May is typically one of my favorite months of the year for a number of reasons.
First of all, it means winter is long gone and spring is really kicking into high gear, so the weather is pretty much perfect and spirits are high. Flowers bloom, the sun shines, the days get longer, and it’s warm enough to be outside well into the evening. May also happens to be my birth month, so I get to feel extra special for a day–or a week, depending how much my family and friends play along with my incessant reminders and heightened sense of entitlement. (Just kidding. I totally don’t do that…)
May also feels like the perfect time for new beginnings. I know I’ve probably already mentioned new beginnings a time or two–I guess I just really like change. I mean, I do have a tendency to pop into a new country every couple of months/weeks/days, but I digress.
This May really has felt like the beginning of a new chapter in many ways. I’m making strides both personally and professionally and feeling pretty good about where things are headed. In this month’s recap, I’m going to gloat juuust a little about all the things that are finally going right and why May has once again outdone itself by giving me plenty of ways to start fresh. Without further ado…
In May of 2015…
Blogging got real.
You may remember that the reason I came to Europe in the first place was to attend my very first travel blogging conference, TBEX (Travel Bloggers Exchange). This ended up being a most excellent decision and a huge step in the right direction for my blogging career. Not only did I meet an incredible bunch of my peers and the bloggers I’ve been looking up to for years, I learned a ton about where I’m headed with this endeavor and figured out plenty of ways to get there. I’ve been able to secure partnerships with brands and tourism boards and have new strategies in place for how to continue this trend toward making this blog a successful business. In fact, I earned my very first dollar(s) through my blog this month and I’m feeling more motivated than ever to keep on keepin’ on. I’m loving the work that I’m doing on a daily basis, and that in itself feels pretty damn good.
I started a new chapter of travel.
Ah, Europe–the continent that has managed to cleverly elude me for all these years. I guess the timing must have worked out just the way it was supposed to though, because now that I’m here it just feels…right. It may have something to do with the fact that I finally made it to Barcelona, a city I’ve been dreaming of visiting for about as long as I can remember. In any case, I feel as though my child-like wonder has been renewed; I walk the streets of each new destination wide-eyed, curious, and energized. My wanderlust has been reignited, and I’m feeling more alive than ever.
I turned a year older.
My 29th birthday should be scared, because 28 set the bar pretty damn high. I’ve spent birthdays abroad before but never, EVER like this. Here’s how the day went down. On May 6th, I woke up in a private bungalow in a campsite in the region of Catalonia, Spain. Off to a good start, right? The day then began with breakfast in the company of 5 other amazing bloggers and our trusty (not to mention hilarious) tour guide. Following breakfast we headed for our new, even more gorgeous campsite, Camping Les Medes. We dropped our bags, hopped into neon yellow kayaks with a sixer of beer in tow, and paddled through a calm sea and beating sunshine to a group of islands just offshore.
Our kayaking excursion was followed by a gourmet lunch complete with wine pairings and dessert. The afternoon was then spent relaxing by the pool with more beers and typing away on my laptop until it was sangria time. Sangria time! And I’M NOT EVEN FINISHED YET! More bloggers joined us for another outrageously indulgent meal with even more wine and cava. Dessert this time? A personalized birthday cake from the campsite and having “Happy Birthday” sang to me in three different languages.
FINALLY (because my blogger friends are amazing) we strolled down (or should I say stumbled?) to the beach, built a bonfire, and quite literally rolled in the sand from laughing so hard at the same stupid jokes we’d been making all day. The final cherry on top of this already incredible birthday? A gift in the form of a Sangsom and Redbull bucket complete with no fewer than 50 straws. If you haven’t visited Thailand you might not get why that last part warmed my heart so freakin’ much, but the important part is that it did.
I had more new experiences than I can count.
Stand up paddleboarding on the Mediterranean. Eating things I never thought I would like and loving them. Hiking in the Pyrenees. Boozing it up on a catamaran. Traipsing up and down the walls of medieval castles. Camping in luxury bungalow parks. Motoring around the Greek islands atop a monster ATV. And on, and on, and on. You see what I mean? May has been way too good to me. As soon as my travel schedule mellows out a little bit, I promise to write in detail about each and every one of these incredible moments, so stay tuned.
That’s all for May! Brag-a-licious enough for you? Onward and (if it’s even possible) upward!
