Live Inspired

Live Inspired: I was a model for a day; this is what it was like

Categories all posts, Live Inspired, Solo travel thoughts7 Comments on Live Inspired: I was a model for a day; this is what it was like

• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

I twisted from behind to face the camera.

Sadly, my vision for this pose was lacking. Already, I had been instructed to move a leg, stretch an elbow, lift my chin.

I shoved my hands in my back pockets for effect, pushing my hips toward the shot and twisting my face and body into a position not even a yoga instructor would suggest. There were a couple loud pops. I wondered how many massages it would take me to reset — surely more than the $50 I was earning from this 4.5-hour session could redeem.

The photographer eyed me.

“Si,” he said. “Muy natural.”

Against all odds and likelihood, I was … a model.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: I was a model for a day; this is what it was like

Live Inspired mailbag: who I am, what I do, how I make money

Categories all posts, Live Inspired, Solo travel thoughts4 Comments on Live Inspired mailbag: who I am, what I do, how I make money

• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

Hello!

If you’re reading this, you probably already know that my name is Amelia, that I am a solo female traveler and that I have been exploring Central America for more than a year.

What you might not know is some of the specifics — how I began my journey, what exactly I do for work and how I make a living in this crazy life.

Recently, I asked you all to send me questions, and send you did!

In fact, I received so many queries that I plan to make this mailbag a series — upcoming mailbags will be focused more specifically around the logistics of my travel, how I address health and safety, and what I love about where I am now.

But for now, let’s begin with some of the basics: who I am and what I do.

Here are some of those questions I receive most often:

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired mailbag: who I am, what I do, how I make money

Live Inspired: in the lack of normalcy, this is my routine

Categories all posts, Live Inspired, Solo travel thoughts8 Comments on Live Inspired: in the lack of normalcy, this is my routine

• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

I remember my first several months as a nomad, viscerally. I use the word “viscerally” because I can almost, now, feel the caustic taste of the anxiety that took over on most days. Honestly, most days.

At the time, I was so confused. That feeling took me by complete surprise. I had traveled solo a lot, and I was finally doing what I had long dreamt of doing.

But what I was feeling, I now realize, was the result of the systematic demolishment of every normalcy in my life — from how I showered and got dressed in the morning, to how my days progressed to where my food came from at night. My job had changed, my house had changed, my network had changed, my belongings had changed, my whole life had changed.

I had almost zero routine.

I had gone from a person who set the alarm before 5 a.m., hit the gym almost every day and scheduled life around a series of meetings, deadlines, happy hours and events to someone who had nowhere to be, no one to be with and was suddenly working in a job without any outside framework or direction.

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Live Inspired: first impressions in El Salvador

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• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

The shrill, happy notes reverberated through Plaza Libertad, drawing a crowd of a couple dozen, and me — invited by the music and the gleaming red upright bass.

A woman, wearing a bright pink apron and holding a matching ladle, spooned atol — a sweet corn drink — into styrofoam cups to serve. Two other women had staked out territory in front of the little five-piece band and were dancing as though it was their jobs (it might have been; they later worked the crowd for tips). 

I whipped out my iPhone, as I always do, with a wave of reluctance. The nature of my job, these days, is to record what’s around me, but documenting other people in other places, especially as a white person, isn’t always popular. I’ve often stopped photographing because I absorb the glares around me. In more than a handful of cases, I’ve actually gotten visceral rebukes.

But on this glorious Friday afternoon, as I eyed the assembly, all I caught were smiles.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: first impressions in El Salvador

Live Inspired: the hours before takeoff

Categories all posts, Live Inspired, Solo travel thoughts3 Comments on Live Inspired: the hours before takeoff

• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

Every time, it’s the same.

On the night before I make a new, big move, I don’t sleep.

Before that point, I think about my plans ahead very differently. Now, over a year into this wild, nomadic existence, there is an element of normalcy in what I do — plunging myself into the unknown, alone — even though at times it feels totally insane.

I know I’ll fall into my flow. I know I’ll fall in love. The constant move, more than anything else now, is the new order.

But in those hours before the next leg begins, a particular feeling takes over — some blend of excitement, anticipation and anxiety — and my pulse raises, my stomach turns.

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Live Inspired: ruined travel plans — a perfect surprise

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• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

Down by the pebble-strewn shore, the river looked as still as a lake, transforming from waterway to a long, glass mirror as the afternoon rendered into evening.

It was one of those glorious days when the air feels neither too hot nor too cold, and the Mississippi reflects the deep, cloudless sky, the lush green shore and, somehow, the very exuberance of one of the summer’s best offerings.

On the first full day of the next leg of my journey through Central America, I was enjoying it to the fullest — but I was not in El Salvador, where I had planned for months to be on this date (Tuesday of this week). I was nowhere close. In fact, I was back in Minneapolis, stranded in the U.S. after one of the most hellacious travel disruptions of my life.

And it was pretty damn great.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: ruined travel plans — a perfect surprise

Live Inspired: An ode to slow travel

Categories all posts, Live Inspired, Solo travel thoughts4 Comments on Live Inspired: An ode to slow travel

• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

At sunset in Panajachel, Guatemala, a line of snack stalls abutted the Lake Atitlán.

Each one offered beers, swaddled with napkin bibs, and fresh ceviches with their own little twist. Living there for over a month, I could have tried them all. But walking by every night, I chose the same one — not because I was uninterested in trying something different, but because being a regular just felt good.

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Live Inspired: Why I love being a solo female traveler

Categories all posts, Live Inspired, Solo travel thoughts5 Comments on Live Inspired: Why I love being a solo female traveler

• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

Traveling with others can be a lot of fun, and let’s be honest, it’s definitely the most popular way to travel. But solo travel, especially solo female travel, has become trendy for a reason and it’s not just the great selfie ops (selfies are actually really hard to take solo, I’ve learned).

I get a lot of questions about my solo female traveller lifestyle — whether I get lonely or bored or feel uncomfortable a lot.

Those answers? All a resounding “no!”

Traveling alone isn’t a consolation prize; for me, it’s actually the pinnacle. Whether you’re taking a weekend trip within the U.S. or wandering across a continent, solo excursions can be incredibly refreshing and stimulating. Going alone has taught me a ton about myself, about my independence and what I’m capable of.

Once you start, it can be addicting. Here’s some of why I love moving through the world alone.

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: Why I love being a solo female traveler

Live Inspired: an emotional return to Minneapolis

Categories all posts, Live Inspired, U.S.2 Comments on Live Inspired: an emotional return to Minneapolis

• In partnership with John Reamer and Associates •

Last Wednesday, I landed in Minneapolis for the first time in a year.

And the first emotion I could identify upon my return to my adopted home of eight years was “weird.”

Obviously, I was more than excited to see friends and former colleagues, for a three-week summer stint on the precipice of returning to Central America.

But as the plane from Montréal, my previous stop, descended into the Twin Cities, I could only think of the last time I was in that air space. 

It was June 28, 2018, and I was leaving everything I knew, bound for everything I didn’t. I was ready for this move, I thought. Weeks earlier, I had sold all my belongings — the things acquired over 32 years of life — left my job at the Star Tribune, said a tearful goodbye to the house that claimed so many memories, bid farewells to friends of a lifetime. I did so with so many dreams, with so much motivation. I’ve never felt regret. 

But in that moment, in a left-side window seat in the back of the plane, I was struggling to breathe. 

Continue reading ➞ Live Inspired: an emotional return to Minneapolis