About Me

I grew up in a small town in foggy Northern California, where the giant redwoods shield us from the rest of the world. In high school, I took a leap and ended up in Trieste, Italy for a year as a Rotary Youth Exchange student, and experience which solidified my love for travel and my hunger for exploration.

In college I began dabbling in solo travel, much to the concern of my friends, and found that I loved the freedom and sense of confidence it gave me. There’s a little rush in knowing that I’m the only one I need to convince of a trip’s worthiness. However, solo travel also introduced me to travel anxiety. As much as I want to be the confident, cool solo traveler, navigating the newness is daunting sometimes. There have been plenty of times when I’ve had to psych myself up just to walk into a restaurant, and everyday tasks feel overwhelming.

The more I solo travel, the more I learn about myself and my travel style, and I’m trying to find the balance between giving myself grace (travel can be hard!) and not letting myself get in my own way. At the end of the day, it’s about being clear on what brings me true joy and protecting that, and for me, nothing beats being glued to the window of a plane (or train, bus, boat…) as the world whisks by. I’m often tempted to settle for an aisle seat (no asking people to get up for me or timing bathroom runs) but the window seat brings me true joy, and I know it’s worth it. So for me, that’s traveling the window seat way – sticking up for my joy, and getting some incredible views along the way.

This year I’m living in Côte d’Ivoire for work and it’s putting all of the travel learnings I’ve accumulated so far to the test while serving new lessons regularly – nothing like a new language and culture to humble you! It’s giving me the opportunity to explore a continent which is new to me, while experiencing the adventure of living abroad from a 25-year-old brain rather than a 16-year-old one.

I write about my travels because it helps me create a time capsule of my adventures in a much richer way than I can with my camera roll alone. I also rely heavily on fellow bloggers when I’m planning trips, so if anything I write can help a future traveler make the most of their trip, I’m thrilled. If any of the above is interesting to you, glad you’re here! I hope that my destination posts can inspire you for your next grand adventure, and if you’re looking for more general tips on solo travel, public transit travel, or living abroad, I’ve got you. Let me know what you want to hear more about, and thanks for joining me at the window seat!