Blog – The Girl Who Goes

Last Updated on December 5, 2024

A Quick Guide to Medellín’s MetroCables

Hi friends. This was originally not meant to be its own post — I thought I could contain it in the MetroCable section of my post about the best things to do in Medellín. But I forgot how wordy I can be when I write. Especially when I feel like I’m addressing a gap in knowledge that exists on the internet. So this one goes out to all the travelers planning trips to Medellín and feeling confused about the whole MetroCable thing.

Because a lot of the information out there just isn’t very clear. A lot of it is outdated, too. [Read more…]

Last Updated on March 20, 2025

Top 5 Things To Do in Medellín, Colombia

I’ve said this before. But one of my favorite things to do when traveling is to take a vacation from my vacation. This is especially true when I’m staying in a home base somewhere for a long period of time. Why not take advantage of whatever geographic situation I’m in? When we stayed in Helena, Montana, for a month, we took a vacation to Yellowstone and planned another one to Glacier. When I went to Thailand, I took a detour to Cambodia for a few days.

Since we were in Quito for so long, I wanted to take the opportunity to visit another country while were were in that part of South America. And I thought Matt’s birthday was the perfect excuse. So I plugged our dates into my favorite flight app, Skyscanner, to figure out where we could go for a long weekend, for fairly cheap. That’s where Medellín, Colombia, came in.

I may eventually do another post about whether or not Colombia is as dangerous as everyone says it is. (Spoiler alert: I lived.) But if you choose to visit this beautiful and vibrant city, here are a few things you must do. [Read more…]

Last Updated on March 24, 2025

Top 5 Things To See in the Historic Center of Quito, Ecuador

Historic Center of Quito

When we arrived in Quito, it was a Sunday. Monday through Wednesday had been spent getting settled in, buying groceries, checking out our new neighborhood, and catching up on work. But by Thursday, I was ready to see what “downtown” Quito had to offer. Matt and I wrapped up work for the day and then decided to take a trip into the Historic Center of Quito, or the Centro Histórico.

Considering that it’s about 4 miles from our place, we decided to take a taxi. Using Cabify, it only cost a couple of dollars. I put in our destination as Plaza de San Blas, which was kind of a mistake because I didn’t know anything about centro histórico yet… haha. But it was fine, and we were able to see everything we wanted to within walking distance.

Here’s what you need to know when planning your own trip to the historic center of Quito. [Read more…]

Last Updated on April 4, 2025

Why You Should Visit the Teleférico in Quito, Ecuador

Do you like mountains? What about great views? Awesome photos for Instagram? Overall really fun days? If you answered yes to any of these, then I can’t recommend Quito’s Teleférico, or “TelefériQo” enough.

When we spent two months in Quito, there were so many day trips that we wanted to take. One weekend, I was disappointed to look at the Saturday forecast on Thursday/Friday to find that the weather outlook for the whole country was fairly depressing — nothing but rain. So we decided to stick close to home in Quito and see what we could find to do around town.

Saturday morning we went to brunch and checked the forecast again. There wasn’t supposed to be any rain until later in the afternoon. We knew that taking Quito’s cable car up the side of the mountain was on our list, and it wasn’t far away. So we booked a taxi with Cabify. [Read more…]

Last Updated on December 8, 2024

How To Visit the Mitad del Mundo (the Equator) in Ecuador

You know why Ecuador is called “Ecuador,” right? Obviously, it’s because the Equator passes through it! While 12 other countries around the world can also claim that honor, Ecuador is the only country named after it.

Knowing how close it was to us, we figured we’d take a day trip up there at some point. And as our first full weekend in Quito dawned bright and early — and with minimal chances for rain — we said, why not today? [Read more…]

Last Updated on February 2, 2024

Hola, Ecuador!

Finally, finally… we are in Quito, Ecuador.

There’s not much else to say about how much we’d been anticipating this trip. I’ve already said it all, and I don’t want to repeat myself too much. Feel free to read more here, and here, and here if you want the whole background on the situation.

But now, we are here. And I’m so excited to have something to write about again!

I guess I’m going to start by sharing the story of our travels and everything that we needed to get into Ecuador. Here we go! [Read more…]

Last Updated on September 1, 2023

The Quito Countdown Is On…

23 months since my last international trip. 20 months since the COVID-19 pandemic took over the Western world. And 18 months after we originally planned this… our Ecuador trip is only a little more than one month away!

To be clear, we’ve postponed this trip several times. Back in February, I was wondering whether we might finally make it work in 2021 — along with musings of other potential travel destinations (none of which panned out). Luckily, we had a much better 2021 than we did 2020. With trips to Milwaukee, the Pacific Northwest, Ann Arbor, and several visits to Washington DC, we were able to scratch the travel itch — at least domestically.

But after all this time, lots of waiting, three COVID vaccine doses each, and Ecuador passing the U.S. on the percentage of their population being fully vaccinated, we decided: it’s finally time. [Read more…]

Last Updated on March 31, 2025

All About the 4T Trail in Portland, Oregon

Part of the 4T Trail experience

One summer, Matt and I flew up to the Pacific Northwest for a trip with a group of his college friends. After a few days in the mountains near Cougar, WA, we headed to Portland to hike the 4T Trail. I’d never heard of it before (not surprising) but Matt’s friends who live in Washington, Josh and Mackenzie, had done it before. So they took us to do it.

Here’s everything you need to know about the 4T Trail in Portland. [Read more…]

Last Updated on September 14, 2021

Trip Review: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

This post is just a tad bit overdue, but a glimmer of hope about moving back to Spain is giving me new motivation to write again. 🙂 At the beginning of August, Matt and I took a road trip from Kansas City to Milwaukee. We went to a wedding about an hour outside of Chicago, but we didn’t want to just turn around and drive home. So we decided to spend a few days in Milwaukee, Wisconsin — because Matt’s sister lives there! So we had a free place to stay.

Also, one of my new friends that I met during my summer soccer league, Anna, just moved to KC from Milwaukee! We met up for coffee and she gave me a bunch of tips and places to see before we went, which was super helpful. We weren’t there for very long, but I feel like we still packed a lot into our visit. [Read more…]

Last Updated on October 12, 2023

Learn About Spain’s NEW Digital Nomad Visa

Update October 2023: My fiancé, Matt, and I have officially been approved for the digital nomad visa! Learn more about its requirements and how to apply in my most updated blog post about the Spain digital nomad visa.

One year and two months ago, I wrote one of the saddest blog posts I’ve written in my four-and-a-half years of being The Girl Who Goes: it was my goodbye to Spain and Madrid, which had been my home for the two years prior. Not only was I saying goodbye, I was saying it in the worst way — without getting a chance to say many goodbyes at all. As COVID-19 upended my second school year in Madrid, it also upended my future plans to stay in Spain. [Read more…]