I’m sitting on my suitcase in the hotel lobby in Berlin, hoping the latest addition of a hardback coffee table book will fit in with my life of 10 days. The bellhop stares at me and says, “Can I help you?” I guess I might look crazy to the naked eye but in reality I’m doing what I love to do, packing. Designer Diane Von Furstenberg says of packing, “When you figure out your suitcase, you figure out your life.” Most bemoan the packing process. It is one we try to make easier, quicker and lighter. However I have to agree with Diane. When you can figure out just what items are so important to Continue Reading

I graduated from college in 2009. Since that time, I have built up a travel writing career, a life of doing what I love. When I graduated from college, I was off to Italy to be an au pair. This wasn’t exactly my dream. It was merely a means to an end, a way to be in a country I loved without the red tape needed to actually work in the country. After just two sleepless nights of living in a hallway and a chilly welcome from my host family, I left the au pair job and began traveling instead. I could only take two nights of being unhappy before I broke. I wanted to be a travel writer, not an au Continue Reading

When I tell someone where I’m going next, statements follow such as, “How fun!” and “I wish I got a vacation!”. The trouble with these sentiments is maybe they don’t know how I have to travel, not necessarily how I want to travel. I arrive to a new place and immediately feel guilty if I waste a minute napping or hanging out in the hotel. I have to get busy sightseeing, tweeting or snapping photographs. I am forever mindful of the story I am there for, the one I need to keep afloat. Travel for me is not unplugged, leaving my home and work life behind. It is much more chaotic, hurried and Continue Reading

“A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we not take a trip; a trip takes us.” --John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley  Every time he left his backdoor, a new adventure presented. In his early years, he was more adventurous, leaving all inhibitions behind in search of the unknown. In light or darkness, he would travel, encountering the most majestic of landscapes and the harshest, depending on the season. He gave new-age traveler types, those who say you only need what a backpack Continue Reading

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…” –Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities  It was the best of times, and yet the worst of times so far on my European trip. I faced the simple spring of hospitality from a hotel and the winter coldness of another. My intuition tends to cry out to me Continue Reading

Two years ago this month, I decided to buy my name, online that is. While I had a Blogger blog long before, buying my domain name and starting this travel site proved to be much more official, much more real. I was opening up myself and my travels to whoever was willing to listen. Luckily, enough of you decided to listen to this redhead. My motto from a young age was,  “I’m not the oldest, but I’m the loudest.” I guess I have taken a bit of that motto and used it here. I might not be the biggest of travel blogs, the most popular or unpopular, but I share travel. In the end, after two years Continue Reading