ABOUT

From Scaredy Cat to World Explorer

As someone who has built my career around travel, I live an adventure-filled life. But I’m not a naturally daring person.

In fact, before I boarded a plane as a teen to move to France for my junior year of college, my stoic dad had tears in his eyes as he told me that when I was a little girl, he worried because I seemed to run from the world. And yet, there I was, running full speed toward this life adventure.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”
— Mark Twain

My love of travel was spurred a few years prior during a whirlwind European family vacation à la the Griswolds. I surprised my parents in a Paris subway station when I vowed that someday I would live in France. The French populace seemed so confident, so chic, so cool, and I wanted to be all of those things!

After my year abroad in Montpellier in the South of France, I spent several weeks backpacking through Europe on a shoestring, much of it solo. And I’ve never stopped making travel a priority in my life.

I wasn’t born brave, but travel has taught me that the more I push myself, the more myself I become. I spend much of my time outside my comfort zone, especially when I’m traveling. But I have learned that familiarity and relaxation are necessary ingredients for life and travel in balance, too.