Cat Duval

Cat is a twenty-something French citizen born in Ottawa, Canada. She was raised throughout Canada, the US and France. Although she is now stable in Buenos Aires, she spent most of 2007 homeless, vagabonding around the Americas.

She likes to believe she is a nomad, having inherited the traveling bug from her globe trotting father. She has been traveling since she was a very young child, mostly with her father, a non conventional traveler who taught her to avoid tourist traps and mingle with the locals.

Young but already well traveled, her passport has been stamped in 29 countries across 5 continents : Asia (China and turkey), Northern Africa (Egypt, Morocco), Europe (France, England, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Andorra, Monaco, Portugal, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Lichtenstein, Greece), North America (Canada, US, Mexico), and South America (Peru, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Brazil).

She left home at 17 to travel around Europe, searching for something other than what she had. She took on the road to discover the seedy underbelly and social inequalities of European society though underground culture, squatting, anarchist activism, free parties and the nomadic lifestyle. In 2004, she threw away her vagabond freedom in exchange for the shackles of capitalism to base herself in Montreal, Quebec, where she actively participated with the tekno collective Neurotik.

In 2007, she traveled solo to South America on a very tight budget (500$/month, for four and a half months). Upon returning to Montreal, she realized the seed had been replanted and nothing could ever be the same. She took off again, leaving everything behind.

Some people may think that founding ones existence on party culture and a philosophy consisting of "pick up, pack up and go" is not the way to live life, but to her, having a desk job in a sedentary existence is equivalent to a slow, painful death.

For Cat, home is where her heart is and her heart is on the road. Travel is a way of life. Every smile, every face, every path tells a story. Cultures and Languages fascinate her, and she hopes that through her writing she may inspire a few to follow her lead and pick up, pack up, and go.


Read Cat's Hitchhiking from Canada to South America

Check out Cat's blog.

Ask Cat questions in the backpacking forums.