[5] She began exploring at a young age, and at sixteen years old she took up a job with a European train company so that she would be able to travel for free.

[2] Marquis cites a trip she took to New Zealand in her twenties as the first time she "actually got in touch with the wild": she spent a month in Kahurangi National Park without bringing any food.

Her subsequent travels included canoeing through Algonquin Provincial Park in Canada, camping in Patagonia, and hiking the United States' Pacific Crest Trail.

The TV show « Mise au point »[6] of the Télévision suisse romande revealed Sarah Marquis didn't mention this in her book (La voie des Andes).

Along the route, she was harassed by a group of Mongolian men on horseback, threatened by Laotian drug dealers, and contracted dengue fever.