Teacher Turned Traveller

If you've ever taken a biology class you've probably heard of Charles Darwin. In the 1830's Darwin was offered a chance to sail around South America as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle. During his five years on the ship, he observed living things, took detailed notes, and collected samples to bring home. One of the stops was the Galápagos Islands, where they stayed for about five weeks. What he discovered there led him to publish his theories on evolution by natural selecti

The end of the school year means that it's time for my annual trip with Shannon! Since 2023, we have gone on a trip together during our summer vacations. Even though I didn't teach this year we still continued our tradition. So far we have done Universal Studios/Disney, Iceland, and the Florida Keys. This summer we decided to go to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. We both have been thinking about doing this trip for a while, so we were excited to make it happen! We ha

"In the state of Washington, under a near constant cover of clouds and rain, there is a small town named Forks..." -Bella Swan When I was in high school I was obsessed with Twilight, a series of books about a girl who falls in love with a vampire (spoiler alert). The books were made into movies between 2008-2012. Luckily, my friend Amanda shared the obsession and as teenagers we bonded over all things Twilight (even though she was Team Jacob and I was Team Edward). Througho

This year I knew I wanted to do a road trip somewhere in the United States in a camper van. I decided the perfect place to do this was the Pacific Northwest, specifically the coast of Oregon! Oregon has so much to offer: amazing beaches, fun cities, beautiful waterfalls, gorgeous mountains, and so much forest to explore. Ryan has a friend from high school who lives in Oregon, so he joined me for this trip! Ryan and I planned out a rough itinerary with an idea of where we wa

When I think of Australia, I think of kangaroos, Steve Irwin, and the Sydney Opera House. After planning a trip to New Zealand, I knew it would make sense to visit Australia too. I wanted to take advantage of the time I had and see both countries back to back. Who knows when I'll be back on this side of the world, right? Before this trip, I really did not know much about Australia, and now I realize there is so much more to see there than just kangaroos. I got to experience

New Zealand has always been very high on my travel list ever since I watched the Lord of the Rings as a child. If you know me, you know I am obsessed with those movies. I knew I absolutely HAD to include a New Zealand trip during my year off from teaching. I toyed with the idea of renting a car or camper van for this trip, but doing that alone is a lot of driving, and I was worried I would get lonely. So, I decided to join an 18 day tour of both islands through Stray Travel.

Boston ➡️ Laramie The first trip of 2026! This was a trip to visit my older sister Courtney and her family and go skiing with my friend Zack. Ryan and I headed out of Boston very early, our Uber picked us up at 4:15 AM. We arrived at the airport, checked our ski bags and got onto the plane. The flight was not full so we had a whole row to ourselves! Once we landed in Denver, we picked up our bags and got onto the shuttle to one of the parking lots to pick up our rental car.

¡Bienvenidos a México! When I graduated college I got scuba certified because I thought it would look good on my resume for finding a marine science job. I got certified with my sister Courtney in the murky waters of Boston, and since then (10+ years ago) I have never been scuba diving 😂. When I took this year off from teaching, scuba diving was something I wanted to do, but it had been SO long. After hearing about the beautiful reefs of Cozumel from a friend, I de

Boston ➡️ Dublin If you know my friend Kenzie, you'll know she LOVES Dermot Kennedy! We saw that he was touring in Dublin so we decided to go together. I loved my trip to Ireland in the summer, so I was excited to return for a second time with one of my best friends! On Friday night, Kenzie and I arrived at the airport and prepared for our overnight flight! Our flight was smooth but we did not really sleep that much. We arrived in Dublin around 8 AM and took the bus to get t

My friend Shannon and I have started the tradition of taking a trip together every summer, and this year we decided on Key West! We flew out of Providence with a quick layover in D.C. We even got seats with extra legroom on our second flight which was so nice. We arrived at our hotel around noon, dropped off our bags, and hung out by the pool while we waited for our room to be ready. We played a lot of rummikub and had pina coladas. When our room was ready we dropped our bags

Why French Polynesia? When I first started looking into ideas for my year off, I came across videos on instagram of people swimming with humpback whales off the island of Mo'orea in French Polynesia. First, I had to look up where that was, and second it looked AMAZING and I knew that it was something I needed to do someday. If you have seen the movie Moana, it is based on a lot of Polynesian culture and stories. I started following a photographer who ran small group trips to

Norway? No way! Thank you to my friend Zack for the joke (I hope you are reading this). After Ireland, I wanted to add on a second country. I thought if I flew all the way to Europe, I might as well make the most of it! I chose Norway because I wanted something close to Ireland, I was interested in the culture, and I have seen pictures of the fjords which look stunning (spoiler alert: the fjords surpassed my expectations). If you are heading to Norway, especially to the Ber

Why Ireland? Potatoes. Just kidding. Or am I? All jokes aside, I have always wanted to visit Ireland, and for my first adventure, I wanted to choose a country that 1. I spoke the language, 2. felt safe, and 3. had beautiful sights. Ireland checked every box for me. After researching lots of options, I decided to book a 7-day adventure tour with Vagabond Tours. I absolutely LOVED this tour company! They made planning so simple and seamless! This tour also included entry in