What Inspired Me To Start Traveling

I’ve had the travel bug my entire life. I took my first international trip in 8th grade with my Spanish trip to Mexico and fell in love with learning about another culture firsthand. I haven’t looked back since.

How Often I Travel And Choosing Next Travel Destination

The nice perk of running your own business is you get full control of your schedule, so I get to travel 2-4 times a month. As I live in San Francisco, my favorite stomping grounds are the West Coast. There’s always a cool hot spring, historic hotel, or city to check out.

Of course, I take international trips whenever I can, but I love helping our readers discover spots near them. There’s this idea that travel is ONLY long European road trips or expensive villas on an island, but I think adventure is everywhere, even 20 minutes from your house.

My Trip Lengths And How I Prepare For Them

I’ve done everything from 1-day whirlwind trips to month-long road trips. My honeymoon, for example, was 3 weeks driving around Ireland and Scotland but I just got back from a 1-night stay in Napa Valley. There’s no set timeframe on how to have a good trip.

When planning, I love using spreadsheets to help keep track of ideas, hotels, and restaurants. I also use Instagram and TikTok to help me discover things to do or places to eat.

The Packing Manual I Follow

The older I get, the larger my med kit gets while traveling. Unglamorous, I know, but having pain killers, tums, allergy meds, and first aid creams on hand are lifesavers. I learned this the hard way a few years ago. I was in Arizona and got insanely painful heartburn at around Midnight. The hotel was too far away from gas stations or drug stores (not like the latter would have been open) but thankfully the hotel sold a tiny packet of tums. For $10, of course. From then on, I always make sure I have a fully stocked med kit, just in case.

Favorite Memory Of Meeting New People Or Exploring With Locals

I’m lucky to have a great group of girlfriends with who I travel a lot. We’re known for waking up before dawn to drive to a waterfall or swimming hole or hot spring to do a sunrise soak in. One of my favorite memories was last year when we went swimming at McCloud Falls in Northern California. It was so early, we had the whole place to ourselves. Yes, it was cold but it also felt so magical to go swimming at such a special place all alone with my favorite people.

The Number Of Countries And States I Visited And My Bucket List

I’ve been to over 30 countries and about 25 states, though that list is always growing larger. Right now, the top of my bucket list is Japan to eat all the food, Finland in December to soak up Christmas vibes, New Zealand to go wine tasting, and Montana to go hiking.

An Enabling Environment To Travel More

I don’t feel like I’ve had to make any compromises. I have a great home, a great marriage, a cute cat, amazing friends, and a thriving business. You don’t have to sacrifice those things to live a life of adventures.

Managing Work And Travel At The Same Time

Whimsy Soul is rooted around passive income streams to earn money 24/7. It took years of work to get it to the point where I can leave my inbox alone for a week and it’s fine. This gives me the time to go travel and make a lot of content without worrying about client projects. I definitely recommend full-time travelers work to create passive income streams for themselves.

Managing Cost During Travels

I swear by credit card points and hotel + flight reward programs. I hardly ever pay out of pocket for flights, hotels, or car rentals because I use these programs to my benefit. That helps a lot with cutting down on costs.

A Cool Experience To Share

One of the coolest travel activities I’ve ever done is pet reindeer in Leavenworth, Washington. I believe this herd is the only one in the lower United States so it was super special to hang out with them, especially in December at Christmas!