Interviews

Financial Analyst & Traveler: Interview with Katherine Weiss

Tell me a bit about yourself.

Katherine Weiss is a world traveler with a home base in Cleveland, Ohio. Originally Katherine grew up in a small town in Kentucky, camping with her family and visiting state parks. These early adventures were ones that she loved and when given her first opportunity to travel with a business club in high school to a larger city, Milwaukee, she knew right away that she wanted to live a city and wanted to have the opportunity to travel to more amazing places. 

When university came around, Katherine opted to study abroad for a semester in France, and traveled all over Europe. Here is where the travel bug bit Katherine. It was addicting and she was inspired to solo backpack around Europe the following summer when she graduated college. Since then, she’s been back many times and has branched out to other parts of the world. 

I had a chance to chat with Katherine all about how she makes travel a part of her life, on top of being a financial analyst. 

Tell me a bit about what you do for a living.

I started out in public accounting in the Big 4 as an auditor for both public and private companies. I then found a job internally at a public company as a financial analyst.

Do you have a certain amount of vacation days per year with your job?

My first job out of school in public accounting I had 5 weeks per year which was amazing! I was able to backpack Europe again for 3 weeks! However, the hours when you were working weren’t great, thus the job change. Now with my job as a financial analyst, I get 2 weeks.

How often do you try and travel within a year?

As much as I can, but at least once a month or every other month. Usually, I’ll do long-weekend trips to places in North America like Montreal, Nashville, or DC. With my current job, I take advantage of holiday weekends like Memorial Day and Labor Day. Then, I save up my two weeks time and take it all at once like when we went to South Africa last year.

Do you ever feel limited to how often you can travel because of your job?

With my first job, not as much, but having only two weeks is a bummer at times. I wish I had more time off, and you definitely can’t take super long vacations or “travel-slower” as most travel bloggers do. However, there are many opportunities to still travel more with fewer days.

Do you find it hard to unplug from work while traveling?

Not really. I don’t take my laptop and in my current job, my email isn’t on my phone so if I’m not in the office, I’m unplugged. I’ve also gotten better with compartmentalizing work from life so I tune out work when I’m away and focus on it when I’m there.

Why is it important to you to have a career but also incorporate travel into your life?

Health insurance. Kidding! Okay, kind of. It’s nice to have a career to earn good money that I can then save up for vacations. With accounting, it isn’t always the most lively work, but it definitely pays the bills and we have money left over for tons of exciting trips!

What inspired you to start a travel blog

I’ve always loved travel and when I went from my public accounting job to corporate, I realized that accounting was not my passion. I wanted to create a blog that helped couples and honeymooners alike travel the world affordably with a little luxury thrown in. So I incorporated my travel hacking skills and teach couples how to rack up miles and points to have amazing romantic getaways without staying in a hostel dorm. This is how we’re able to travel to Southeast Asia on our honeymoon in business class for only $60 a person. If we can do it, anyone can!

If you had a piece of advice for someone that is trying to maintain a career & also see the world what would it be?

Do what you love. If it is your full-time job, do that, but follow your love of travel too. If you don’t have enough days off, sometimes asking for unpaid leave is an option to take if you’d like to get further away and spend more time. Take advantage of holidays or the potential to work remotely while traveling. There are so many options available at most jobs, including taking a sabbatical, that can help you travel more or learn new skills. All you have to do is ask!

Where are you from and where are you based?

I’m from the small town of Brooksville, Kentucky, but now am based in Cleveland, Ohio with my husband, Chris, and cat, Professor.

You can follow Katherine on Instagram, Pinterest & Facebook at @WorldWideHoneymoon and on Twitter here.

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