Happy New Year! I am writing to you from Mexico! I’m finally here after canceling this trip 2 years ago due to the omicron variant.
This past year was filled with lots of travel. The world continues to open up and travel is operating more smoothly. My domestic travels shifted a bit as new circumstances arose, and international travel reminded me why solo trips are the most restorative for me.
I take some time to reflect on 2023 including some exciting, quintessential, local, South Florida water activities I had this year.
I also talk about what's to come in 2024 in the way of both travel and work! There's also a big shift coming for 2024 that I hope to reveal around this blog's 10th anniversary!
With no real travel experiences possible on the horizon, I’ve had a lot of time to sit in the moment and reflect. This COVID-19 quarantine life gave me a few core reflections on travel, life, and human existence.
They are thoughts I’ve had before as a world traveler. But now I see these reflections are truer than ever and a part of a sort of global, social awakening. I offer a few of these thoughts in the hope that some of it may resonate with you, too.
From recognizing my own privileges to recommitting myself to living each day in the present, perhaps you’ve been having the same thoughts!
Out with the old and in with the new—we’re onto a new decade, y’all! I am so excited to enter the roaring 20’s in a new city and with new perspectives and lessons learned from this year. There have been ups and downs, for sure. But all of it has strengthened who I am and what my values are in this life.
In this post, I reflect on what I gained personally from 2019—including finding my adventurous side again and facing a challenging friendship situation. I discuss how my travel priorities have shifted as a result of my move to Miami. I also reflect on my favorite travel moments from this year while gearing up for whats in store in 2020!
This month is the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots and the 3 year anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting. So I have decided to write a bit about my experience visiting the Pulse Nightclub memorial back in November 2018.
Like many of my fellow queers and friends in the LGBTQ community, I was devastated on June 12, 2016 when I learned about the mass shooting that took place at Pulse nightclub resulting in 49 dead, 68 injured, and a world in shock.
While I went to vigils up in New York, my visit to Orlando was my chance to pay my respects in person and reflect more deeply on the reality of what happened.
Being there was even more powerful than I anticipated.
Happy New Year!
This year was amazing for travel—I fulfilled childhood dreams and pushed myself out of my comfort zone. It was a wonderful year for travel opportunities all around!
2018 was also a year that presented some challenges for me personally.
This blog is often a place for deep, personal reflection. I do it in most of my blog posts, but also intentionally through random life updates. I did this on a monthly basis during my extended trip 4 years ago (4 years ago, whaaat?!). Now, I only post updates about once a year around the new year. I love making the celebration of the new year into a time to look back and look ahead in a more intentional way. It's good for the heart, mind, and soul!
For this post, I look back on my travels this year, including my top 5 favorite travel experiences! I also share my reflections on life and personal growth behind all the travels. I do this mostly for me. But I know readers also appreciate the honesty and clarity about what's going on with me!
So here we go! This was 2018.
llo 2018! Has a whole year gone by already?
There is rarely a day that goes by that I'm not thinking about travel. I'm either reflecting on the travels I've done in the past or planning for new adventures in the future. This post is where I share those musings.
This year was rough for a lot of Americans, politically speaking. I also found it to be oddly inspiring. Who knew a president so vile could bring together so many like-minded folks both stateside and abroad? Protesting during my travels is inevitably a part of my favorite moments from 2017.
As for 2018—who knows what's next, really! Travel seems to pop up spontaneously for me these days. But there is one big trip I am planning for. And I'm about to spill the beans!
It's been 7 months since my last major update! A lot has been going on in my life. And it all ties into a major lesson I learned while traveling solo: Nothing is permanent.
In recent months, unforeseen circumstances forced me to move out of the home I settled into a year ago. Plus, I ended a 2 year relationship.
But now things are looking up. I have worked out a new place to live. I've also gained more travel flexibility despite my full-time career.
I was in New Zealand a little over a year ago. I was sitting in my partner's home in Napier when I felt it—the entire couch was shaking. Then the lazy boy started thrashing about on its own.
I've been reflecting on this moment this week because of the earthquake that happened in Kaikoura, New Zealand early Monday morning.
Natural disasters like this always put things into perspective for me, like with the Louisiana flooding after my visit to New Orleans this summer. But New Zealand hits particularly close to home for me because of my ongoing connection to the country.
I have been reflecting a lot on my "settled" life lately. Next Monday marks one full year that I have been back in the United States and exactly 6 months at my full-time job living in a new location.
There was a time last year when I was decidedly happy with my constant "deviation" as a traveler. Since returning to the States, I have found similar happiness in a full-time job, my own place to live, and the acquiring of "things" again. In short, my life no longer fits in my backpack and it's starting to resemble much of what I originally deviated from when I hopped on a plane to Iceland in 2014.
So, am I still "deviating the norm?" Or have I fallen back in line with the sheep? Have I sold my soul for conformity and given up on the nomadic lifestyle? I've been asking myself this question a lot lately. And I found my answer buried in an interview I did over a year ago with Israeli magazine, Masa Acher.
My experiences traveling long-term resulted in many different reflections about the world and the people in it.
Some of these reflections have emerged since being back in the United States for several months. My thoughts are different now when I hear stories about other countries in the news or consider taking a flight from point A to B in my own country.
I find that my perspective has changed on some topics or has taken root more strongly in others. The following are 5 of the most significant reflections I've had.
