Big Red
Well-known member
- Mar 16, 2019
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WANDERING THE GLOBE
April Hundley is a flight attendant, and Brett has no doubt that’s where his passion for travel began.
“Brett’s got that wanderlust that I have, and actually my mother, when she was my age, saved up her money and went abroad,” April Hundley said. “It’s kind of in his genes.”
April told her kids early and often to experience different things in life. Brett has had no problems embracing such a philosophy. In high school, he dove into photography, a hobby he plans to make his career when football is over. Gorgeous shots of the places he has visited, some featuring Hundley but many that he has taken himself, dot his Instagram account.
His mother’s job allowed him to travel easily when he was younger, but he was going places with his family. His first “serious” trip came when he was 21 and a rookie in the NFL. He traveled to Thailand and Beijing, China, on an all-inclusive two-week trip he found, of all places, on Groupon.com.
Hundley got into a tiger cage to pet the animal. He bathed an elephant. He visited the Great Wall of China.
“That trip,” he said, “started everything.”
As a family member, Hundley used to be able to get cheap passes through his mother, but those aren’t an option anymore. Not that Hundley minds the cost of plane flights. He finds other places to save. If he stays at a hotel, he often communicates with the property ahead of time, bartering his room cost or the cost of local activities in exchange for him taking photos of the hotel that they can use in advertisements.
Most of the time, Hundley likes to stay in hostels. Sure, it’s inexpensive, but mostly, he loves the ability to meet people from all over the world and go out into town with them. He’s made countless friends from other countries.
Hundley also won’t sit still. He’s got places to go and see. On that trip earlier this year in which he finally came back to sign his contract, he actually was supposed to go from Paris over to Spain, then Rome before taking a train through Italy, and finally over to Poland.
“I am a non-stop traveler,” Hundley said. “I don’t sleep much when I travel, I am non-stop moving. You only have a limited amount of time. You may be tired, but give me some coffee and I’m good to go. I will not sit in the hotel all day. I will not stay at a resort. I want to experience where I am at – try the foods, experience the culture.”
Now that the offseason work is over, Hundley has places to go. He and three friends have a massive trip planned – Tel Aviv, Israel to Athens, Greece to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe to Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa and finally to Turkey.
After the season, Hundley said he wants to visit New Zealand and Philippines.
“Once football is over – and I told my family, I told my friends – I’m not living in the U.S. for two or three years,” Hundley said. “I’m going to live in Thailand or Bali, move and jump around and live outside the country.”
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