, Jordan, & Israel), two trips to Kenya, and one trip to Central America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, & Cuba). In addition, I took the 2014-2015 school year off to travel and was able to visit all seven continents in that time (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile, Antartica, New Zealand, Australia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Cambodia, Seychelles, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Slovenia, Austria, & USA). It was an amazing experience. You can get more info about that trip specifically at www.jennierae.com
When I’m not traveling I teach math at the middle school level. It’s a challenge which is probably why I like it. It’s something new everyday. I also enjoy having the summers off. While we get a lot of vacation time as teachers we don’t get to choose when we get it.




As I get closer to my departure date, many people are asking about the trip so I thought I start the travel blog early. Here’s a few of the most popular questions that I’m getting. If you have any here that aren’t mentioned let me know. I’m happy to edit this blog. Do you know where you’re staying each night? Absolutely not. I have a rough itinerary of which area I’ll be in, but I don’t have lodging set up anywhere yet. When I travel, I stay in hostels which one can usually book last minute. Hostels are cheap and are the best way for solo travelers to meet other people. Are you going alone? Yes, I’ll be alone for quite a bit. I’m joining up with at least three group tours (Buenos Aires to La ... read more

Asia March 14th 2014

When Emma, my Irish travel buddy, first texted me back in October asking if I wanted to go to China in March, my initial reaction was, "Heck, no." I was actually on vacation at the time it was hard to think about another trip. But after having a think about it, I realized that I couldn't pass up the opportunity. Emma was going with her MBA group as part of their curriculum and she wanted me to meet her at the end so we could spend some extra time sightseeing. Unfortunately, the dates didn't coincide with my spring break, but I was able to get a great substitute for my classes and we started planning. I left San Francisco on Friday afternoon and arrived in Beijing on Saturday night, which was the last day of Emma's ... read more
Jingshan Park
Terracotta Warriors
Three Gorges




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