“Every cliff I jump off, every moped I crash, every morning after a night of food poisoning, every Mediterranean sunset, I want you by my side. I never want to stop exploring with you, Ash. Will you marry me?” Chapel Hill alumnus Kyle James wrote in the foreword of his new travel memoir Not Afraid of the Fall.
In 2015, James and his now-fiancée Ashley Grisby quit their nine-to-five jobs to travel the world for 114 days, exploring 15 countries and 38 cities. James wrote a book about their experience and used its foreword to propose to Grisby.
James graduated from Chapel Hill in 2007. He specifically cites science teacher Alan Rissberger and Spanish teacher Davis Boyle as having a large impact on him.
“Mr. Rissberger was probably my favorite teacher in high school,” James said. “He made me fall in love with science to the point that I went on to graduate with a degree in exercise science. He never gave up on me, and, although I was no chemist at 16, he celebrated my stoichiometry successes and promised me he would teach me until I got it.”
After high school, James attended Appalachian State University, where he met Grisby early in college.
The two, though, “did not start dating until the very end of college. She was a hard catch because she was never really interested in dating boys,” James said.
James and Grisby moved to Denver, Colorado, after their graduation and both embarked upon careers.
“After two years we became bored with the monotonous life of working very rigorous jobs five days a week and not feeling like we had enough time with each other or to explore with only our two days off,” James said.
They set off on their adventure by buying one-way plane tickets to Paris, France. They then traveled around much of Europe, including Croatia, Italy and Greece. They finished their trip in Thailand, which included James’ personal highlight of the trip: visiting the Elephant Nature Park in the northern jungles.
“We stayed away from most of the tourist spots after running into selfie-stick hell and, over time, started spending our time meeting locals, relaxing in cool spots, people-watching and using our time to learn from cultures,” James said.
James knew he wanted to propose to Grisby after returning from their trip but waited until she could read the foreword herself.
“When you can spend 24 hours a day with someone seven days a week for four months and go through all of the trials and tribulations we went through, that person is the one,” James said
James originally started writing about their travels to cope with the stress of quitting their jobs. Now he works to promote his book and inspire people to take chances like he did.
