Seeing parts of the world in a movie or on social media is cool, but nothing compares to the exhilarating feeling from experiencing it for yourself. Learning other cultures, ways of living, visiting historical places, trying different foods and forming new friendships are reasons why I continue to keep travel a priority in my life.

I really am just your regular 30-something year old Kiwi who works the daily office grind, try go to the gym, values those close relationships I have and spends as much time as possible catching flights and seeing the world.

I grew up in what I would consider a lower-middle class family, we didn’t have much more than what we needed to get by so I thought you had to be rich to travel. In my mid-twenties I started focusing on making a carer, which is where I realised all I needed was a work place where you could take more than one day off at a time and if I focused on saving some money then I could book some return tickets to anywhere in the world. I have had the opportunity to experience traveling in a variety of ways from solo, with friends or my wife to backpacking, camping, resorts to travel tours, self made itineraries and small tight budgets or splashing out (coz, #livingmybestlife!).

Through traveling you grow a heck of a lot! You learn about yourself, the world, what you value in life and why, but you also become open minded to life. As a young woman you forever need to be cautious, but when you lean to not let that hold you back in life, it it is so empowering.

Creating this space and sharing my experiences via a blog was sparked after friends started asking for advice for their upcoming travels and realising I have a lot to share. Selfishly, it also gives me a great reason to escape reality after 5pm and reflect on memories from all my adventures!

Enjoy reading & hopefully you too will find some inspiration to explore and create your own memories. Until then, enjoy reading mine :)

-SJ