Travis’ path was similar to most other suburban-raised, middle-class white kids from Milwaukee—that is, until he found himself in Colombia, making his own cocaine with one of Pablo Escobar's former top scientists. After finishing a Master’s Degree at the age of 28, Travis couldn’t bring himself to follow the blueprint laid out for success in the U.S., so he took off to South America. That first flight was the start of an adventure around the world—an adventure that his friends didn’t understand and of which his father openly disapproved. Over four years and four continents, Travis chased a different version of success and sought a greater purpose; the world felt as though it had cracked open to new opportunities, new characters, and new adventures. He found himself training for his Divemaster on Utila, commercial fishing on a boat in Alaska, tending fields as a dragon fruit farmer on Maui, chasing dolphins as a kayak guide in Australia, and eventually handcuffed in prison—one domino slowly tapping the next.