Kenin Bassart
Hey, I’m Kenin. I worked in retail since I was 16 and recently ended a 17 year retail management career to travel the world! Before we get into how that happened let me tell you a bit about myself.
My Background
I’m a 33 year old Cuban-American, born and raised in Miami, and have called about 5 different cities home. I have many passions in life, but if I had to prioritize them my list would look like this: My Family, Music, Driving, Travelling, and Food.
After High School I was working for a music store (still one of my favorite jobs), I then worked a brief stint in a bank call center, and then spent 3 years working in the tech call center business. If there is ever a job that requires you to be constantly demeaned, it’s being on the receiving end of customer support phone calls. While working in the call-center I had my first life-changing experience when I met my wife, Lauren.
Tiring of the call center biz, we decided to leave South Florida and start our first adventure by picking up and moving to Orlando, FL and going back into retail. I spent about 7 years in retail furniture learning about and managing commissisoned sales people and relocating to Tampa, FL. After then feeling like I needed to keep climbing the ladder I made my move to a new company and my last “real job” managing a retail electronics & appliance store.
In the last 2 years we relocated from Tampa,FL to Yardley, PA, to Wilkes-Barre, PA, and full circle back to Miami. while I opened new stores for my company. As a retail manager I was averaging about 60 hours per week, making a great salary, with absolutely no time for any of my passions or joys and missing my family by working every major holiday.
During all those years working in retail Lauren and I found ourselves taking as many road trips, cruises, and mini-vacations as we could work in. No matter where we were or what we were doing we could always grab our doggies, a couple bags, and hop in our car and take a trip somewhere.
How did I end up here?
After working the retail grind for so many years I found myself on another business trip, missing my family. Lauren, and I decided enough was enough and it was time for a different pace of life where we could prioritize our lives the way we felt it should be: Work to Live not Live to work!
I came home and decided to resign my General Manager’s position and do the next sensible thing… Pack two adults, two dogs, and minimal clothing into a Volkswagen GTI, and take a 30-day road trip :-)
After a long soul searching journey, visiting friends & family, and making many new friends Lauren and I realized we had the life we always wanted. We were travelling through life together side by side. We then decided we would start this blog to share our journey and experiences with the world. I hope you enjoy our posts about our adventures and invite you to share your own great experiences.
Keep Rambling-
Kenin
Places to stop on the cassiar highway in the winter for gas.
Thank you,
David Walberg
Hi David, Sorry I took so long to reply. You can find that info here: http://www.themilepost.com/highway-info/highways/cassiar-highway