I am a travel bug.  My creativity feeds off of meeting new people and traveling around the world.  I never know where I am going to land, but I decided to start sharing some travel tips because I find it's really difficult to find good, current information out there.

Being a travel bug isn't easy.  For this particular journey of my life, I worked my ass off for an entire year to save up financially.  Now it's completely up to you how you decide to buzz around the world.  Some people sell everything and are free to do as they wish.  I, on the other hand, am very fortunate to have created a beautiful home base here in Los Angeles.  Because I didn’t want to be living on the streets when I returned, I had to work double to not only save for my trip but also to pay rent.  I was able to do it and you will be able to as well.

Please don’t let the fear of rent or paying bills scare you from taking that leap to see the world. UGH…FEAR!!! (INSERT DOOMSDAY MUSIC).  There are so many things we don’t do because we are scared. We are scared of failing, scared of the unknown, hell we are even scared of succeeding! If your dream is to travel, it is always possible and there are resources out there to help you supplement your income while you are gone and help relieve some of that fear.  You may consider renting your room or house short term to either friends or family.  You can also use rental websites such as craigslist, Airbnb, or Flipkey.  Another option is finding work while you’re traveling.  Many travelers I have spoken to procure work at hostels, wineries, or organic farms to make enough cash to keep traveling.   These are all things that are easily found with this amazing thing called the internet and I will go into them in more detail later on.

THIS IS THE POINT WHERE I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO TELL THAT LITTLE FEAR VOICE TO “SHUT THE F&@& UP!!!”

After much deliberation and the slow suffocation of my own inner fear, my boyfriend and I decided that at the end of 2015 we would take two months off to travel to Disney World, take a cruise to the Bahamas, and then we would jet off to South America for no rhyme or reason other than we wanted to travel. Too good to be true right!? Taking a trip like this does require one to make some huge decisions in his or her life.  My decision, in order to allot the time that I thought was necessary to see everything I have wanted to see, was to quit my job.  It was actually an excuse to quit my job.

I was stuck in a rut.  I had just turned thirty and had been working the same job as a waitress for the last seven years.  This particular job slinging tacos was supposed to only be a part time thing as I was pursuing my dream of becoming an actress.  Seven years later I found myself unhappy and stuck.  I was fighting with two dreams...to see the world and to become a working actress.  Both take time and money and for some reason, I had this idea in my head that I had to choose between the two.  I thought that if I traveled the world, I would be missing out on opportunities in LA.  The moment I turned thirty, I realized that my thinking was all backward.  I realized that in order to be the best actress I could be, I needed to feel fulfilled.  In order to be fulfilled, I needed to continue to travel the world.

I personally feel all too often we get stuck in this cycle of working, responsibilities, and making money.  We all have dreams and desires that get put on the back-burner.  We consistently tell ourselves "I will do that later" or " I don't have enough money for that right now."  When we don't pursue our dreams or the fear of failure becomes too great, we lose tiny pieces of ourselves.  Every time we don't listen to our hearts, we become more and more unattached from our spirit.  When I turned thirty I finally told fear to “SHUT THE F#@& UP” because I realized it was time to honor myself.  It was time to honor my inner travel bug.