I thought for so long that if I wanted to do something amazing with my life that I would always have to be doing epic stuff. So I traveled the world solo – and while it was amazing, I realized all the little things I missed at home were what already made my life extraordinary. After sleeping in 44 beds last year and being away from everyone – it was time to hang up the full-time traveler hat and settle down. Part of me knew once I finished my MBA that I would go back to having a regular life – and there is nothing regular about traveling full-time alone.
I went back to work about a month ago and I am now only traveling part-time but plan to keep my blog and social media channels up and running. I am trying to put together a schedule to blog about 2-3 times a week if time allows. I know I have been neglecting my blog a little bit .. and it is not on purpose.
Travel on the horizon:
After receiving a lot of messages across social media accounts and emails about my travel plans, I can share more with you now. I was traveling full-time for the last year and a half and now that I have switched gears, I will be writing more on utilizing long weekends, holiday travels, staycations, and the time off given by employers to maximize my wanderlust spirit.
My next trip (that I know of) will be in June to Salamander Resort in Middleburg, Virginia. I love this area and it is about an hour from my home.
Photo from Salamander Resort
I have this plan to go to Cuba the week of my birthday in December .. I have mixed feelings about this trip because I KNOW the country is more than the street of colorful buildings and old cars that everyone posts on social media – keep an eye out on my write up for that later in the year. Here are 10 tips I found useful when planning my trip to Cuba!
Picture from Fathom.org
Further out (in the winter) I am booked for a week in St. Lucia. I tend to do my traveling in January right after the holiday when the crowds aren’t max capacity and the weather is good.
Photo from Hotels.com
I am planning holiday weekend and staycation travel throughout the summer to keep exploring my area and the surroundings. Funny enough, I live right outside of Washington, D.C. and I have access to Virginia, D.C., & Maryland. There is so much to do that is local and I plan to spend my summer seeing and writing about it.
I really want to get to more of the wineries in my state of Virginia – there are over 250!
If you have any recommendations for those areas please do tell me – I am ALWAYS interested in exploring new areas.
Twitter:
I have been spending a lot of time on Twitter and less time on my other social media channels. I feel like I have made a lot of friends and enjoy conversations and Twitter chats on this platform. It is by far the easiest platform to really get to know people and talk about things you have in common with other people. Don’t get me wrong – I love Instagram and viewing photos, but Twitter to me has more substance than a quick scroll, and an occasional like and/or comment. If you want to connect with me on Twitter -you can find me —> here.
On Sunday’s I started a #SundaySunsets chat that goes all day. You can tag myself @eatlivetraveldr, Pam @always5star, and @Roarload – we will be re-tweeting and discussing sunsets around the globe all day, every Sunday. Hope to see you there.
I have been really good about responding to every tweet <3
Consulting:
I am still doing consulting. I offer 30 and 60 minute sessions to help you with starting a brand, building a business, website design, social media, creating media kits, helping you create a pitch to land sponsorship’s, graphic design, and helping you with any of your blogger and/or social media needs. Please do email me if you want to chat or discuss your business –> eatlivetraveldrink@gmail.com
Blog Posts:
I will be changing my blog post structure a tiny bit. I have spent a lot of time focusing on luxury hotels (because that is what my travel style is) and I still want to write about them – but I also want to write about other things like restaurants, city guides, Instagram guides for cities, walking tours, and my life at home. I think travel is so much more than hotels and I want to share that other side with the world. I am always going to stay in hotels and I will always love them and write about them – but there is more to say <3
I have over 40,000 photos that no one has seen before – and so I want to start sharing them in posts.
Guest Writing:
I am doing more writing for Matador Network – when those articles publish I will share them 🙂
That is all I have for now – and I will be posting very soon as I am working on my next blog post already 🙂
Nicki
Sounds like a good plan! And you are so great about responding to everyone on twitter. I have been spending more time on twitter too, I do feel like it is easy to make “friends” there.
Author
I loooove Twitter more than any platform. I feel like the connections with people are real and not reduced to a “nice pic” comment that comes with Instagram sometimes.
Can’t wait to read about the wineries! Also you need to find some gin brands! ??
Author
haha I want to try more gin this summer. I did like a drink I had in Singapore and Manila that had gin in it 🙂
So exciting! You have me very intrigued about twitter. I need to spend more time there and actually figure it out! Yay for wineries! And local adventures!
Author
Yesss! Twitter is amazing ?? come play ???? and yes on local adventures ??
That’s a great decision and having a travel blog is very much possible if you don’t travel constantly. Why not become a Pro in your area? I only just started my blog and sure I’d love to constantly travel to the US and explore new places there but living in Europe, with 2 cats and a hubby, this is just not possible. I’m not in my 20s anymore, I refuse to sleep in a budget hotel and after all, I do love my home and entertain friends… So I just made this part of my blog, easy 🙂
When it comes to Twitter I have to say, I just can’t get the hang on it. I tried it years ago, cause it was a “must have” in my corporate job and I try to get around it again now, cause as a blogger I guess you need to? Well maybe I will have to spend some time with it, but the todo list is long! I love Instagram cause I’m a very visual person, but I have more than one account and it’s very time-consuming. Sadly also engagement get’s lower and lower and the few comments I get are mostly from bots these days, so maybe it is time to switch my focus soon 🙂
Looking forward to the Cuba pictures, I’m a classic car owner and would love to visit but also for me, the political situation was a reason I never travelled to this place… curious to hear how you liked it.
Author
Thanks for reading! I totally want to see your car ??
Twitter is such a great platform – I love Instagram but I just think Twitter can have more success. I do think it’s good to belong to multiple platforms as a blogger because you can cross promote and you never know when one seize to exist.
Loved reading your blog over the past year and enjoyed all of the amazing places you’ve visited. Hope your change of life and direction works our perfectly for you and enables you to enjoy the important ‘little things’ of home and family and also to travel. Best of luck.
Author
Thank you for reading! Life at home has been great – and I am itching to start traveling again.. I can’t wait to share more adventures with you 🙂
I live in Baltimore! If you ever make it up this way, I’d love to grab a drink.
I’m from Texas and working here in Baltimore until September, I’d really love to explore the area more! I’ve never been to much nearby here, and have already made a couple trips down to D.C., but plan on going to Philadelphia, Delaware, maybe even down to Virginia with my time here.
I think it’s awesome how you are switching from full-time traveling to part time and you still want to make the most of it and still help out readers, that’s awesome! I wish you luck on all your future endeavors and that you have a glorious year with your husband. Best of luck!
Excited to write about Cuba, Nicki! And yes, it really is the small things that make our lives magnificent. 🙂
*read about Cuba
Great post! Agreed about Twitter! I feel like I’m on an uphill battle with Instagram whereas my conversations on Twitter are more authentic. Have fun at Salamander! We stayed there a few months and it was fantastic. I can imagine a summer stay is more fantastic!