I move and I move often.
I grew up in Michigan near the Great Lakes and spent most of my childhood playing in the woods behind my house and summers camping under the stars over the bridge to Canada.
I count myself lucky growing up near the Great Lakes as they’re like oceans - you can’t see the other side, and the other side is another country.
Every summer I would sit on the sand dunes of the Pinery Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada watching the sunset over the water knowing Michigan was on the other side. This vast body of water (Lake Huron) created such a curiosity in me, always wanting to know and discover what was on the edge of the horizon… and beyond.
allowed my imagination to wander and my desire for travel to expand.
The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark. ~ John Muir
My sense of adventure increased when I turned 16 and bought myself a car. My best friend Mariya and I would drive as far as we could for as long as we could. This ended with random weekends in the Upper Penninsula (or “UP” as Michiganders call it), during high school we partied with kids hours away rather than with the local kids.
For college I moved to Grand Rapids because I fell in love with the Grand Valley Campus in Allendale, Michigan. It came complete with a huge river, meadows, sprawling forests, ravines for days and sunsets on Lake Michigan.
After graduating I stayed in Michigan for a while and then followed my first dream to move to Florida. I loved my job that drew me there, and the lightening storms are still some of the best I’ve ever seen but couldn’t say the same for the vibe! One night I had a dream I left Florida, so I did.
San Diego came next bringing with it a better job, immaculate vibes, longer hikes, taller topography, mountains for the first time. Learning how to surf, starting my Masters degree, taking my Yoga Teacher Training, getting certified in so many energy healing modalities and realizing how naturally gifted I was in these methods.
California inspired me and I stayed there much longer than I intended. California was my homebase that I left often and returned to just as often.
From California I started my intense international solo traveling - first to Peru then to Southeast Asia where I lived there for 3 months wandering throughout Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Southeast Asia is still my absolute favorite area of the world and I will always return there - Vietnam has my heart forever and I’ve written about my time in Vietnam here, here and here. Laos here, Cambodia here and Thailand here and here.
Being able to live in both places made my heart happy and settled my soul. One year I left for 9 months with no intention of when I would be returning and spent most of these months living in Bali, India, Nepal and Ireland.
Coming back to California for summer in 2019 I ended up falling in love at Burning Man and moved to Flagstaff, Arizona in January 2020. This date still makes me laugh because I moved right before covid. January and February were spent in South Africa and by the time I had returned stateside it was the season of the coronavirus.
Luckily for me, my boyfriend at the time had a dog named Toby who ended up becoming my 7 out of 11 horcruxes to my soul and so my time alone in Flagstaff with no friends (only for the first few months) was eased by my good boy.
When Toby crossed the rainbow bridge in January 2022 I decided it was time to move again, this time to Costa Rica. After living in the high desert for 2 years I was ready for a lush rainforest landscape. I had never been to Costa Rica before (but I did love my time spent in Guatemala!) but I have always liked to jump in headfirst into things and learn on the way down, it’s more fun, spontaneous and is more authentic to my soul. Costa Rica was beautiful, I spent my time going on road trips with friends exploring the country.
Because I wander as the wind wills and always follow the whispers of my heart, Costa Rica naturally and organically came to an end in October of 2022 and that’s when my soul (and friend Misha) led me to Puerto Rico, where I currently live. I strongly believe that when one door closes a window might open and something even more incredible could happen if you allow the universe to dream for you.
I have always wanted to see as much of the world as I can, for as long as I can, as I can remember. To me, it’s always seemed like such a blessing we were born on this incredible planet with its tall forests, deep oceans, epic sunrises, stunning sunsets and magical mountains.
Traveling has always been my version of self care, and if you’ve had sessions with me you know I recommend traveling to find yourself or even to lose yourself! If you’ve been my student then you know about my Intuition Game I accidentally invented while in high school - using intuition as a mode of travel to deepen your trust in yourself.
Traveling has made me a better person as when I was in desperate need, there was always a stranger willing to help me. If I was stuck on the side of the road with absolutely no hope of getting home, someone always came by and offered help. I call these strangers ‘travel angels’ (borrowed from my dad) as they all showed up at the perfect time and helped me purely out of the goodness of their hearts. I pick up hitchhikers because there was a time that I was one; I am patient with others learning my language because others allowed me patience when I was learning theirs. I help others as much as I can because there was always someone magically appearing to help me.
Traveling teaches you the only constant is chaos and once you jump in and allow yourself to enjoy the ride, rather than trying to control it, things can come together better than your wildest dreams and deepest yearnings.
My favorite story about going with the flow and allowing the universe to dream for you is how I accidentally hiked to Mount Everest Base Camp: I was living in Rishikesh, India and had just realized my 3 month visa was about to expire. My new best friends had intentions of traveling throughout India together so I had to go “next door” to get a new visa. Once I realized the country “next door” was Nepal I knew I had to hike to Mount Everest Base Camp with every ounce of my being. With absolutely no training or knowledge of the hike prior to this realization, I was ready and hiking to Mount Everest Base Camp in 3 weeks time - checking off my #1 must-do experience for my 30th birthday!
Traveling has opened my eyes, widened my horizons and expanded my heart. When you travel, your family grows as they are located all over the world, you care more about international affairs, natural disasters and relief efforts in other countries because it dissolves the boundaries between “them” and “us.”
Travel teaches us there is only “we.”
