For the first time since starting this blog, I feel a little hesitant to hit publish, for fear of offending anyone. But here goes: (Sit back and relax. Get ready for a long, long post!) As this humble little blog’s first birthday has just passed, I feel a little bit conflicted, sad, and proud. I feel confused about the direction this blog is going (this blog is having an identity crises!), sad that my stats are nowhere near where I…
12 Lessons from 3 months in Europe
Europe was my first experience with fast paced travel, and what a different experience it was from our South American trip! In short, our summer Euro trip can be condensed into 11 countries, 7 flights, 16 trains & buses, 13 apartments, and 1 mansion. 80 days and 80 Instagram posts. And several lifetimes worth of memories and experiences. I can vividly recall the day I flew into London as a wide-eyed wanderer, and how I ooh‘ed and aah‘ed at everything. As the…
Can you ever go home again?
I meant to publish this before my flight… but seeing how I have had half an hour of internet in the past 3 days…. here it is, a day late… You’re probably reading this now as I sit on a flight somewhere over the Atlantic, on my way back to Southern California. The plan is to be back home for 3 weeks before flying to Southeast Asia on a one-way ticket… this time with no set return date in the books. I’m…
On wealth: a week in a mansion
I am aware and fully appreciative of the fact that we have set off on this journey with more room in our budget than the typical backpacker. This means we can stay in nicer apartment rentals instead of shared hostels. We don’t need to constantly cook at home (getting groceries is a lot of work!) and miss out on local eats. And we can splurge on fancy cups of drinking chocolate (my current weakness). But still, no matter how roomy…
Travel Reflections: 7 lessons for my younger self
One year ago, I was in the most depressive funk of my life. Those who have been reading this blog will know that travel was never my dream, but rather D’s. A little over a year ago, about 6 months into our dating career, he said “let’s sell all our stuff and see the world!”…. Or something like that. And….. my life fell apart. (Okay, being dramatic, but it felt like that at the time.) I stopped talking to my family…
A little Monday gratitude
Funnily enough, exactly one day after I published this post, the clouds and rains came and haven’t stopped yet. Looks like the weather gods were listening! I’m so thankful for the change in weather and everything has been remarkably more enjoyable. In fact, the days of sweating to death seem like a lifetime ago. That’s kinda the way it is, isn’t it? We are constantly seeing so many new places and experiencing so many new things, that the past quickly becomes only a faint memory…
On Growing Up and Becoming Boring
You’d think that the more I travel, the more fun and outgoing I’d be. But I’ve realized that I am really quite boring. The other night, D wanted to go out for some drinks. Well, because it was a Saturday night. (Even though technically, every night is a Saturday night for us.) Let me explain that this is very out of character for us. Most of our nights are spent watching Netflix or working on our laptops (after all, D…
Reflections in Transit
I write this as I sit in an airplane, on the journey back to Los Angeles from Uruguay that would take us across 5 countries in 36 hours. Read: a lonnnng and tiring day. Even though I should try to settle in for a much needed nap, all I can think about is: how am I going to meet my blogging goals this week? Believe it or not, when I first adopted my new full-time travel lifestyle, I was a…
On Approval, Criticism, and How I Know I Made the Right Choice
Approval. We all seek it. I still don’t quite understand why we feel the need to gain approval from our family and friends to live a certain way, take a certain path, or even make a certain choice. But we do. And I wanted approval to travel the world. When I first told people I was going to quit my job and travel with D, the responses were not positive in general: You can’t travel with your boyfriend unless he…
A Mother’s Day Story (and why I write)
On this Mother’s Day, I am sharing this story of a girl and her mother. My parents were very strict growing up. My sister and I only had one role: to study and get good grades in order to go to a good college. Anything that didn’t help achieve that wasn’t allowed. No makeup, no nail polish, no sleepovers, no dating. Even when we went off to college, my dad stressed that again, our only role was to study and get…