HI, This is Jessica. I am an experienced translator and a traveler. Born and raised in Taiwan, I’ve been traveling to 33 countries across 7 continents and 4 Oceans(except Southern Ocean) and I literally traveled around the world on a boat called Peace Boat as a volunteer interpreter in 2023. After that, I did another round-the-world trip in Business class with the millage ticket from one world alliance. When I came back to Taiwan, I started a travel blog (in Mandarin), worked hard on SEO and achieved a monthly 50k page views in 8 months and got my first sponsored trip with Norwegian Spirit to Okinawa. After 1 year into blogging, I decided to start my second blog, which will be about Taiwan, Japan and my upcoming cruise trip in Europe.
My travel map
Asia: Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, China, Vietnam
Europe: Austria, United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Vatican City, Spain, France, Norway, Iceland, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary
Americas: Canada, United States, Panama, Guatemala, Mexico
Oceania: Australia
Africa: Egypt
My Story
I was lucky enough to travel as a kid with my parents. My first time abroad was to Canada for two months visiting my aunt and cousins. In those days, group travel was a thing for Taiwanese due to visa restrictions, so in winter and summer vacations, our family trip made it to the States and Aussie. I was proud to be the youngest chorus member to perform in Carnegie Hall and visited New York in 2000 with a mixed chorus. In 2009, I joined the Heiden Music Festival as a chorus member and spent three weeks in Eisenstadt. It was even before Taiwanese passport holders could travel visa-free in the Schengen Area, which started in 2011, so it was quite a unique experience for me.
In 2012, after graduating from college with an English degree, I went to Sydney with a working holiday visa. I am a city girl that doesn’t drive, so I did plan to stay in Sydney for a while before going back for my graduate entrance exam. After that, and before my 1 year visa expired, I went back to Sydney and worked for two months, did the exact same job and stayed at the exact same apartment (with 7 other girls), I earned just enough to backpack for a month in Europe. It was my first time planning a long trip, traveling alone (and met at least one friend in every city I choose) and I realized traveling was so much fun. I traveled intensively in 2013, apart from Europe, I also went to Beijing, Osaka, Macau, Sydney, Melbourne.
As my graduate studies (in translation and interpretation, by the way) began, I only had time to travel to Asian countries like Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo.
In 2015, I did a one month internship in New York Times Beijing as a translator intern during winter and was too cold to travel elsewhere. In 2016, I did an exchange in University in British Columbia, Vancouver. Although the semester is only 4 months long, all American cities were so much closer to me. I finally visited the States again, in Los Angeles, San Francisco, in Seattle and also on a 4 day trip to New York.
Also in the summer, I got to join a travel group with a bunch of seniors who love photography, with a teacher I met in college who teaches photography. Together, we went to Prague and Croatia. After I got my BA in translation, I started working in a fashion magazine, as everyone would think of the Devil Wears Prada in a minute. My job is mostly administrative work, so not as exciting as editors that frequently travel. (On the other hand, the HBO series The Bold Type did come from our headquarters in New York, where I’ve never been to) I still got to travel up to 3 to 4 times per year, which is considered a decent amount, considering how little paid leave we have in Taiwan.
I came across Peace Boat posters in Japan in 2018 and loved the idea of traveling while interpreting. My application was approved in 2019 and I was expecting to leave in March 2020, then COVID came. Taiwan did not lift its broader control until October 2022.
Long story short, I finally got to start my journey on Peace Boat in April 2023, which is the 114th world voyage. It was truly one of a kind experience, traveling to 20 ports in 16 countries in 108 days including northernmost settlement Longyearbyen, doing escort interpretation for tour guides, visiting world heritages like Tikal National Park and Pyramid.
My love for photography began early in 2004 when I got my first digital camera Sony P100 as a gift from my parents and everyone thought I was weird carrying a camera with me all the time. It was such a good time when photography was a serious habit and I spent my money buying a second hand Canon 60D but never had time to use it. Soon after, iphone took off. I have been a user ever since and even won 2015 iPhone Photography Awards honorable mention in still life for black & white photo for a pair of salt and pepper I took in Budapest! .