Is this even real?!?!? My first blog post!

It has always been on my “to do” list to start a blog or some type of website to keep track of my travels however, I never thought I would actually get to it… but here we are! (I'm so freaking excited!)

As a lot of you already know, (mainly because I needed to vent 3 million times to begin the healing process), our jeep was broken into on our last night in Kelowna. I am completely devastated that this thief decided to take the one thing that was irreplaceable… my travel journal. They could have taken the wallet, the 2 laptops, the iphone, the cooler half full of booze, 10 bottles of wine, 2 sets of golf clubs, sunglasses, cash, shoes, etc. but instead, they happened to grab my small travel bag that held my travel journal, my dayplanner and a couple other small items like a pencil case, stickers, quotes that I had cut out for the journal, etc. All of these other items, including the backpack itself, appeared on the lawn of Revera the Dorchester, a retirement home, only a couple blocks away from where we were staying (Kelowna Inn and suites). Everything EXCEPT for the damn travel journal. (Ugh. How sad!) I have been praying to the travel gods to somehow get it back to me… it does have my name and phone number in the front cover so you never know right? But at this point, I have lost all hope.

This travel journal wasn’t just holding memories from Bali, it was from all of 2019. (Other big trips including South America, Mexico and Iceland were in there too.) I was extremely proud of this journal as I did my best to creatively scrapbook tickets, maps, photos of me and souvenirs that I had glued and taped into the pages. I was also keeping myself accountable when it came to my new years resolution and other 2019 goals. Looking into this journal and continuing to fill out the blank pages brought me so much joy that it still hurts my heart to think about!

Over the past few days, I have taken some time to reflect and really think about the situation. So many “I should have done this” scenarios playing through my head but I think finally, I am able to accept that it is gone. Luckily, I still can remain thankful to have photos and the memory of visiting these beautiful places. I was and still am devastated, to say the least, but I will, slowly, start to put the pieces back together as I make time to dig deep and to reminisce on the journeys I’ve taken so far in 2019. After chatting with a couple people, I really do believe this was the universe telling me to create a travel blog. This may have just been the push I didn’t know I needed to get started.

If I have to take anything positive from this situation, it is that I have the best support system ever! I am surrounded by so many amazing people who support me, who listen while I talk their ears off, who lend me their shoulders to cry on and who love me unconditionally. I am so grateful for my friends, family and the wonderful people I surround myself with.

So today, I launch my online travel blog to keep all my stories in one place and hopefully this will prevent anyone else from stealing my memories!

So, let’s do this! Thanks for reading! <3

RIP <3