As a child, I learned about the world through the Nickelodeon TV show "The Wild Thornberrys."

I dreamt of those far-away lands, thousands of miles from my tiny living room in central Michigan. As a teenager, I created a 'World Bucket List' on a large rolling sheet of paper I took from the school's supply closet, stretching the list of items from the ceiling to the floor. Every single one seemed entirely unattainable. I had never seen a passport in person before until I held my own at 18.

My mother was an alcoholic, which landed her in and out of jail most of my teenage years, and my dad was a school bus driver. We lived well below the poverty line and rolled quarters for gas money. My aunt would mail me lunch money every month for school. Eventually, we lost our house to foreclosure. The last thing stuck to the wall of my empty bedroom was that bucket list. I sobbed as I rolled it up and placed it at the bottom of a cardboard box. Those dreams had never felt further away.

But that winter, my dad put a plane ticket for me to Australia on his credit card. He was already filing for bankruptcy, so he did one last hurrah for his daughter. A friend who was a foreign exchange student at my high school invited me to live with her family for a month in Australia. It was an opportunity I didn't want to lose, and I begged my dad to let me go for a year. We got my passport sorted, vastly overpaid for my airline ticket, and in the winter of 2011, I flew across the world alone for the very first time.

After that trip, I started attending community college and working a couple of jobs to save money for travel. At first, all I could afford were road trips to the Great Lakes and sleeping in my car. But it was travel, and I was exploring for the first time on my own, loving every moment of these new experiences.

Shalee Wanders was born in 2014 when I transferred to Michigan State University. After learning to travel on a budget and frequently getting asked by friends on Facebook how I could afford to travel, I began posting budgeting blogs to show that travel didn't have to be expensive.

Ten years since my maiden trip, I've knocked off 50+ countries and 50 states and live in my favorite little mountain town of Cody, Wyoming, with my husband, Josh, and our three adventure cats, Maverick, Aspen, and Tortilla. I still pinch myself at this life I live. Thank you for being here long enough to read this little section about me. It's this incredible online community that has allowed Shalee Wanders to take me to places I never dreamt of.

I don't remember everything on the bucket list that hung in my room for so many years, nor do I care. Because this life, this right here, no list could compare.

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