A timeless travel journal for the soul.
Seoul, Osaka, Kyoto, & Tokyo - June/July 2024
One of my goals for 2023 was to go backpacking post college graduation. It was a must. A non-negotiable. Something I absolutely had to do. If I didn't, I'd probably die.
Well fuck, shit happens. I didn't go. I ended up moving to New York City two days after college graduation for my dream job that pays $20 an hour. I told myself that moving across the country to the big city would temporarily suffice this crave to travel.
About 13 months later I made it happened. I'm able to fly standby through Delta, shoutout to the brother. The one thing about the summer however, it is the worst fucking time to travel period. I was looking at flights to Iceland, South Korea, Brazil, and Ireland; really whatever the fuck was open and could fit me in. My smart, intelligent, and sexy ass saved up all my PTO from the past year so I could use it for something like this. I sent in my PTO and waited. I had absolutely no idea I was flying to Seoul until three hours before the flight. I was 96.3% sure I was going to Iceland, but that flight filled up and South Korea looked open. I threw out all my hiking gear, and packed for the humid ass Asia heat.
It was a fucking dream. A hot and sweaty dream. A premium select, 16 hour flight to Seoul dream. 5 nights in Seoul, 4 nights in Osaka, 1 night in Kyoto, and 3 nights in Tokyo.
Some highlights? Butt naked Korean bathhouses. Record listening bars. Japan's cool ass taxis. MMCA sculpture from Past Lives. KBBQ. Iced corn cream lattes. Asian 7/11s. Matcha. Rich history. Food markets. Katsu curry. Universal Studios Japan. Bullet trains.
This list goes on. Thanks for having me after so long.
Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, & Crete - July 2021
During the summer of twenty-twenty-one, I booked a last-minute flight to Athens, Greece. I was tired of going to school online, working a job from home, and the feeling of being trapped in my childhood bedroom. I got the biggest backpack I could find and stuffed it with enough clothes to last me three days. Everyone told me that it was ‘stupid’, and in this case, ‘impossible’ to travel because of the global pandemic. I didn’t even check the requirements for traveling throughout Europe until I touched down in Athens. I had no idea where I was going to sleep or when I was going to fly back home, but that didn’t bother me. I was on a new continent for the first time in what seemed to be the longest two years of my life.
Let me pause and list a bunch of fears that I felt during my time backpacking alone in a foreign country: the fear of being lost. The fear of sleeping in a hostel with a bunch of strangers. The fear of being loosing my fucking passport. The fear of not knowing their native language. The fear of spending so much time alone.
All these fears made this trip feel impossible. To cross off one fear, I ended up finding that English speakers are all around the world; and from having an English-speaking conversation, this stranger had now turned into a friend. I now had a travel buddy from the United Kingdom to travel to Greece with; and Greece was breathtaking. I went island hopping, went on hikes, and made memories that I'll cherish for the rest of my life. More importantly, I learned about myself. I learned how to appreciate time alone, how I react in uncomfortable situations, and how I have grown throughout each of my life experiences. From Greece I took a train to Spain, the Netherlands, and eventually flew out of the United Kingdom back home to the states. Waking up every morning, I had no idea what was planned for that day. I relied on the kindness of strangers and my self-willingness to turn this trip into something worthwhile. From visiting the Vincent Van Gough museum in Amsterdam, to getting surfing lessons on the coast of Spain, this whole experience allowed me to become comfortable within discomfort and find love in moments of fear.
Van Life Trip to Pinnacles National Park - California
Day Trip to Goldstrike Hot Springs - Nevada
