MY TIMELINE

Where I’ve Lived and Traveled

📍 Australia – Lived in Melbourne and Port Douglas for 6 months each;  Mullumbimby, Myocum, Ballina in the Northern Rivers region for two years. Visited: Cairns, Tasmania, Noosa, Sydney, Adelaide, and roadtripped on the Great Ocean Road (where of course our van broke down).

📍 Uruguay – Lived in Montevideo for 1.5 years during Covid. Visited: La Pedrera, Punta del Diablo, Playa Hermosa, Cabo Polonio, and Piriápolis.

📍 United States – Lived in Portland, Oregon for twenty years and 6 months in Sacramento, CA and live temporarily in Black Rock City, Nevada for Burning Man. Visited: Road trip through Oregon and California. Stayed in New York City off and on for two years.

📍 Mexico – Visited Oaxaca City, Mexico City, and Puerto Vallarta; stayed for a bit in Zipolite, and sailed through Baja California.

📍 Cambodia – Phnom Penh and Siem Reap

📍 Spain – I visited El Chorro to hike El Caminito del Rey, Málaga, Seville, and Barcelona

📍 Italy – Traveled to Naples, Ischia, Florence, and Rome

📍 Morocco – Tangier and Chefchaouen

📍 New Zealand – Lived in Roxburgh in the South Island and visited Queenstown.

📍 France – Paris and Strasbourg

📍 Germany – Berlin, Munich, Bavaria, and my exchange program was in the small town of Lahr.

📍 Argentina – Buenos Aires and San Pedro for the country music festival.

📍 Portugal – Lisbon

Personal Story, Travel Highlights, and Crazy Happenings

I grew up between parents. At my mom’s place––a trailer park in rural Canby, Oregon, where I spent my days swimming in the community pool, and dreaming of places with warmer air, palm trees, and more sunlight. And at my dad’s home in Portland, Oregon––some of my most treasured memories are of him taking me and my three brothers camping with his friends from recovery support groups like CA and AA. We had adventures in the Mt. Hood National Forest area and around Columbia River Gorge. At home, we watched movies endlessly––so much that I began to dream of studying film.

One of my good friends passed away in high school, and I realized, painfully, that we didn’t have one photo together. This made me want to capture moments––to hold on to the proof they existed, to keep them safe, and to be forever grateful for them. Photography became my way of holding onto what never stays. I then studied film at Portland State University, where I fell in love with the nostalgic feeling of 35mm film photography and also bought my DSLR camera.

In 2007, I traveled my very first time on a school art trip to Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. I remember being fascinated by everything like rugs and Moroccan coke bottles. A friend and I created a catchphrase when taking touristy photos— “Super Model Picture Time!”—because every little thing in Europe is photo-worthy. We visited places with such beauty like the Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, and the Sistine Chapel—all which I feel I was too young to appreciate at the time.

In 2010, I participated in a German exchange program. I spent one month on a lovely German farm with a huge bread oven (this is where my Nutella addiction started). My first crazy happening––my German teacher PAID for my trip upfront and my parents paid him back after I came back! It still brings me joy to know that my teacher cared that deeply about me seeing the world. We visited Strasbourg in France, where I was flabbergasted that we could so easily drive over the border for the day! We also visited the Black Forest, the Bavarian Alps (as seen in The Sound of Music), and Lake Alpsee––a lake whose name I spent years trying to remember and find online. It wasn’t until I met an Austrian last year in Byron, who happily asked me to describe the lake in detail, that he pieced it together and told me the name.

 In 2014, I went to my first Burning Man which started a lifelong love! Seeing so much art and community rolled together into a temporary city in the desert blew my mind! I couldn’t believe how everyone comes together to share their passions, skills, and joy––everyone can be the nicest person you’ve ever met while simultaneously being the most bad-ass person you’ve ever met. The art is insane––you can see anything from a giant 3D mosaic whale to a pile of cars stacked on top of each other that serves as a climbing wall with a minibar at the top. The creativity is as inspiring as the Ten Principles––the moral “rules” of Burning Man including Leave No Trace, Radical Inclusion, and Participation.

I traveled to New York City on and off in 2016, staying with a partner for free for some months. They had a fancy more-hours-than-full-time job so I wandered the streets mostly alone every day. I loved the city but knew living in the United States was getting too expensive for me. A friend told me about the Working Holiday Visa in Australia and New Zealand and I wish I had known earlier, even before I spent money on my college degree.

I went to Toronto solo to see the musician Kimya Dawson for my birthday in 2018. The receptionist at my hostel was Australian and convinced me to book my flight to Australia around 3 a.m., after I’d had a few too many drinks at the Harry Potter-themed bar The Lockhart. Two months later on Christmas Day, I moved to Australia! I wanted more sunshine and ocean adventures (the ocean in Oregon is hella cold). I only had $800 in my bank account, but luckily I had found a job through an au pair social media group beforehand.

I lived in Melbourne––I did NOT like it at first because it was too similar to Portland. The second crazy happening––I ran into my ex best friend from college! I went out with some friends to see the famous penguins at St. Kilda Pier and then joined a drum circle at the beach. My friends left but I had a weird feeling that was keeping me from going home––and I had to wake up at 5 a.m. for the girls I was nannying. My old friend happened to be smoking outside her hostel at the exact moment I was walking home! We hadn’t seen each other in years and chatted a bit. She told me she disliked Melbourne and was moving back to Port Douglas and told me to come there to complete my 88 days visa requirement. Port Douglas seemed to be the place I was dreaming about when I always imagined Australia––beautiful beaches with palm trees, a community vibe, and a lot of humidity. My friend also introduced me to a cute Uruguayan named Diego who eventually would become my lover, then later––my husband.

Dishwashing at a tropical resort in Port Douglas magically counted for the 88 days visa work requirement. I tried loads of jobs for the 88 days including cherry picking in Tasmania, grain handling in South Australia, and working at a beef jerky factory near Byron Bay.

At the end of 2019, I went to New Zealand briefly with a Working Holiday Visa––which was about $300 bucks cheaper than the Aussie visa! For one month I worked at a cherry farm in the South Island. I lived next to this beautiful turquoise river, I had never seen a water color like that before! Diego asked me to visit him in his home country Uruguay and then we planned to come back to New Zealand together. I visited for one month and was so nervous to leave Uruguay (so nervous that I vomited for a day), so I decided to stay a little longer. I wanted to stay only 3 weeks longer––I actually had a deep feeling inside me that told me to not stay longer than 3 weeks more but the price for staying 4 weeks more was about $1000 cheaper. Crazy happening #3––In that ONE-WEEK difference, Covid began spreading, and New Zealand closed its border just one day before my flight back!

With Diego, I stayed in Uruguay for almost two years. I felt a bit depressed for a while, feeling like I missed my chance to live in New Zealand. I started making tiktok videos to keep myself happy; the Uruguayans loved them. Luckily we had a free place to stay, a beautiful house with Italian architecture in Montevideo with a wide open rooftop, wood fire pizza oven, and fireplace. Bizcochos and fresh ravioli, queso Colonia, dulce de leche, cheaper healthcare, and La Rambla––the boardwalk along where the ocean meets the river; all of these things kept me happy in Uruguay. I briefly left Uruguay for the States to make some money and then Uruguay closed its border too. Me and my partner decided to get married in order for me to get back into Uruguay despite the border restrictions (and out of love, of course!).

We waited for Australia to re-open its border and in the meantime, we visited my good friend in Mexico. It quickly became my favorite country I’ve traveled to, with its lush rainforests and warm water beaches. My friend, Diego, and I took a jiu jitsu class, visited a palenque––a mezcal distillery––and joined a moonlit boat tour to experience the magical bioluminescent algae in Las Lagunas de Chacahua. I thought I need to live here; My soul felt refreshed learning how to sail, sunbathing nude, and attempting to speak Spanish. The people are so friendly and I felt safe there.

Australia finally opened their border after 1.5 years from the start of Covid. Diego and I immediately bought a minivan and road tripped to South Australia for a grain handling job. We experienced pink lakes and my now favorite animal, the shingleback lizard which looks like a baby crocodile and walks very slowly. After, we decided to move to the Northern Rivers area. We found Byron Bay a bit touristy for us, so we settled for some time in Mullumbimby and Ballina––waterfall jumping, seeing pythons in the wild, discovering nudibranchs and spiny-backed orb-weaving spiders that have shell-like abdomens. I now work at a cinema and a cannabis facility near Byron Bay. My two good friends from the States visited on a Working Holiday Visa (it took me five years to convince them to come to Australia). Together we went to Cairns, Noosa, Port Douglas, and Confest––a small, Burning Man-esque acoustic festival near Melbourne. I went to my 9th Burning Man and I wanted to hike El Caminito del Rey to conquer my fear of heights, so I traveled backpacking through Spain, Italy, and France.

When buying my flight back to Australia, crazy happening #4 was a glitch in the website that blocked me from buying the cheapest direct one––and the alternatives were over $1000 more expensive! I searched for a layover in Cambodia and thought I should see the temples in Siem Reap––after all, I romanticized them from my favorite movie as a kid–Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. A good travel tip–sometimes having a flight with a layover in a cool place is the same price as a direct one and in my case here, it was cheaper! Since we traveled from Uruguay to Australia, and I went to Burning Man, backpacked through Europe, and had a layover in Asia, I realized I’d only need to reach Africa to visit the six easy-to-get-to-continents––all within a single year! My brain just naturally works in these bucket-list, goal-oriented ways. I booked a day tour from Málaga, Spain to Tangier, Morocco by ferry. We arrived in Tarifa, Spain after a three hour bus ride and the ferry was cancelled because it was too windy! I was still determined to make it to Africa, so I booked a separate trip from Paris to Tangier and also a day trip to Chefchaouen. Luckily, no wind, flight cancellations, or other mishaps occurred, so I achieved the goal! I also took a self portrait 35mm film photo of me wearing my cherished vintage Malcolm X sweater in each continent (another accomplishment!).

My future is a bit unclear. Our visa agency in Australia made a huge mess up; I had to apply for a student visa and am not attached to my partner’s visa. To avoid this––talk to an immigration lawyer about your options and know you can only join your partner’s visa application when they apply or when they receive the visa–not in between. I will have to leave Australia this year and can come back when a company can sponsor Diego to stay and work in Australia. Right now, I’m planning to move to The Philippines, Cambodia, or Mexico––all three if I have enough funds! Feel free to follow along! 🙂

What you can expect from Tripping in the Tropics

Honesty – I like to be direct, if something sucked or was not worth it, I’ll tell you!
No Robots – I won’t use ai to write blog posts––it is atrocious for the environment; I value personal storytelling.
Photography – I love taking photos and don’t want to create unrealistic expectations, all images are taken by me (almost half of them are 35mm film!).
Personal Experience – I want to write only about things I’ve personally done and places I’ve physically been to––that’s the point of reading a blog, right?
Travel tips – I would love to share my advice on budget travel, tropical destinations, and sustainable slow travel.