It was supposed to be a 9-month-long Cairo-to-Cape Town adventure. Kim Kennamer, never accused of being in a hurry, spent months meticulously planning, researching and poring over maps. Yet, from the moment she stepped off the plane—on the opposite end of the continent from her intended route—she began traveling in circles, sometimes even backwards. The trip took over four years, and she never looked at her itinerary at all.

“Almost five years to the day of moving to NYC, I found myself, a woman in her mid-thirties, post relationship, post rent-stabilized apartment, and on the brink of post employment. All at once—an interesting if not somewhat terrifying place to be.”