One Year Later

One year to the day, I’m back again. After what seems like a very long, overdue absence, I’ve decided to revisit Passport Confessional because I’ve realized one thing: my hunger for travel isn’t over just yet.

Exactly one year ago, as I wrote my last post, “Canadian Roots,” I was sitting in a hotel room in Calgary, Alberta, waiting out the blast of a massive, icy snowstorm to pass through the night. Today, I’m at home, back here in L.A., looking out onto a street that, already, bears no signs of the much more miniscule Pacific rainstorm that passed through here just hours ago.

I miss New York sometimes.

So much has happened in this past year that I don’t even know where to begin. I suppose I’ll keep things short and to the point.

I moved to New York and started a new job. I loved it there, even though it could be tough (Six-floor walk-up? No sweat for me these days!), even though I really dreaded traveling on the subway in the deadening humidity of summer, and even though I pretty much lived paycheck to paycheck (Oh, the high cost of living in NYC).

I traveled to Izmir, Turkey. 

Please don't try this at home.

Then I traveled to Disneyland for an assignment. 

Then I moved back to LA. 

I learned how to shoot guns in Montana (an experience I’m not so sure I will want to repeat). 

I traveled to Vancouver, B.C., for the first time and discovered the joy of bacon ice cream sandwiches (no joke, the proof is on its way in a future post).

When I had to leave my job in New York and move back to L.A., I wasn’t sure I’d still be able to call myself a travel writer, even though I continue to freelance for the NYC publications I had to leave. I struggled to define what I was without those editorial titles or frequent press trip requests. But, over time, I’ve realized that, title or not, sharing the travel experiences that I’ve had—and the ones I’ve yet to encounter—is what really defines me as a writer, as a travel writer.

So, without any further delay, I’m back and I hope to be writing about some of those trips right here again very soon.