Six years, and still going
Six years ago, I decided to quit my stable, well-paying, miracle-in-a-recession job to move to France. I bought a domain name, convinced a friend to design a logo, applied my very basic HTML knowledge and decided to start a blog without a very clear idea of where it could lead. I was 21, simultaneously optimistic and ambitious and naive. 
Blogging in 2010 was a very different world than it is in 2016. Instagram and Snapchat didn’t exist. Twitter was still in its early days, but the community was tight-knit. Facebook didn’t have an algorithm. People commented because the “like” button didn’t exist yet. Blogging as a career seemed possible but not probable.
The past year has been good for travel and great for life. I celebrated my 27th birthday in Curacao, went back to the Berkshires and Avalon, and took a last-minute dream trip to South Africa. I rang in 2016 on a beach in Costa Rica, spent Valentine’s Day with my boyfriend’s family in Mexico, reunited with my college girlfriends in the desert and went dog-sledding in Quebec City.
My boyfriend and I moved in together in October: we celebrated our three-year anniversary in early March, which means that he’s been an unofficial consultant and photographer for more than half of this blog’s life. We are officially getting a puppy (!!!) this summer: I’m simultaneously terrified of and thrilled for the responsibility.
My day job at Vimeo continues to be challenging, rewarding and flexible. I’m in two book clubs and a monthly breakfast squad of successful women and group chat dedicated to The Good Wife, and I have friends who are always up for a spontaneous latte or street art hunt or glass of wine.
This blog has been the one constant through six years of growing up. I’ve blogged through seven leases and countless hostels, guesthouses and luxury hotels. I’ve blogged through five jobs on three continents. I’ve blogged through friendship ebbs and flows, make-ups and break-ups, celebrations and mourning. I’ve blogged on planes, trains, buses, ferries, cruise ships and sailboats.
I’m grateful that I’ve stuck with it. Every year that passes, I wonder how much longer I’ll keep it up: will the time and the effort continue to pay off in travel and opportunity dividends? Will the words keep grounding me? Will the connections keep coming?
For at least one more year, I can answer with a resounding yes. Six years later, I feel a little bit older and little bit wiser–but just as optimistic and ambitious as I did when I hit publish on that very first post.
A look back: first-ever post, first blog-aversary, second blog-aversary, third blog-aversary, fourth blog-aversary and fifth blog-aversary. As always: thank YOU for reading and for making all of this possible. Cheers to the last six, and the next one up.
