Slightly Unhinged Storytelling
I’ve been told people live vicariously through my travels and I should start a blog. As an elder millennial, I laugh at the idea. Who really wants to read what I have to say? That’s also the imposter syndrome talking. I’m working on that.
So, I’m writing it out anyway. Even if I’m the only one who enjoys reminiscing about the fun trips I’ve taken, the interesting people I’ve met and stories I’ve accumulated over the years, I think it’ll be therapeutic nonetheless. Join if you must. I can’t promise they’ll be the best stories you’ve ever read but I guarantee a few laughs, travel tips and ideas, lessons I'm probably still learning from, and plenty of sarcasm. This isn't your typical blog, I cuss and misbehave.
Who am I?
My name is Megan. I'm from Wisconsin and live in California. I graduated with a degree in education but left that nonsense after 3 years of teaching because, well...it was a nightmare. Teaching wasn't it for me. I moved into the software world and never looked back (until I got fired from my job on Wall St. in 2022, lol). I travel as much as I can but never often enough. I'm claustrophobic without a passport and always need a trip planned to be happy. Yes, that's probably toxic but it is what it is.
My instagram handle is @meganmoves. When I moved to Los Angeles back in 2017, I needed a name that represented the life I lived and wanted to continue living. I didn’t quite know what was ahead of me, but if it was anything like the travel choices I had made in the past, it would likely be worth documenting. A few personal battles and experiences along the way gave me a few different outlooks on life too. As life does.
I've seen some things and been to some places - my plan is to tell you about them.
Come along for the ride.
A little more personal
I was born in Green Bay, WI in 1984. Rita and Mark were 20 and 21 years old when I was born. What a pivotal time to have a child in your life. I was understandably unexpected. The adoption was finalized and not without a world of emotions for my birth parents. They wanted me to have a fulfilling life and I did. Gary and Diane were ready to take me home from the foster home and raise me as their own just 3 months later. At 38 years old (at the time of typing), I look back on my life and smile at most of it. Not everyone is so lucky and I think about that often.
I’m a Sagittarius and naturally very empathetic (maybe to my personal detriment). I’m stubborn and strong willed but also a people pleaser and feel my emotions deeply. I live for good music and consider myself a creative when my overthinking doesn’t stop me from even starting. My husband tells me I don’t finish anything but it’s really because I get bored easily. That’s where my need for constant adventure comes from.
I’m happiest when I have a trip planned. I’m happiest when I have a flight booked, when I get to coordinate a to-do list, create a packing list. I glow the night before we leave because of the excitement, and nervousness, traveling to somewhere other than my home brings me. Most people never leave their home town. Not having a passport makes me claustrophobic.
I hate the question, “Where is your favorite place you’ve travelled?”. That’s impossible to answer. It’s Barcelona because of the pintxos and history, it’s Australia for the beautiful beaches and people, it’s Sri Lanka for the lush countryside views and street food, it’s Sicily because it’s where I visit family seaside, it’s Russia for the camaraderie during the World Cup that we’ll likely never see there again, it’s an island off the coast of Yemen called Socotra for the untouched landscapes and kind people. It’s also Big Sur, California because the rolling hills and steep cliffs remind me of the English countryside while showing off the beauty of the American West Coast.
My favorite question is probably, “What’s next on your list of places to travel?”. That list is long and never ending but that’s the best part.
I also love helping other people plan for their own experiences. I’m lucky enough to have friends that are always ready to go and invite me on unique trips. I’ve never been a travel agent but I think I’d be a good one. On the other hand, I think I’d end up too focused planning my own trips that I’d never be around to actually doing the work.
Anyone want to pay me to travel? That’d be great. Call me.
What follows is a series of stories written through my eyes during various trips I’ve taken throughout my life. Some are grand and unique; some are local and simple. All of them worth writing about. I’m a forever optimist who always finds the best in situations so I’ll likely talk about many of those times. I’m also a realist and forever learner, so I’ll also include times when I probably didn’t do the right thing or made a travel choice that I won’t make again. That’s another thing about travel, it helps you discover new ways of doing things. In my business life I learned that if you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. It’s a jumbled way of saying you need to try new things sometimes.
I’m also a very emotional person. I’ll cry if I hear the right notes strung together in a song with great lyrics, I’ll well up with tears if I see someone else getting emotional about something, I’ll instantly sob if an animal is hurt in a movie, I get sad and weepy if I see an old person sitting alone. In the words of Glennon Doyle, “I understand now that I’m not a mess but a deeply feeling person in a messy world. I explain that now, when someone asks me why I cry so often, I say, 'for the same reason I laugh so often – because I’m paying attention.'” Let me cry, it’ll be over quickly because I’m also a stubborn fire sign who doesn’t want to be seen as weak, goddammit!
As I mentioned before, I get bored pretty easily. It’s also probably why I’ve changed my career a few times since graduating college. I went to school to be a teacher; I have my Bachelors of Education from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. I taught 3rd grade for 3 years before I couldn’t handle the fact that it’s not about teaching children anymore but making money (at least at the school I was at). I jumped into the tech industry as a Product Trainer for an InsurTech SaaS company where I grew in the ranks up to Senior Advisor after 6.5 years before ending up at a legal consultancy firm based on Wall Street. You’d be a rich woman if you bet money on that trajectory for me long ago but, alas, I was determined.
My vision for myself was to be a business woman, standing in front of a room of executives pining to hear what I had to say, my pencil skirt and white button up ironed to perfection as I stood tall in my heels. I got my wish, and was good at it, but if I was being honest with myself, it’s not what I was meant to do. “What are you meant to do then, Megan?” Yea, great question. I don’t fucking know and I’m hoping the universe lets me know soon. I patiently wait. But I like to think it has something to do with helping people and traveling. I don’t know what that means in terms of “job description” but it’s my “why” and has to stand for something.
I live in Los Angeles, California now with my husband. He has the same love of travel as I do but he's the logical one in the family. I'll say yes to almost anything and a suitcase is likely already packed, but he'll quickly bring me down to reality. It's not a bad thing, though. I think a little piece of me dies every time I need to say no to a trip. We've also had some amazing trips together, and apart.
So, here I am. Writing about just that. My travels around the world and hopefully bits and pieces of how I may have helped someone, in same way, along the way.
Early Years
When I was little, my family didn’t travel a lot but we took a trip to Disney World once a year. I actually don’t remember too many other long-distance vacations together as a family besides that until the summer before 8th grade. My dad travelled for work every once in awhile and my mom flew to Sicily to visit her family once or twice. Otherwise, my travel experience was pretty bland until later.
I loved our Disney trips. Don’t most kids? It was every October or November. We’d fly down and stay in nice hotels (or at least what I think were nice at that age). Days at the Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios, Typhoon Lagoon, Gator Land…I loved the magic of it all. I’m still a Disney girl at heart. My comfort movies are Disney-like: Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, Little Mermaid. My husband makes fun of me for it but I don’t mind. They’re happy times in my life and rarely do we find things that bring us joy for a few hours at a time that aren’t on our phones or cost a lot of money.
Fast forward to the summer after 7th grade when my parents rented a conversion van and took my brother, grandma and me on a road trip out West. From Yellowstone to Mount Rushmore, Jenny Lake and Jackson Hole, to Arches & Zion National Park, we hit the major site-seeing locations. The World Famous Corn Castle wasn’t to be missed! Besides getting strep throat partway through the trip, I loved that adventure.
I don’t think people realize how many great places there are to visit here in the US sometimes. I think that’s also why I’m glad I was able to see so much of it when I was younger. I also think it’s why I vowed to see as much of the world as I could before I’m not physically able and driving cross-country in a van is the best option. When my sore bones aren’t able to make the 15+ hour flight across the world, I’ll bring my adventures back home and continue to enjoy the beauty that lives in our backyard. I digress, I already sound like a tired old lady.
Fast forward to high school, I signed up for a 3 week trip to Europe with 35 other students and a few teachers who coordinated a group through EF Tours. At 15 years old in the Summer of 2001, there wasn't much by way of travel blogs or social media to research. Nor was there much to worry about as far as travel, 9/11 hadn't happened for a few months yet. I got a job at Walgreens to help pay for my way there. Not sure how much I really saved but it made my parents happy I at least tried.
We were to fly to Spain, spend a little time in Amsterdam, train through Holland, drive to France for a few days, Italy for a few more, and finally jump on a cruise through the Greek isles and a stop in Turkey. It was one of the most amazing trips and kicked off my love for travel. The freedom we were given on that trip was likely illegal, as were the shots we took at the cruise ship bar and the discotheque we snuck into in Italy. Ah, the naïveté of 15 year olds...unmatched.
Since then, I've been all over the world. From college through the time of writing today, I've visited 25 countries. No, it's not that many in the grand scheme of things, but some of the places I've been most people will never set foot in the rest of their lives. Yes, that's a flex.
So, let's do this. You'll probably learn more about me than you want to by reading through these adventures. Grab your drink of choice and let's roll.
Cheers.
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