Every year for my birthday/New Years, I decide on a theme to ground me and return to through the year. This year’s theme is letting go. The hardest thing about being an adult is recognizing that you’ve grown ~out~ of people/things/habits/thoughts. It’s easy to assume that once you’ve learned self-love to an extent, everything else…
10 Things To Keep In Mind Before Going To Havana, Cuba
1. It’s a poor country, and there’s more to it than pretty, vintage cars and Caribbean drinks/beaches. This could be a culture shock for some, especially when we have exoticized it with our social media posts. You should go if you can, but don’t assume it’ll be a purely relaxing trip. The poverty is something to…
Every Day Is A Choice. Choose Your Own Adventure.
A little over a year ago, I returned from a two-week solo trip in Portugal with an unwanted souvenir — panic attacks. I had my first after landing in NYC, at baggage claim in JFK, when a cop with a sniffer dog had to get me a paper bag for my hyperventilation. The second was…
7 Underrated Things You Must Do/See In Paris
Everyone has told me that Paris is always a good idea. There are the museums, the gardens, the churches, the history, the culture, the cafes/bakeries, the shopping and the walkable streets. There’s so much to do. But I was hesitant. Paris felt overrated when there are so many other European cities that might be better….
What It’s Really Like To Solo Travel In A Relationship
Vietnam was my seventh solo trip, but it was the first time I solo traveled while being in a relationship. It’s a different experience, because while I genuinely enjoy wandering through a foreign place alone, I now have someone I am thrilled to share my life and adventures with. It’s easy for people to assume…
What I Learned About Solo Travel When I Almost Got Stranded In Estoi, Portugal
Confidence goes a very long way when solo traveling. It helps you make new friends, talk to strangers and have new experiences and adventures. But the most important way confidence is essential to solo traveling is for the situations you can’t predict… like when you almost get stranded in a very small, almost deserted, non-English…
7 Ways I’ve Incorporated Books And Book Culture Into My Everyday Life
I used to be an avid reader, but somewhere between schoolwork and being a full-time working adult, I couldn’t manage the time, energy or interest to leisurely read… until it hit me: I haven’t picked up reading again because I have been worried about being judged on what I read (or don’t read). I know…
I Can’t Live Without Creating, But I Struggle To Create
I started this website as a way for me to have my own space for anything I wanted to write about. I hoped, by creating a place that was just mine, I would feel motivated to write and be creative. But I am realizing that I can have the space, the agency and the time,…
Old Books, New Dreams
We were sitting on the third step, unaware that one of the oldest churches in the world was towering right behind us, providing the perfect amount of shade. The Lisboa buildings across from us each radiated in the sunlight with different hues of blues and greens and purples, one of them patterned in tiles with…
5 Things You Can Do Right Now To Start Traveling Cheap
I’m truly shocked at how little people know about traveling cheap. Travel is definitely a privilege, yes, and you can’t have an enormous amount of obligations at home to do it longterm or often, sure, but you also do not need to be rich to travel. You just need to be smart. “But how do you…
I Only Recently Started Embracing Life As An Indian-American
“A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her development years outside their parents’ culture. The third culture kid builds relationships to all the cultures, while not having full ownership in any.” — Ruth Van Reken People find wonder in being in two places at once, as…
