‘I got sober and sold everything I owned to travel world after my daughter left’
A mother who felt "lost" after her daughter fled the nest is now "living her best life" after selling everything she owns to backpack around the world.
Rachel Stump, from Louisville, Kentucky, always knew that she wanted to "do something big" when her daughter left home so when she went away to university in August 2021 the empty nester embarked on a "midlife gap year".
The recovered alcoholic spent 14 years saving up for the trip by putting money she used to use for booze into an envelope after getting sober in 2009 — racking up $10,000 (£8,100) in savings.
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Rachel, 49, said her 20-year-old daughter, Wynter, is her "best friend" and the pair would go on month-long trips while she was in high school but Rachel "never felt the urge to come home".
So after Wynter left to go to the University of Hawaii, Rachel knew it was time to do something for herself.
She explained: "For the last 20 years all my focus has been on raising my daughter, being the best mum.
“I knew once I got her raised I wanted to do something big. I found every time we went away together I never got homesick."
Rachel, who worked as a waitress, found it "so hard" when her daughter told her she'd be leaving home but her travel plans helped to get her through.
She said: “The months leading up to my daughter leaving were so hard. I felt lost when she was gone.
“I would go to the grocery store and wouldn’t know what to just get for me.
“Planning my trip was a nice distraction. It was terrifying leaving but I’m living my best life.
“I’m on my midlife gap year. I hope to inspire others facing this.”
After roughly mapping out her travel plans and selling everything she owned Rachel set off to Spain in April 2022.
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She's since backpacked around Europe, visiting Italy, Sweden, Albania, Lithuania and Bosnia – before heading to India and Vietnam.
Along the way, she's had some incredible experiences.
She said: “I’ve made friends and had amazing conversations along the way.
“I’ve been on amazing cruises.
“I saw people burn bodies at the Ganges river. I’d never seen anything like it.”
Rachel's now running out of her savings but she doesn't intend to stop travelling anytime soon and is planning on either becoming certified to teach out of America or buying a cheap van to live on the beach in Hawaii
“My daughter keeps saying 'come to Hawaii'," she said.
Rachel was inspired to travel by her grandmother and set off on her midlife gap year trip on the anniversary of her death.
“My grandma raised me. She wanted to travel when she retired but she passed in a car crash just weeks before her 62nd birthday," Rachel said.
She didn't want to lose any time embarking on her own travels but still found it tough to leave her home.
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“I lived in the most beautiful neighbourhood. I was leaving all the memories. I raised my daughter in that house," she said.
But after having the time of her life she's now hoping to encourage other parents going through the same thing to follow their dreams.
She said: “I want to inspire other empty nesters.
“You can do something big. You can do it by yourself
“People ask me all the time – ‘how do you do this by yourself?’ I’ve learnt that you take yourself wherever you go.”
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