Way back in December, when I was rushing through the process of returning to American life and giving up my Spanish student visa … and life as an expat … I purchased roundtrip tickets for my mom and I from Madrid to Vegas. “When would you like to return to Madrid?” The agent had askedContinue reading “Why I Canceled My Trip to Spain”
Category Archives: Blog
What Being an Expat Taught Me About Life
The photos flood my Facebook feed. They’ve been doing it for ages now, thanks to all the different ways memories are shared. Typically, I look at them, let my mind linger and then move on. But, there’s something different about the photos and moments popping up now: they’re no longer tangible. Let me explain.
A Weekend at Laguna Beach’s Pacific Edge Hotel
“I had to close the door a little more,” Kyla explains to me our first morning waking up at the Laguna oceanfront hotel, the Pacific Edge Hotel. “It was too loud.” In this case, being too loud is a blissful problem to have since she’s referring to the sound of the Pacific Ocean crashing feetContinue reading “A Weekend at Laguna Beach’s Pacific Edge Hotel”
Midnight in the Garden of Good
There’s a cacophony of crickets, frogs and dogs barking that wake me before my friend, Jodi, does. Laying on the bamboo floor in her hut constructed of the same at Elephant Nature Park, I am still. Present in the total darkness as the world softly whispers outside the slats in her walls. Her soft footfallsContinue reading “Midnight in the Garden of Good”
Getting Prehistoric in Krabi
Editor’s Note: I was a guest of Tourism Authority of Thailand during my time in Krabi. My paddle dips into the glassy green water of Bor Thor, and the shrimp start dancing. Hundreds of tiny creatures pop out of the water, hop across it like rocks skipping, and then dive back down into its depths.Continue reading “Getting Prehistoric in Krabi”
It’s a Beautiful Life
It’s a mild evening in Las Vegas. Hot, by winter standards if you don’t have desert (or jungle) blood. The sun has already begun its descent behind the rugged, snow-covered peak of Mt. Charleston to the west of the city. The mountains on the east, the ones covered in trees, are a deep purple. SunriseContinue reading “It’s a Beautiful Life”
This Roller Coaster
I stand over my sheet cake from the grocery store. Clad in an oversized sweatshirt with puffy paint splattered on it in pastel colors, I move my gel-soaked (à la 80s one-hit-wonder Samantha Fox), crunchy spiral-permed hair out of my face and readjust my roller skate clad feet to maintain my balance. Next year, IContinue reading “This Roller Coaster”
Home: Las Vegas
Home: Las Vegas. It hits me when the sky gives way from black to a sea of glittering, golden lights. Some 20,000 feet below me is the Mojave Desert, which is slowly giving way to the Las Vegas Valley. Tears well up in my eyes, and there is no containing them. I’ve left my worldContinue reading “Home: Las Vegas”
Why I Said “Adios” to Being an Expat
“You made me promise you two things,” Kyla begins as we sit in her car after my 24-hour trip from Madrid to Las Vegas. One of my closest friends in the world for almost a decade, she’s always been the one I ask to remind of previous statements I have made about life. “Yeah …”Continue reading “Why I Said “Adios” to Being an Expat”
How Piercing My Nose Changed Me
It’s cloudy and rainy when we walk into the piercing shop in Brasov, Romania. One of those bone-chilling days where the right idea is to stay inside and do nothing. But, with a new city outside my hostel door, sitting inside is the last thing I want to do. So, with a new friend atContinue reading “How Piercing My Nose Changed Me”
D Travels 'Round 