After nearly a decade of full-time travel, this is the gear at the top of my packing list each and every trip.

Keep up with each and every one of the books I read cover to cover this year, the ones that are shaping, inspiring, and impacting me as I continue to travel and explore.

This time featuring destinations on the other side of the Atlantic, my year in review continues with the European-heavy final five of the 10 best places I traveled in 2023.

10 countries. 40+ cities. 1 year. Whittling it down to just 10 of the best places I traveled in 2023? Not easy.

It's been a beautiful ride, with ups and downs, and today, in perfect timing, I'm left with one big, bow tie lesson for the whole experience - a gift for the road.

Time to catch you up on the adventure that had me on the edge of my seat from start to finish, and without a second to spare to send you my usual travelogue updates.

Managua pleasantly surprised me, as have the locals. In my first 48 hours in Nicaragua, I've felt nothing but welcome, as my route through this entirely unfamiliar country seems to be materializing.

A quick, flight's-about-to-board recap of the final week and three days of my Costa Rica adventure, one that taught me through experience just what "pura vida" means.

Getting over my sinus infection, being a beach bum on sands all over the Nicoya Peninsula, and making friends with Capuchin monkeys that seem to make daily appearances in these parts of Costa Rica

Headaches and congestion weren't quite the start I had in mind for my Costa Rica adventure, but I'm learning to roll with it - and that I believe is the lesson.

Daily updates from Panajachel on Lago Atitlan in Guatemala, a place that took on new dimension when I unexpectedly tested positive for COVID.

Antigua was only ever supposed to be the “start here” for my unplanned Guatemala adventure. Days turned to two full weeks climbing its volcanoes, meeting its cafes, and chatting up strangers-turned-friends all over town.

A perfectly chaotic airport entrance followed by a majestic drive through jungle-coated landscapes to my cobble-stoned and volcano-surrounded destination: Antigua, Guatemala. My first day recounted in one short post.

Finally, I'm free. After the emotional storm I wrote about in my last update, my inner world has received quite the makeover. And now, the outer world I dream of, has room to arrive.

It was a Thanksgiving to remember, one that dished up more than turkey and stuffing and left me with a renewed sense of what it is I'm to focus on next...hopefully with my relationship still intact🤞.

With my final day in Oaxaca approaching quickly, I’m doing my usual mid-November review. In this update, I look back on a 4.5-month ride that should have never been possible with $1000 to my name.

Mingling with the best in the business, renaming my blog, and beckoning the dead back to life with sweet bread and marigolds. This is the (slightly overdue) recap of my previous week in Oaxaca.

Yet another lesson in comfort found me this week. This time it was all about finding comfort in the discomfort and questioning my very notion of what comfort is.

We often introduce ourselves by our name and what we do. In this post, I give you a much more authentic introduction to who I am, and more specifically who I am right now, beyond what any title or name could reveal.

“Never get too comfortable” has been the theme of my week. From moving homes for the fifth time in four months to feeling an inkling that other parts of my life are also asking to shift, this week was the definition of unsettling.