Travel Thoughts – The Girl Who Goes

Last Updated on April 22, 2025

Trusted Housesitters Review: Why It’s Too Good To Be True

I’ve had this blog topic sitting in my “drafts” folder for more than six months, and now’s finally the time to write about it! However, the review I’ll be writing is much different from the one I was planning on. If you’ve ever heard of TrustedHousesitters, an app that promises to connect homeowners in need of a house/petsitter with travelers who are looking for a free place to stay, it may sound like a match made in heaven.

I imagined how Matt and I could travel around Europe after moving to Spain, and we could spend time with people’s pets and watch their houses while also getting free lodging. I mean, what’s not to like?

But it may be too good to be true. Here’s what prospective sitters on TrustedHousesitters should know. [Read more…]

Last Updated on December 28, 2023

Spirit Airlines vs. RyanAir: How Do They Compare?

This past weekend, I got to experience one of the coolest things ever: a Pakistani wedding in Orlando, Florida! An old co-worker of ours got married, and we were SO honored to have been invited! Between the wedding lasting three days, culturally “appreciating” some traditional South Asian dress, and learning a few group dances before the big days, it was an unforgettable experience that I’m always going to cherish.

But, you know, it was Christmas weekend. And it was also Orlando. While I couldn’t have cared less about shifting my family’s Christmas celebration to a different day, finding flights around Christmas — specifically to and from Orlando — was not the world’s cheapest undertaking. Which meant that, in order to make it more affordable for us, we undertook another “first” experience: flying on Spirit Airlines. [Read more…]

Last Updated on December 15, 2023

30 Years, 30 Countries: Complete

Back in December of last year, on my 30th birthday, I announced that I was setting a personal goal to visit my 30th country at age 30. Considering that I’d been to 25 countries at the time, it meant I needed to visit five more this year.

And today is my 31st birthday, so I’m happy to say that I met my goal! 🎉 (Actually, with 3 months to spare!)

For my first 25 countries, I shared what they were as well as a snippet about my experience there. So I decided to do the same for the last five. Enjoy this quick recap of the five new countries I visited this year: [Read more…]

Last Updated on December 14, 2023

30 Years, 30 Countries

Hello from Quebec City, Canada. Today is my 30th birthday!

I was trying to think of something special to write about here, like I did last time I had a milestone birthday. When I turned 25, I wrote about my Top 25 Travel Experiences of that year. (It was a good year!)

For today, I decided to share a goal I’m setting for myself this year — to visit country #30 while I’m 30. At this point, I’ve been to 25, so I’ve got my work cut out for me this year. But it sounds like such a fun challenge, so I’m really excited. Throughout this year, I’m planning to update a new page here on my site so everyone can follow along with my progress: 30 in 30.

I also thought it would be fun to share a little bit about each of the countries I’ve visited up to this point, along with the year I first visited. So, here they are… [Read more…]

Last Updated on March 18, 2025

What It’s Like To Be a Digital Nomad in Mexico City

In 2022, we took four international trips, though two were what we considered to be digital nomad “lifestyle” trips rather than vacations: Quito from January to March, and Mexico City for three weeks in May/June.

With these two trips, the purpose was to take advantage of the fact that we could work remotely… so we just decided to try out life in a different country for a while. All we needed besides plane tickets was a longer-term Airbnb where we could make ourselves at home for a few weeks or a few months.

Here’s what it’s like to be a digital nomad in Mexico City. [Read more…]

Last Updated on January 20, 2025

How My Travel Credit Cards Saved Me Money on My Trip to Europe

I like to think of myself as a pro traveler. I started traveling to Europe (alone!) when I was 18. Studied abroad in London for a semester when I was 20 and was introduced to the world of European budget airlines and train travel. Lived and worked as a traveling consultant in the U.S. for three years before quitting to move to Spain for two years. And traveled to another country every month while I was there! So… would it surprise you if I said that I never used travel credit cards? 😬 [Read more…]

Last Updated on June 14, 2022

What It Was Like To Go Back to Spain After 2 Years

Author’s note: If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to read my diary, this is probably close 🙃

As you know, I lived in Madrid, Spain, from September 2018 to July 2020. And the last four months I was there coincided with the early days of the pandemic. One morning, at the beginning of March, we teachers were told that school was canceled for a week. And then, though school was scheduled to be in session through the end of June, we never went back. [Read more…]

Last Updated on March 23, 2024

3 Big Differences Between Life in Spain and Life in Ecuador

In Spain, a grocery store could be right around the corner. In Ecuador, not so much….

When Matt and I decided to spend a few months in Quito, Ecuador, at the beginning of this year, I didn’t really know what to expect. And while I’d traveled to more than 20 countries on four continents, it was my first trip to South America — and it was only the second country, after Spain, where I was spending more than a few weeks.

(And living as an adult. When I lived in London for 4-5 months during college, it was very much a college experience.)

Anyway, there were plenty of surprises when it came to life in Ecuador compared to what I knew in Spain, so I thought it could be fun to take a look at a few of the differences. [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…]