All posts tagged: travel

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Rachna Hukmani

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“My younger self did not really believe in miracles. To her I would say just let go. Believe that opportunities have a way of presenting themselves and that I am somehow always protected. My first day in NYC and the U.S. was 9/11. It completely changed me (and everyone who experienced it for that matter!). I was scheduled to be at the World Trade Center that day and miraculously missed the train that would have situated me there right when the towers fell. My sister and I missed that train by 3 seconds. I still get goose bumps thinking about it. I am so grateful and in awe of how every opportunity since then has paved the path for me to find creative ways to travel to new places safely. Each trip reveals clues about what I am meant to be doing which is to create something of my very own that hopefully inspires. This is what my company Whiskey Stories is to me. A  form of self-expression that tends to evolve naturally on its …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Maurizio Zatachetto

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“Definitely New York has been significant with how I now perceive the world. There is no other city like it. I had this fascinating feeling that I would somehow find the missing portion I was always looking for to allow myself to freely be the real me. When I first arrived, it wasn’t easy like most people can imagine. But after a short period of time, everything changed, changed me both as a man and as a creative. There’s such an amazing alchemy in that city. A kind of environment that I’ve only ever experienced there.” – Maurizio Zatachetto    

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Erick Hercules

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“I’ve had the battle between stillness and chaos be primary subjects in my head – artistically speaking – even before I learned to distinguish them both apart in my photographs. Growing up, I was always drawn to images that depicted still backgrounds combined with a subject “on the move”. Stills with people running, looking back, jumping, or even walking were always more thrilling to me than a simple picture of someone standing still.  After attending music school, I realized I might have found a link between “action” in an image and why I was so interested in them.  In music, a “cadence” is the end of a musical phrase. It is the end of a sentence. Where the notes finally return home. Where everything is finally at peace. But before that cadence, music is always at unease. That’s what makes music so appealing. Your ear is waiting for music to return back “home”. An image with movement causes the same effect. There is an untold story told in one frame. What happened before? What will happen …

6 Real Life Lessons from Adult Summer Camp

Published by Khadijat Oseni

A few weeks ago, I was invited by uber-cool blogger, Kelley Louise of The Culture Collective, to be participate in the inaugural weekend of Camp Shock Top, an adult summer camp in partnership with Camp No Counselors and California brewery, Shock Top, with the simple motto of “living life unfiltered” while retreating back to childhood shenanigans with a host of strangers in the heart of The Adirondack Mountains. Here are notes from this nostalgic, pop-culture laden trip w/ a boozy twist… Summer’s here and the official adult in me envies every kid that easily yelled, “School’s out!” and cast all responsibilities aside until the fall. Instead, with 100+ emails sitting in my inbox queue, I’m contemplating the meaning of life while trying to devise an ultimate life hack that will bring back the glory days of being a kid with the added benefits of not being told what to do. Luckily, in comes Camp Shock Top, the latest adult summer camp collaboration with Camp No Counselors that’s aimed at bringing back that old loving feeling of …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Laurs Kemp

Published by Confessions of a Jetsetter

“I moved to Portland from Arkansas in 2012 to launch my clothing line and seek out more creative opportunities with like-minded people. There is such a rare atmosphere of collaboration and encouragement in the Portland arts and fashion community. My collaborations with all the amazing female artists and makers in Portland is truly one of my biggest inspirations and influences. I became the designer-in-residence at a Portland shop called Backtalk, where the owner Katie Freedle exclusively features the work of independent designers. In my year at Backtalk, I was able to develop my line and meet so many amazing collaborators. One of my favorite collaborations was a photo shoot I had at Backtalk using local photographer Hillary Boles for my most recent collection. This collection was inspired by the 1991 arthouse film, A Little Stiff, 1980s Japanese minimalism, and the song, Yama Yama, by the Yamasuki Singers. In fact, I titled the collection Yama Yama. For models, I reached out to the gorgeous Kassala Holdsclaw through Instagram, and I also used my all-time favorite muse, …

Postcards from the Edge

Published by Khadijat Oseni

Dignity above all else speaks volumes. Inside our hearts, we are all born kings and queens… Spotted this underserved king on the streets of Varanasi and was instantly moved by his regal stature. I decided to not focus on his eyes because his struggle is not mine to interpret. But, observing him within this moment gave me an undeniable sense of calm about whatever was to come and his stillness was as vibrant as the noise within the streets… xo KO   Varanasi // Uttar Pradesh, India   Instagram | Twitter  

An Introvert’s Guide to Travel

Published by Khadijat Oseni

Fun Fact: I’m an extroverted introvert…the worst kind possible because no one begs to think we exist. I’m equally fueled by human interaction as much as I am easily drained by said social interactions. A little part of me dies whenever I have to commit to plans, peel myself off the couch, say bye to my #bae, Netflix to head outside and interact with people…especially lots of random people! Once I get out of my own way and dart into the world, I of course couldn’t imagine a life without exploring but the steps getting there can be quite treacherous depending on my mood. I’ve found that one of the best remedies comes from building in mini breaks between commutes to fully recharge before immersing in social situations. Here are some fun ways that I’ve found helpful with hanging onto “me-time” while navigating through various points of my journey… OVERSIZED HEADPHONES Not only made for blocking out the wails of screaming babies, oversized headphones are also a stylish way of placing a visual do-not-disturb sign …

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 …

The Road Home: Marching from Selma to Montgomery

Published by Khadijat Oseni

One plane. Two feet. Three breaths. Four different thoughts flickering back and forth like a light bulb spiraling out of energy. Step after step after step definitions of purpose circle my brain as I move from point A to B, trepidation to resolve. I had been tapped by the State of Alabama and the National Park Service to partake in their 50th Anniversary Walking Classroom where 300 people from across all U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, would congregate and reenact the historic Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights – 54 miles for five days straight. We would learn and document firsthand experiences from some of the original foot soldiers, like Dr. Bernard Lafayette and Dr. Frederick D. Reese who walked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1965, and I was afraid of debasing a legacy that made relatively cold, still gravel appear like shiny rose petals beneath my feet. This was holy ground, and I was sullied in this matrimony of thought as freedom of choice is something that I’ve tasted all my …

Candid Chats w/ KO

Published by Khadijat Oseni

Last year at BlogHer15’s Experts Among Us conference in New York City, I met fellow blogger, Liv of Unbelievably Human and we connected on travel and life experiences. I invited Liv to be a part of my #100DaysofConfessions project and she equally had a few questions of her own for me regarding thoughts on travel and self-love. View our candid conversation below! Has travel always been apart of your background? or Did something call you to Travel? Travel has always been in my genes and from birth I’ve been nomadic due to having parents from different cultural backgrounds creating a delicate tight rope between America and Africa. Tracing where I was born and raised always turns into a geography lesson of sorts with the most frequent stints in California, New York and Nigeria so roaming has always been a natural extension of who I am at my core. However, despite my frequent movement as a child, I truly didn’t appreciate the character growth that stems from travel until my junior year in college when I …