All posts tagged: adventure

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Kamilla Sun

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“It’s hard to choose one specific memory! So many of them! Each trip has its unique, fascinating story: sad, funny, risky or inspiring. But, all of them have a similar trace. When I followed my intuition and was open in all these moments, I had the most incredible adventures. So I’ll just tell the first that comes to mind… In 2013, when I just broke up with my long-term boyfriend whom I lived with, I temporary moved to my girlfriend’s apartment and stayed there on a month-to-month basis until I figured out my next step. I was lost, confused, broke, didn’t like my job, and didn’t know what I wanted from life. Somehow I came to the realization that all my life, I’d actually never really known myself due to living under so many societal conditions and expectations. So, I was determined to reevaluate my whole life and what I wanted from it. One night, I went to dinner with a group of people and met this German girl named Maria. We connected right away …

KO-Rose Colored Glasses-jetsetterproblems.com

How to Recover from Rose-Colored Glasses

Published by Khadijat Oseni

We’ve all had this fantasy at some point in our lives. You meet a dashing stranger in passing and spark an instant, soul-searing connection. On this fateful day, you chat for hours and imagine how you’ve never encountered each other before but are certain you’ve met in a past life. Dopamine and euphoria cloud your better judgment and your instincts become heavily reliant on emotions and the “feels” of falling fast and hard in love – though often times it’s a whole lotta lust! Like the hopeless romantic you are, you decide to be spontaneous despite what logic tells you and agree to hit the road together on a quest to turn this fairy tale into a reality of sweet nothings. This all sounds beautiful in theory but can realistically turn into the biggest nightmare of a first date if you ignore certain cautionary signs along the way. I’ve been down this road before hopping on a plane and traveling out west for a weekend with a guy I only met just shy of a …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Lynn Kim Do

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“So there is actually a specific encounter with two strangers that I tell over and over again during formal dinners or drunken sloppy Happy Hours. It’s not my trip to Turks & Caicos or Paris or even Vietnam. It is actually an encounter in Baltimore. I tell it because it’s funny, dynamic, hopeful, involves a love story and someone dies. Okay, maybe not the last two. But all things considered, it could make a melodramatic scene in a movie. Haha. It was an underwhelming yet subconscious-changing event.  In the encounter, many things could have gone wrong. It was the trust between the parts — the individuals in this story — which made it utterly beautiful. This story began with a road trip I took last October when I turned 23. I wanted to travel but I didn’t have the funds, I wasn’t sure how long I could take off of work, and I was super superstitious about not making traveling plans during Mercury Retrograde. I decided to take my best friend’s advice – “If you …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Rose Chang

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“August 2008 — One of my best friends from childhood was getting married in Maui. I think this was the last trip I took where digital cameras were the norm, so all of my pictures and videos are burned on a CD (haha! tell that phrase to a 20 year old!!) somewhere. I’ve never been a huge picture taker anyways. I’ve always thought that what doesn’t stick in my memory just doesn’t deserve to be remembered. I challenge this theory more and more as I age, and it’s a discussion for another time. For now, I’ll describe the moments during this trip in which my memory dwells, and from which sensibilities linger.  So back to Maui, August 2008… Three girlfriends and I planned to attend the wedding together and spend some extra time traveling afterwards. The first few days we went fancy tourist: Gunning down beach side highways in a fire-red mustang convertible. A table setting with six different glasses at The Ritz for a bachelorette dinner party. The wedding was picturesque–on the beach at the …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Caroline Dignes

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“I started rock climbing about two years ago at the rock gym with my partner. Climbing in the gym feels very comfortable – the ceilings aren’t incredibly high, the gym associates do a belay check on you and your partner, the climbing path is clearly marked by following a set of matching colored plastic rocks to the top, and there’s an ocean of pleasant blue foam padding covering the floor. I am slightly afraid of heights, and that blue ocean is like a smiling friend. I didn’t join the rock gym with expert climber ambitions, I joined because climbing is a fusion of a social hour and fitness. At the end of a session, I had the added benefit of a completed workout.  The first time I climbed outdoors was unpleasant. I went climbing at Smith Rock State Park in Central Oregon. The rock there is volcanic tuff, a porous rock formed by the consolidation of volcanic ash. It looks like a black solidified sea sponge, but the tips of the air bubbles are prickly spines instead …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Nishad Avari

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“One of my most memorable adventures this year was trying to get off the island of Zanzibar! Not the worst place to be stuck, but still a mad, mad morning! It had been the most relaxing holiday, and I was sunburned and happy. We had booked ferry tickets the night before we had to leave, and even treated ourselves to ‘business class’. The next morning, we left the hotel to walk 15 minutes to the ferry terminal to pick up and pay for our tickets well in advance. Imagine our panic when we were told tickets booked online had to be picked up more than three hours in advance or they got cancelled! So, after wasting 40 minutes in line, we had no tickets and all the ferries were full. If we didn’t get on a ferry that morning, we would miss our flight to Nairobi and the connecting flight home from there, which really wasn’t an option. Sent from one counter to another, running around the whole terminal, we finally found someone who looked …

How To Have #Jetsetterproblems

Published by Khadijat Oseni

I often get asked the question, “How do you get to travel so much?” It’s inevitable but also one I have a hard time responding to. Why? Because I’ve made a conscious decision to see the world and committed to going. I do not come from a place of privilege where I hit a magic button and, “Voila!” I’m transported into the sky…a misperception many assume based on my experiences. I’m a middle class girl from Brooklyn who had a dream early on in life to see the world and wanted to make this dream a reality. I took this fiery passion and found ways to manifest this dream through various mediums. One way was working hard in school and getting a scholarship that would place me at a university (NYU – Go Violets!) that supported experiential learning and global exchange via study abroad options. Another way was making sure that I remained open to connecting with people from all different walks of life. In maintaining these relationships and being open, I have had the …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Freya Dowson

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“I would tell myself not to worry, adventure is coming and to just enjoy the moment and wait for it to arrive…When I was younger I used to wish for travel, to dream about it, and even though I did a lot of traveling as a child, I wanted to know that I would be able to continue to do it as an adult. But once travel is in your blood, it becomes part of who you are, and no amount of worrying about what the future will bring can change that. Now I travel the world, as a blogger and also as a photographer for not for profits and am loving every minute of it. I didn’t set out to have this career path, it feels more like it came to me – like it was always meant to happen…” – Freya Dowson // @nishaantishu   056/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project

Mid-life crisis 100 day project

Mid-Life Crisis Averted!

Published by Khadijat Oseni

The journey from 25 to 50 days of confessions was a spirited test of endurance. The continuous momentum I was able to gather at the beginning of my challenge with lining up subject after subject, who readily respected deadlines and the collaborative creative process, vanquished and I was left stuck and muddled in a path that only seemed to lead to frustration. I agonized about whether my questions were engaging enough…I wondered if I was too passive or assertive with follow-ups…I pondered about whether I was crazy for taking this task on in the first place… Yet, every time I questioned whether my project was effective with my initial intent of connecting, inspiring and redefining cultural norms through shared travel experiences, I was reminded of its significance via little nudges in the form of a kind note of appreciation from one of my subjects, inbox inquiries from strangers wanting to be part of the project and general enthusiasm over the idea popping up in water-cooler conversations. It became apparent that I didn’t have a choice …