The pandemic has me thinking a lot about the communities and organizations that are supported by and dependent upon tourism. So I reached out to my friend Peyton West for an update on conservation initiatives in East Africa. Peyton is awesome and just listening to her makes me want to pack my bags and follow her out to these incredible yet fragile corners of the world!

Driving along the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco, top down, listening to “Hotel California” or just a whole lot of Tom Petty, it’s easy to cruise past the classic beach town of Carpinteria. Carp is five exits away from Montecito and 15 minutes from Santa Barbara, so most people skip it in favor of those nearby greatest hits. I understand; it doesn’t have the curb appeal of its picture-perfect neighbors but driving by would mean missing out on a quintessential California beach town that is definitely worth a walk-around.

Russia had been on my visit-list forever, so when I was invited to join a small group of friends on their whirlwind eight-day tour, I said YES, fast. The goal was to experience as many of Russia’s greatest cultural hits as possible, so we utilized guides in both cities and plotted out our dense itinerary in advance. This was not a “wander around and soak in the sights” kind of trip (although certainly some wandering and soaking did occur)! Upon arrival at Sheremetyevo Airport, we hit the ground running and kept up the pace for eight glorious days.

If you’re anything like me, you have a travel wish-list that never seems to get any shorter. Despite traveling constantly for my job, the rate of adding new destinations significantly outpaces the rate of checking them off. Almost exactly a year ago however, I had the opportunity to visit a place that wasn’t on my bucket list – the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. In a way, the fact that I knew so little about it made my time there even more magical and full of surprises.