The Year in Review: 2010 in Travels and Tribulations

My good years and bad years seem to come in waves. In order for She’s in Love with the World to even have a “Year in Review,” I need to bring it all the way back to mid-2009, when I first decided to take the leap into the unknown world of travel and blog writing. I was laid off, the economy was bad and I was pretty damn directionless. Ask anyone. As 2009’s close drew near, it looked as though 2010 would be the Year of the Awesome for me, and for the most part, it was.

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Let the Countdown Begin!

Monday, Oct. 18 was my 23rd birthday and two-year marking point — one that seems fitting to officially begin saving for my next round-the-world adventure at the ripe old age of 25.

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Meeting an Unconventional Community

Last Saturday, after many missed opportunities, I spent the evening at Chris Guillebeau's New Haven, Conn. meet-up for the Unconventional Book Tour. The evening was full of goodies and spirited conversation about living a remarkable life on your terms while doing good for the world.

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Visiting Refugees in Bangkok’s IDC

Now that I'm back in the States, as promised I'm taking the time to write about the things I did along my route that I never had the opportunity to write about previously on She's in Love with the World. Follow along as I revisit some of my favorite, memorable and most stops on my journey. First up are my twice-weekly visits to Bangkok's Immigration Detention Center, a place that few tourists venture deep enough into the city to see.

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SILWTW Featured on GO! Overseas

She's in Love with the World is one of GO! Overseas Top 10 Travel Blogs on the web and this week's featured interview on their site. Come check it out!

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A Return to Normalcy in Bangkok

In a foreign concept that doesn’t sit well with the Western mind, Bangkok has reverted to normalcy in just under a week. Mai pen rai, or "no worries," we’ll survive. The large mall complex (the same shopping centers that were rendered shut for nearly a month) around Ratchaprasong has reopened, the BTS SkyTrain and MRT have resumed service and people are bustling about the city as though last week's crackdown were nothing but a distant memory.

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Celebrating My Layoff Anniversary

One year after being laid off, I’m sitting and reflecting on one of my worst weeks ever…from Bangkok, Thailand. I’m nearly five months into travel, living in Bangkok and show no signs of slowing down. Turns out, losing my job was the best thing that could ever happen to me.

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How to Deal: Budgeting (Part I)

When I finally decided to tackle the budget questions I receive in a proper post, I decided I didn’t want to offer a definitive guide on how to budget a backpacking adventure. So many travel blogs and websites offer strict rules for saving and spending for backpackers to abide by, but those don't work for everyone — myself included.

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Making Good on a Promise

Way, way back when I was just a baby traveler, not two weeks off the plane from JFK airport in New York, I visited my first Thai island, the beautiful Koh Phi Phi. Right around the same time, a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti.

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50th Post: My Bucket List Beginnings

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about long-term goals and the proverbial bucket list. Sure, there are tons of things that I want to do (or wanted and have since done them!), but I never really stopped to write them all down…until now.

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