Going Global with Katie is a travel coaching and consulting business.
Katie has worked in nonprofit and higher ed development for more than 15 years and currently leads the fundraising efforts for a wildlife conservancy in Kenya. Despite not traveling overseas for the first time until she was 25, she has been to 70 countries and all seven continents, including taking a career break to backpack the former Soviet states in 2011-12. Based in Washington, DC, she has lau
03/05/2025
Happy International Leopard Day!
Leopards are one of my favorite animals to spot on safari, but can also be the most elusive! I was lucky to see several in Botswana in 2023, but only saw one on my recent trip to Tanzania. Interested in seeing leopards in the wild yourself? DM me for more on how I can help!
01/05/2025
Gyor proved to be a nice stop on my way from Budapest to Bratislava. A few fast facts:
✅ Gyor is the 6th largest city in Hungary (but it felt tiny!)
✅ The first settlement in the area was in the 5th century BCE
✅ It sits at the meeting point of three rivers: the Mosoni-Danube, the Raba and the Rabca
30/04/2025
Travel tip for the day: search engines don’t know everything! I decided to stop in Gyor, Hungary for one night on my way to Bratislava, thinking it would be fairly easy to catch an onward bus or train (driving time by car is only an hour). However, all the searches I did on my go-to sites (like Rome to Rio) showed me convoluted itineraries that required going to Vienna first and would take 4+ hours! When I eventually went to the Hungarian train website, it offered me a ticket that would give me just 4 minutes to change trains in a town called Hegyeshalom. Great, but made me a bit nervous. Got to the Gyor train station and sure enough, the trains were running behind so I’d miss my connection and be stuck in Hegyeshalom for an extra two hours. Or would I? I noticed a local train departing 15 minutes earlier that would put me in Hegyeshalom with 10 minutes to spare! Hopped on the app (Hungarian trains have an incredible app!), bought a ticket for $2 and ended up in Bratislava earlier than expected! Why didn’t that earlier train show up as an option before? I’m guessing because it was local and couldn’t be bundled with an international train.
✅ Lesson learned: if you think there’s a way, there probably is - you may just need to do more research! Or you can let me do it for you as part of my new travel coaching & consulting biz! DM me to schedule a FREE call to talk about how I can help solve your biggest travel roadblocks!
27/04/2025
Flashback to January 2009 - the last time I was in Budapest! Back then, it was the last stop on a 10-day Contiki tour that also stopped in Berlin, Prague and Vienna. My travel style has changed a lot since then but my love of exploration and eastern Europe has never waned!
I'm excited to be heading back to Budapest tonight - the start of a two-week trip that also includes stops in Gyor (Hungary), Bratislava (Slovakia), Tatranska Lomnica (Slovakia) and Kosice (Slovakia). Stay tuned for more!
24/04/2025
Three things you can expect here:
1. Travel inspiration - stories and pictures from my favorite places
2. Adorable wildlife photos from my African safaris
3. Travel tips!
What would you like to see or learn more about?
20/04/2025
Exciting news: my book is now available as an audio book!
Amazon is beta testing a virtual voice option so I was able to create an audio version for free. So if you've been holding out waiting for the audiobook, now is your time!!
Finding Katya: How I Quit Everything to Backpack the Former Soviet States On her 35th birthday, Katie Aune was at a crossroads. Still reeling from a difficult breakup and longing to find more meaning in her life, she hopped on a one-way flight to start a year-long journey of discovery. Once a Russian and East European Studies major in college, Aune plotted a course ...
15/04/2025
Welcome to the new Instagram account for my travel coaching biz - Going Global with Katie! Thrilled to have completed my coaching certification with the and now to be launching my business! Follow to be the first to know about what comes next!