Hi, I’m Jenn, a native NYer that works in Finance and spends all of my hard-earned cash on travel. I’ve lived in 4 countries and traveled to more than 50. From beach vacations, trekking trips and wellness retreats, cheap hostels to luxury resorts – I’ve done it all. Oh, and I also love food and wine (who doesn’t!) so add oenophile and foodie to the awesome list.
As I was hiking a “Patagonia Flat” in Torres del Paine, which is NOT a flat terrain at all, it dawned on me that I’ve experienced this before. “Nepali Flats” are the same steep up and downs which I was just not mentally prepared for. It was at that moment I realized that most of the travel websites and books I normally use to plan my trips gloss over the down and dirty truths of traveling.
And so I decided to create this blog to shed light on some of the hard truths of travel that I’ve found to help manage expectations and prepare future travelers. Hurray! (Save the applause for later.)
I’m here to arm you with the facts! Going to a winery during harvest? Make sure to call ahead/book a reservation as most are closed. Going to Japan? Download Google Translate! Most of the signs are in Japanese.
(Note: please take any of my opinions with a grain of salt as everyone feels and experiences places in their own way.)
Here’s my story…
I’m originally from the suburbs of NYC. My mom works in the travel industry and we took a lot of family vacations, so I developed a love and appreciation for traveling as a kid.
I went to NYU but the travel bug was in full force, so I decided to spend a semester abroad. I jetted off to Florence, Italy, where I spent 5 months consuming a lot of pasta and wine. When the semester finished, I backpacked around Europe for 2 months. I travelled to 10 countries (some by myself and others with friends) and got to know the ins and outs of each of place.
After working a few years in finance in NYC, I caught a serious case of FOMO for the rest of the world. Traveling wasn’t enough anymore, so I moved to Europe to get my MBA. Since I love wine, cheese, pizza and Big Ben, I settled on SDA Bocconi in Milan which would allow me to spend a semester at the London Business School.
I wasn’t ready to move back to NYC after I got my MBA, so I packed my bags and moved to Hong Kong, where my favorite (and only) uncle lived. Like almost every expat that moves to Hong Kong, I planned to go for a year and ended up staying for eight!
Hong Kong is a quick flight from so many amazing destinations, and most expats who live there are always up for a weekend away – I took my first trip to China with a girl I met once who, like me, was looking for a travel buddy for an upcoming weekend (she’s now my BFF!). I spent 8 years fitting in as many trips to Asian destinations as I could, with lots of other vacations to further-flung locations thrown in.
Now I’m back in my home country and living in Brooklyn, NY with my beloved French Bulldog (a traveler as well- HK via Taiwan to NY!) striving to travel as often as possible. My next trip is…
