Hi! I'm a travel blogger who's here to help you find more ways to travel - whether it's in your community or abroad.
About Me
My Story
I’m a 29-year-old woman who’s dreamed of traveling the world all her life. I took my first solo trip at 20 and I’ve been hooked on traveling that way ever since (though I love a friends’ trip, too!).
In 2024, I took six months off from “the real world” to backpack through Southeast Asia.
Maybe you’re here because you’re interested in doing the same. Or maybe you’re trying to take your first step into a new adventure.
No one ever talks about how terrifying the idea of traveling is, let alone traveling full time. Don’t get me wrong – there’s a lot of other positive feelings that come with it, like joy and excitement.
But my anxiety told me there was so much that could go wrong. Missing flights, ruining the career I spent the last six years building, too quickly spending the money I had saved, etc.
Does that sound familiar?
In my travels, I’ve learned how to mitigate these risks, move through fear and take the leap to a life-changing experience. I’m here to teach you what I’ve learned and help you figure out your own journey.
You’re in the right place.
Growing up and doing the “right things”
I was born and raised in Orlando. Yes, I was one of the lucky few who grew up with Disney in their backyard, and we definitely took advantage of it. Maybe going around the world showcase at Epcot gave me a taste of what traveling the world was like.
Growing up, I was interested in the arts: writing, reading, storytelling, art history. I could do math and science too, which was good because, as adults told me, you need those to get a good job.
I was privileged enough to be in an international studies magnet in my high school, which I credit with shaping my global mindset. Through this program, I had pen pals all over the world, took international studies classes, and had the opportunity to travel to six countries.
Unfortunately, the Lizzie McGuire experience of meeting a pop star in Italy never happened.
I did all the right things. I studied hard, got good grades and got accepted to the University of Florida. In college, I studied hard, got a good major (public relations degree with two minors in spanish and business administration) and worked multiple internships so I could get a good job.
One summer, I studied abroad in Spain – my first experience traveling for an extended period of time. I lived with a family who didn’t speak English well, but I learned communication means so much more than language.
That summer, I also learned how to travel on a budget. I stayed in hostels, used travel hacking and cooked as much as possible.
The voice in my head that said to pause and travel more was pushed down.
Entering the workforce and still doing the “right things”
Instead, I listened to the outside voices that said to do the “right thing” and get a stable job. So I did. I worked for six years in public relations and marketing, building my skill sets.
PR and marketing aren’t as sexy as they seem. It’s a lot of hard work for little recognition. It was a living though, and I gained valuable life experience that I wouldn’t change for anything. I liked the people I worked with, and I worked with some pretty cool clients, too.
(Sometimes you don’t know what you do or don’t want to do until you try.)
Don’t worry – I still traveled.
Honestly, I’m a big supporter of traveling while you have a full-time job. You definitely don’t need to do anything drastic like quitting your job to travel. I took advantage of every opportunity I had to travel both in the states and abroad. Use those PTO days!
After a few years of corporate jobs, the “right things” started to feel wrong.
School didn’t adequately prepare me to work a 9-5 career. The days began to feel monotonous. I didn’t feel fulfilled. It was getting harder and harder to stay motivated.
What the heck? I did everything I was supposed to do, and I was miserable because of it. Cruel move, universe.
“She decided long ago that life was a long journey. She would be strong, and she would be weak, and both would be okay.”
Furthermore
by Tahereh Mafi
Feeling Lost
That realization catapulted me to a weird point in my life. I felt…cheated. Unhappy. Not to mention, I was the only one among my friend groups that seemed to feel that way. Everyone had moved on – they got married, bought houses, had kids – but I stayed still.
I felt like my life didn’t have direction. Worse, it felt like I made all the wrong choices.
What I didn’t realize then? That feeling was a gift. It meant I had the opportunity to re-write my life how I wanted and make new choices.
It took me a while to understand that, though. Every choice felt so permanent, when really, most aren’t. You can always change your mind.
For the longest time, everything felt impossible. I didn’t know how to break out of the corporate cubicle life and didn’t know what would actually make me happy. All I knew was I had to do something different.
“When people say impossible, they usually mean improbable.”
Siege and Storm
by Leigh Bardugo
Sparking Creativity Again
Changes I made in my life started small – I knew I couldn’t jump straight into quitting my job and booking a one-way flight. Instead, I began to reconnect with everything I once loved as a kid. Art, writing, reading.
Books changed my life.
You’ve probably started to notice a theme of book quotes in this blog. I love words. Books like these were able to take me to far-away places when I couldn’t go there myself. (Now I get to write them, too!).
Reconnecting with passions helped get me out of the funk I was in. I started to gain confidence in myself and began to think…maybe I could become a full-time traveler.
“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”
The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath
by Sylvia Plath
In late 2023, I decided to start this blog as a way to connect with travel again and inspire others to do the same. The road ahead is long and winding, but isn’t that the best kind?
But it’s the best way to connect with like-minded people!
“Blink and you’re twenty-eight, and everyone else is now a mile down the road, and you’re still trying to find it, and the irony is hardly lost on you that in wanting to live, to learn, to find yourself, you’ve gotten lost.”
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
by V.E. Schwab
I finally understand that money will come back, but time won’t. You don’t know when something could happen that would make travel impossible.
For the most part, I don’t really know what I’m doing. I have no idea where my life is currently going. Years ago, that would have made me sick, but now it makes me pretty excited.
Bri Abroad Goals
The purpose of my blog is to inspire solo female travelers and share tips for value travel (in blunt terms, how to get the most for the smallest monetary amount). That love that I mentioned for books earlier, too? It’s not going away any time soon. I’ll be sharing book reviews and recommendations, as well as sharing my writing journey.
I’m still terrified. So if you’re scared to make a change too, you’re not alone.
I’ve learned that fear comes when something big is about to happen. It’s our job to turn that “something big” into “something good”.
