When I signed up for the Tallinn Marathon last spring, I promised myself I would run it just for fun. I wouldn’t worry about my time; I would just enjoy the scenery and the experience of running my first international marathon. Nonetheless, I trained hard over the summer – at a faster pace than in […]
26.2 in Tallinn: My First Marathon Abroad Read More »
This will be a bit different from my typical blog post as I wanted to do a brief update now that I have been in Russia for a week but you haven’t seen any posts since before I reached Estonia. I have a lot to share about Estonia and those posts are coming very soon
Checking in After One Week in Russia Read More »
I have a confession to make. Before this trip, I never stayed in a hostel. And to be honest, one of my biggest fears before starting this trip was how the whole hostel thing would go. Ever since I can remember, I have pictured hostels as loud, crazy places where drunken 18
Facing My Fear of Hostels Read More »
One city down, dozens more to go on this adventure. So here’s a quick review of my favorite things about my first stop – Helsinki: 1. Suomenlinna Sea Fortress. Suomenlinna probably was the highlight of my time in Helsinki. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Suomenlinna was founded in the mid-1700s when Finland was
Five Favorite Things In Helsinki Read More »
As my friends back home get ready to kick off college football season this weekend, I got a head start by checking out some football action here in Helsinki. Football as in soccer, I mean. I learned before my trip that Finland would play Moldova in a Eurocup 2012 qualifying match during my stay in
Kicking off Football Season…in Helsinki Read More »
One of the questions friends asked me the most before I left on this trip was about packing – how would I pack for a year’s worth of traveling? The answer? Very carefully. I had several factors working against me when I started the massive task of trying to pack: I decided to bring the
How Did I Pack For a Trip Like This? Read More »
It has been about two years since I first started dreaming of taking time off to travel. Now that my departure day has arrived (eek!), it is finally starting to sink in: I am really doing this. At various points over the last several months, I have felt stressed, scared, sad, confused and generally overwhelmed.
Where the Dream Took Off Read More »
When I set the appointment to give notice at work – to quit my job to travel – I almost immediately went numb. I stood up from my desk and my legs wobbled. I tried to send a text message to a friend and my fingers were shaking. I was more nervous than I was
Why I Quit My Job to Travel – and What’s Next Read More »
“All of that hard work paid off! Congratulations!” This is the kind of message I would’ve expected to receive when I graduated from law school, got a well-deserved promotion or finished my first marathon. It isn’t the kind of message I thought I’d receive from my insurance agent informing me that I had just been
My Health Insurance Headache Read More »
As I prepare for my trip, the one piece of advice I keep hearing over and over again is that I should not plan too much. This is a major problem for me because I am a planner with a capital P. When I traveled in the past (usually for about 2 weeks at
The Perils of Being a Planner Read More »
