When I called myself A Travelling Accountant in April 2017, I imagined myself posting about vacation trips with some volunteering travel mixed in.
My first posts were about my first volunteer assignment through Accounting for International Development (AFID), to Cambodia, where I spent May and June 2017 working as a pro-bono accounting consultant.
Life happened quickly and dramatically, and somehow, I celebrated my 5th anniversary in Kampala Uganda in January 2024. Here is a sunset view from my lovely garden.
Though Cambodia was the first time I volunteered abroad as an accountant, it was on a different type of volunteering trip in 2012 that the seed of the dream was planted. That trip, I was one of nine employees selected to travel to rural Peru to provide solar lighting for 30 families living outside of a small village in the Andes. I shared a small post and some of my favourite photos here in October 2018.
Like many people, the Covid pandemic gave me a taste of remote work. I liked it. A lot. In early 2021, I was fortunate to land a remote role with the NGO that brought me to Uganda, saving me from Kampala commutes to the office, and now I can’t imagine working any other way.
After almost 5 years with that NGO it was time to move on. I took some steps to prepare for a new career as an accounting consultant – I revised my LinkedIn profile, bought a portable second monitor, travel keyboard, long range flight gear. The Universe listened. And AFID helped, of course. Now I work fully remotely, for a UK NGO that operates in Zambia. I live in Uganda, travel to Zambia and, best of all, can work from Canada too. I am no longer limited to 4 weeks of vacation to visit my family.
Why the background? To share how a girl from a small town in northern Manitoba somehow ended up living in Uganda, working as Director of Finance for a small NGO that trains young Zambians in construction and who will spend April 2024 living and working in Valencia Spain!
I will be in Spain for the entire month of April and intend to post weekly while I am there, sharing my adventures and daily experiences on the Spanish Mediterranean, travelling with Remote Year.
Who/what is Remote Year? A travel agency? Yes. A community? Yes. From the website: Work remotely.
Explore the world.
We’ll handle the rest.
I would love to do a full year tour of all the continents but I will start with one month. Maybe next time it will be a four month tour.
I hope you will come along with me through my posts. And if you are interested in trying Remote Year yourself, I have a referral link that will save us each $100!
Their website /https://www.remoteyear.com/ https://dashboard.remoteyear.com/my-referals
A Travelling Accountant 