Summer 2017 Phoenix, Arizona to Rapid City, South Dakota: first north, then east—that was our route. Our mom, Timmy, and I embarked on a pilgrimage of sorts to visit the Wyoming ranch where my brother worked one summer. He was a “ranch hand” on a farm that mined bentonite (kitty litter stuff), with an 18-mile-long driveway. Neighbors occasionally popped over via private planes—this is the kind of rural you only read about in Little House on the Prairie . We flew into Phoenix,

May 2014 After my freshman year at the University of South Carolina, I went on a two-week “Maymester” study abroad program to New Zealand. The trip flew by, but we savored every single moment. About 15 of us from UofSC's Darla Moore School of Business traveled to the North Island to learn real-world business practices. The program included meetings with local executives testing marketing strategies or launching new products—like a visit to an ice cream manufacturer where we t

November 2008 I’ve always been obsessed with safari animals—elephants, giraffes, rhinos, zebras—so I was ecstatic when my family decided to take a two-week trip to South Africa while my brother and I were in high and middle school, respectively. Flying into and out of Johannesburg took 15 hours one way and 18 the other, so we got plenty of quality time with movies and snacks on those long-haul planes. Once there, we rented a tiny manual hatchback that barely fit the four of u

Summer 2018 This was one of my favorite trips ever and really cemented Southeast Asia as one of my top vacation spots. The summer before it actually happened, my friend Morgaine (Mo) and I joked about doing a backpacking trip somewhere cool before we had to “grow up.” I had just finished my first year of law school, and Mo was considering grad school, so we were itching to travel while we still had flexibility. I suggested Southeast Asia—it had always fascinated me, and I’d h

Summer 2015 Summer between sophomore and junior year of college: probably  the best summer of my life. Around Christmas the year before, my best friend and fellow travel bug, Schyler, floated the idea of backpacking around Europe. And so the planning began. Our friend Sam joined in, and we built a few reunions into the trip—meeting up with Marta, our high school’s Spanish exchange student, in Barcelona, and my mom in Berlin before wrapping things up in Prague. We flew into At

Summer 2006 It was the summer before 6th grade—back when summers felt endless and school breaks stretched on forever. This wasn’t technically my first “big” trip (I’d already tagged along to the Bahamas and Mexico as a tiny human), but it’s the first one I remember clearly, so it officially earns the title of Earliest Adventure Logged on This Here Blog. Our stops were Anchorage and Juneau, plus a couple of days in Vancouver. “We” included my mom, my grandma and her now-late h

January 2019 Seven girls, one vehicle, five days, five nights, and countless shenanigans. What began as a reunion for three of us quickly snowballed into a full-blown girls’ trip—and I couldn’t have been happier. I had two college friends (Sarah and Taylor), a trio of childhood friends (Jess, Olivia, and Schyler), plus Dominique (Schyler’s friend from London), all eager to hop over to Iceland during its coldest, darkest time of year. Bold choices all around. Planning was fun

Summer 2008 Maybe you’ve heard of People to People… maybe not. In short, it’s a student-ambassador program where groups of kids trot around the globe learning about other cultures while—no pressure—representing American culture. I went on two trips with them and loved every minute. My first adventure was as a middle schooler, wandering through England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland for three whole weeks—away from home, away from parents, friends, and every comfort zon