This idea started as a travel blog and maybe that’s where it will go, but I figured I better give whoever is reading this a little context. I was first inspired to start doing this when I made my first international trip in several years at the end of 2021. The idea of a travel blog continued to percolate over the course of 2022 as I made two more trips and planned another trip to Australia in early 2023.

I wanted to share my travels from the perspective of traveling solo. I also wanted to be vulnerable about what I learned about myself and experienced being alone in a foreign country. I didn’t want to be just another wannabe travel influencer with overly staged pictures of myself on instagram with a clever caption and a bunch of hashtags to get lots of likes. If this just ends up being for me and a handful of friends and family that want to keep up with my travels, that’s good enough for me.

I actually started journaling in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to my wonderful mom. She still sends her 30-something-year-old son care packages on a regular basis. In one of the first packages she sent me after New York City shut down, she included a small journal and suggested that I write about life during lockdown. Well, like any good child, I absolutely did not do what my mom said. I rolled my eyes at her adorable suggestion and put the journal on my book shelf to be forgotten for a few months.

It took a very awkward first date, and my first date during the pandemic, for me to finally rediscover and write in this journal. I left this first socially distanced date with a bit of an identity crisis. Who am I? What do I want in life? What am I seeking in a potential partner?

I had moved to New York in the summer of 2019 and less than a year later I wasn’t allowed to really enjoy the city I had dreamt of living in for years! Needless to say, I was struggling a bit, but let’s stay focused on the date for now. At the time, you could not just have a couple drinks, some flirtatious conversation, let things get physical, and hope for the best. I had to be more intentional and I was absolutely not prepared. The day after the date, I was in a bit of a mental spiral so I finally grabbed the journal my mom sent me, and I spent the morning after just letting my thoughts flow. I ended up with a list of things I value or at least good start. The list continues to evolve, but ever since I wrote that first entry, that list and journaling in general have really been huge help in my life.

I only wrote in that journal a handful of times in 2020 and 2021, but the habit slowly started to take root and the journaling became more frequent. One of the values I originally wrote down that has stayed a constant is travel. So when the world opened back up, I leapt at the opportunity to start traveling again and just by happenstance, most of my trips have ended up being solo. I started taking this journal with me and what I thought would just be a simple recounting of my travels blossomed into a journey of self exploration.

My original idea was to simply write about my solo travel experiences, but I think I’m going to allow this to become more of a public journal. I hope this journey of taking some of my hand written journal entries and transforming them into a more coherent narrative brings my friends and family some entertainment. I know I’m looking forward to this new endeavor.