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ABOUT

Inspiring women of all ages to live vibrant, brave unique lives. Fifty five years young, happily single, solo global traveling, SUV camping, exploring, reinventing, and challenging social norms. It's time to embrace that there's never a road map. You just have to believe in yourself and go!

Solo Travel Story

My first solo trip was after I graduated high school in 1986 at the age of 17. The impetus for that trip wasn’t a positive event in my life, but it was the catalyst to put me in a direction that was needed for my survival and my vibrancy. My life took a dramatic turn with the murder of a friend, Jennifer Levin. If you do not remember her, just google. I won’t go into it here, but a pivotal moment that changed the trajectory of my life was her father collapsing on me at her open casket wake saying “Get out now. Let her die for a reason, to save you”. He meant to get out of the NYC/Hampton’s club party scene. My first nightclub was at the age of thirteen. I grew up in the Hampton’s and the eighties were one of those moments in history that can’t be explained. It was lived. It was a crazy time of celebrities, wealth, and decadence. Stuff that movies are made about. Dancing the night away was a way of life for my teenage years. The stories are unbelievable and no we didn’t all survive those years. Murders, suicides, rapes, overdoses, accidents and countless other tragedies were played out, but I was privileged to grow up in a way that I knew one misstep could mean my demise. I somehow was able to navigate away from the chaos, and the men that the Me Too movement came out of, and keep my self worth intact. I grew up resilient. For me, travel, especially solo, has always been a place to reconnect with myself and drown out the noise of regular life. The beauty of time to think. Time to be numb. Time to laugh. Time to cry. Time for great heights and time for great lows. A place where I had to figure things out on my own. A place not to rely on anyone and also a reminder that there are many other ways to live a life. There are so many options out there and I never had to stay in a place or a situation. I always had options. In those days there wasn’t a cell phone, or internet, or any way to find out information beforehand, not even the weather. I just put one foot in front of the other and went on my way. I learned so much about myself and still to this day it is exactly the same. I get asked often about fear and my answer is that I fear not traveling. The blah person I become watching a television sitting on the couch gaining weight scares me more than some made up scenario of what could happen. Nothing has happened in almost 40 years of solo traveling (maybe a little), but I would say that I would not be happy with myself if I sat at home. I have tried, believe me, I feel it might have been an easier life if I was content living a more traditional life, but it just doesn’t make me happy. Can I travel with other people? Yes. Do I enjoy it? Yes, but for small amounts of time. I like getting up when I want to. I like eating or not eating. I like being spontaneous. I like not talking. I like listening to whatever music I want. I like getting lost. I like having no one to turn to. I like going to sleep. I like just doing whatever I want to and not worrying about someone else's feelings. I like taking 100 photos of a blade of grass. As a woman I find it hard to travel with a man. I find that men like being in charge (even though most times I’ve done way more traveling) and I get frustrated. My level of compromising becomes too great that it becomes unenjoyable for me. Women are better travel companions for me. We tend to have more fun and laugh a lot more, but women can bring more stuff and seem to take longer getting ready and most women seem to prefer a plan. I like not knowing where I’m going and I usually book my accommodations the same day or the day before I arrive. I get frustrated when everything needs to be planned out. Therefore, I travel alone. My journey has been a long one, a rewarding one and now I strive to help other people also feel comfortable with solo travel. I find I have become an expert by happenstance. I never set out to be a solo traveler, but my life has consistently taken me down a path that solo travels awaken me to all that I can be and I don't see myself ever stopping.

Education

Traditional & Untraditional

Travel

Age 3

My parents split up when I was 3 and my mother flew me to Germany and left me with my grandmother for 6 months. I did not speak German. 

Live-aboard Sailboat

East Coast of USA

My parents decided to get back together when I was 10, take me out of school, and live on my father's 33' sailboat for a year. We sailed from New York to Key Largo, Florida. I attended some school in the Key's. It didn't work out for them.

Traditional Public School

The Hampton's, New York

Not much to say, but I went to school. I do remember being completely pissed off in middle school in the 1970's that I was forced to take home economic classes (cooking, sewing, & child rearing) and was not allowed to take shop classes (building things). I was a complete tomboy.

Graduated High School

The Hampton's New York

At 17 after graduating high school I went straight to Europe and solo traveled. I started in the Canary Islands & Germany. Then I traveled by train to Paris, London, and Rome.

College Dropout

Late 1980's

Fashion Institute of Technology

Hunter College

I started my college education in fashion merchandising and marketing in NYC. I was offered an opportunity at age 17 to move to LA and work for a large fashion label in their wholesaling division. I decided to attend college first and then I would take the offer. After my first year at FIT I decided that the world of fashion was not the right fit for me. 

I transferred to Hunter College to study cultural anthropology. Those years I immersed myself in the dream of being in the jungle while working at Le Bilboquet a chic restaurant on the Upper East Side. I lost myself in books like Gorillas in the Mist. The Margaret Mead Film Festival at the Museum of Natural History was a welcomed relief from the concrete jungle I was living in. I quickly realized that I needed to get back into the world and not sit in a classroom to lose myself with inaction.

Volunteer 

Earthwatch

I was 19 when I went to Otavalo, Ecuador for a month alone to volunteer with a research team recording the indigenous weaving techniques of the Otavaleños and I think this was my first truly big solo trip.

Travel

Self Taught

I spent a year backpacking throughout Southeast Asia at age 20. This was the most pivotal year when it comes to my travel education. I started in Bangkok, Thailand and ended in Bali. I stayed with the Mentawai tribe off the coast of Sumatra, climbed Mount Merapi one of the most active volcanos in the world, trekked in Northern Thailand to the Lisu and Karen villages, got amoebic dysentery, rode trains & busses, and found a connection to my soul.

Partner

La Carezza Café

After returning to NYC, I was a partner in a café on lower 5th Avenue at age 21. Absolutely unbelievable if I think about it. Anyway, after a year I realized I didn't want to be a restauranteur. 

Associate of Arts Degree
University of Hawaii at Kapiolani

Moved to Hawaii at 22 and I earned my first college degree in Liberal Arts. I had no idea what I wanted to do for work and decided to study everything. 

Bachelor of Arts
Flagler College

After my son was born and things not working out with his father I realized that I had to find a profession that I could be a single mom. I decided to move to Florida and go back to school to become a history teacher. I felt that would be the best fit for me to use my talents and knowledge, have the same schedule as my son, and still have free time to travel. 

High School History Teacher

Saint Augustine

Atlanta

I started teaching at age 33 and taught a total of 18 years (or so). I never felt the label of teacher suited me, but I was a good teacher and my students excelled. They still reach out to thank me for being untraditional and making them think. 

Travel/Volunteer

Cross Cultural Solutions

Africa

For my 40th birthday I gifted myself a summer in Africa. My son, age 13, and I did 3 weeks of volunteer work in Boma N'Gombe, Tanzania and then 2 weeks of safaris and a day climb on Mount Kilimanjaro. 

We then met my now ex-husband (not my son's father) in South Africa and safaried in Sabi-Sabi and tent safaried in Botswana and Zambia.

Master of Public Administration
University of North Florida

I always knew that I would not stay in traditional education and thought that getting a Master's in the non-profit world would be a good fit for the next chapter of my life. I have never used this degree.

Entrepreneur
Layers of a Woman, Activists Care

My first break from teaching arrived in the form of breaking from all of the conservative stereotypes associated with teaching, mainly holding my tongue and being neutral and hidden.

I created two t-shirt companies, one feminist and the other as a way to help activist's financially.

 

Activist's Care was a profit sharing company that placed funds into the hands of activists for their private use. Dorothy Pitmann Hughes was the most known of the activist's that I worked with.

FEATURED IN

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Places I've been fortunate enough to visit.

The world is so large and I feel I've barely scratched the surface. I believe I've been to 35 countries. The whole reason I started this new journey in my life is so I can visit more of the world. I can't wait to fill this map in. I hope to bump into you somewhere.

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