MY STORY.

In the beginning of 2021, I said goodbye to my 9-5 banker life, sold almost all of my possessions, including my home and wheels and embarked upon a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT). A couple days into the hike, I met the world’s best hiking partner, Snacks, and together we finished all 2193.10 miles of the AT. The only thing I knew to be certain at that time is that I didn’t want to live the conventional 9-5 life anymore.

I’ve always had itchy feet. Born in Germany, I am the daughter of a British Mumsie and American Papa Bear. I moved a lot as a child, so goes the life of an Air Force brat. The trajectory of my childhood homes: Germany-England-Texas-England-Oklahoma-Virginia. Ultimately, I think that’s where my inability to settle down in one spot manifested. I suppose you could say it was molded into to my core-being.

A couple years after graduating high school, I moved from the small town of Lovettsville in Northern Virginia, to London, where I finished up my BA in Business Management. At the end of a wild and fun filled three years in London, I called my Dad to tell him I was thinking about moving to South Korea to teach English. His response, if you are going to do something like that, then why not join the Peace Corps? I ended up doing exactly that.

I spent the next twenty-seven months in Morocco. Learning to speak Tamazight, living in the remote village of Tounfite, at the eastern base of the High Atlas Mountains and working with a cooperative of the twelve most ah-mazing Amazigh women weavers, who make the most delightful natural-dye carpets you ever did see.

When my time in the Peace Corps came to a close, I headed back to Virginia to visit family and friends. I revisited the South Korea idea, got a teaching contract and then…I met a dude while back in Virginia visiting and never went to South Korea. Dang! The dude was amicably gone before long and I found myself back behind the desk of a small business bank in Northern Virginia. It’s what I knew, I’d already spent six years working in one before moving to London. The comfort zone is so easy.

Fast-forward eight years and that comfort zone became the uncomfortable zone. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have regrets. Those eight-years were full of good, nah-great, stuff. I was almost five years sober, cushie job-relatively speaking, a property owner…driving a stinkin’ Lexus with kayaks on top of it and a bicycle on the back of it. Things were good-they were great.

But, I was restless, tired of the rat-race. My soul was unfulfilled knowing there was The Whole Wide World out there, just waiting to be explored. And that’s what I am doing.

I am on a mission to slow travel…

THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD

AND THAT’S WHAT THIS SITE IS. PART TRAVELOGUE. PART JOURNAL.

A collection of writings from my experience in Peace Corps Morocco, my Appalachian Trail Tales where I wrote for The Trek, and my most recent writing project Antarctica: 100-Days of Darkness a collection of 100 ice-brained journal entries while I winter-overed in 24/7 darkness, living and working at McMurdo Station, at the bottom of the world.

What’s next?

Follow along and find out! ❤