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5 Sep '11

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I'm a New York native who left my home to explore the world slowly and thoroughly. I’m just a little obsessed with photography, scuba diving, and reading guidebooks to countries I have no immediate plans to visit.

Drags drone around Mexico for twelve weeks, flies $Drags drone around Mexico for twelve weeks, flies it once ¯\_(ツ)_/¯$

Be a mermaid, make waves 🧜🏻‍♀️🌊 We

Be a mermaid, make waves 🧜🏻‍♀️🌊

Well, my day yesterday took an unexpected turn! I booked and planned and fantasized a bunch of TRAVEL! Here’s what I worked on...

• Having been fully vaccinated (two week countdown is on, baby) and absorbed the amazing news about the accelerated timeline for the vaccine in the US, and the CDC’s exciting updated recommendations giving vaccinated folks their blessing to travel, I spent my afternoon fantasizing about making some last minute Memorial Day magic happen... AKA a reduced capacity domestic @wanderwomenretreats! Let’s see what shakes out... and if I’m brave enough to launch something so quick, ha!

• I did some info gathering for the amazing girls trip I’m taking back to Tulum in June. I can’t wait to be back in a Mexico! I mean, how could I, looking back on dreamy days like this one I spent in Tulum with @tulummermaid and @hotflashesandboardingpasses! I’ve spent ages in Tulum but still amazed at how many new experiences I’m going to have on this trip.

• I booked flights for July between some of my favorite US Islands — Martha’s Vineyard and the Florida Keys!

• I did some major bachelorette weekend research for @hotmessyoga in October in New Orleans (it’s going to be so good I screamed out loud with excitement at one point!)

Basically: TRAVEL PLANNING MODE UNLOCKED 🔑✨ We’re back, baby!

Stay tuned for more details on this potential trip! ☺️ Did you make Memorial Day plans yet? Any guesses where or what it would be?

Retreats update! 🤍 (Which, wow — so many of m

Fab news Friday! I originally had this whole capt

Fab news Friday!

I originally had this whole caption about TGIF (Thank God Imma Fish 🧜🏻‍♀️, obviously 😅) but... today’s news is so exciting I had to pivot.

Friends, the CDC has made it official: vaccinated Americans have their blessing to travel domestically and abroad, and do not require negative covid tests or quarantine to do so! (Other than when specified by local law, obviously.)

That loud noise you heard today was the entire travel industry putting their faces in their (thoroughly washed) hands and screaming with joy!

Now, there’s a caveat: as of now, you do still require a negative PCR or antigen test to board a flight to the US, however, as that legislation was based on now-outdated CDC guidance, I expect that to be updated soon. Oh and pack your cute masks because those are still part of CDC guidance regardless of vaccination status, friends.

There’s also been a big spotlight on the fact that the vaccine is extremely effective at reducing not just symptoms of but transmission of the virus — hence why so many countries are reducing or eliminating quarantine for vaccinated travelers.

The CDC has been so extremely cautious with their guidance, and the US news so overwhelmingly negative in their virus coverage (there have been actual studies about this lately!) throughout this pandemic, it’s almost a shock to see positive and hopeful headlines. It really feels like the dawn of a new day.

So, that’s the reason to celebrate today for everyone. The reason to cheers tonight for ME? I got a vaccine appointment this morning! Let’s DO THIS!

Okay so I’m curious! Have you gotten vaccinated yet? Will you? Does this CDC guidance change your perspective or opinion on travel right now? Can’t wait to hear from all of you!

PS: This photo was from such a beautiful day in a new-to-me cenote with my dear friend @tulummermaid, before a well deserved lunch of tacos on the beach. Can’t wait for the world to get back to making memories like these.

Cheers to... when it all falls apart 🥂🙃☀️

I took a week off Instagram and I wish I could say I return to you a new, zen-like being. To be honest, I had a pretty mentally overwhelming week. At one point I acknowledged I was almost physically vibrating with stress.

A quick summary of the situations rising to the top of triage: We officially had to delay our three Israel @wanderwomenretreats again, bringing them to two years from the date we meant to be, which broke my heart. Within the same week, four out of the eleven retreats we currently have launched or in active development had foundational cracks that I have had to basically start rebuilding from the bottom up to fix, which short circuited my mind.

I haven’t written on my blog in over a month, largely due to a professional issue I have yet to write about. I injured my shoulder and I’m stubbornly refusing to properly rest it, as usual. Oh, and I’m casually apartment hunting in New York City by day and staring at the ceiling wondering if I should go back to Mexico by night.

So yeah, things are swell 😛 But honestly, while in the past week I’ve burst into full sobs on a FiDi sidewalk, physically felt pain in my chest stressing on a Midtown subway and spent sleepless nights wondering what the hell I’m doing with my life in Bed Stuy, I’m also just... hanging in there. Working through some shit. Getting things done for the future. Knowing that it’s alright to not be totally alright. Embracing that this is a time of change and transition. Leaning into the certainty that things can and will get better, and even when it’s all falling apart... there’s plenty to cheers to.

So, here’s three! 🙏🏻 I’m now officially eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in New York 🙏🏻 2 out of the 4 bachelorette trips I’m planning this year are taking shape and they are literally going to be the most fun ever 🙏🏻 I tried a delish new salad place for lunch and ate outside in the sun — and got pomegranate seeds to put in my din 🙏🏻

In short: 🎢! Tell me what made your crazy day/week/month/year a little brighter, too! (Or, if that doesn’t resonate... tell me your secrets to achieving a more zen-like being. Please 😅)

Ultimate freedom ✨🌊🤿 Guys I’m having an

Ultimate freedom ✨🌊🤿

Guys I’m having an affair... with freediving! Fear not, scuba, you’re still my first and forever love. But wow, am I loving this new adventure.

I’ve been intrigued by freediving for years now but was always waiting for “the right time.” I realize now I think I was actually waiting for the right teacher, and I found her in @jewelsdiver!

Julie is the compassionate, knowledgeable and experienced instructor of my freediving dreams. I’m so excited to work with her moving forward on finally getting my official @paditv freediving and advanced freediving certifications after years of playing around tank-free underwater.

And of course, I can’t wait to partner with her on my upcoming @wanderwomenretreats Mexico trip, in which our pod of mermaids will leave with their freediving certification too!

While I am naturally comfortable in the water even just dipping my fin into this journey has made me realize the mental blocks I have around freediving — and I can’t wait to start tearing them down.

Our human bodies are so incredible and I love anything that helps me make mine feel more connected to this big blue planet.

Are you more of a scuba or a freediving kinda marine mammal?

🧜🏻‍♀️ Just keep swimming 🐠 Today w

🧜🏻‍♀️ Just keep swimming 🐠

Today was tough. I got some really hard news about a few of our upcoming retreats + SBA loans. Some was big sigh, not-the-answer-I-wanted kind of news, some was gut-punch, heartsick, hundreds of planning hours + application attempts down the drain kind of news.

I gave myself the subway ride to cry it out.

After walking in the door, I sat quietly and grounded myself with some mantras I’ve been coming back to a lot this year: I am resilient. I am capable. I am surrounded by solutions + love. The future is bright.

And then I pulled out my laptop + got back to work.

These photos feel perfect right now because they remind me that no matter what this year has thrown at me, I do just keep swimming. Can’t run retreats? No problem, plan for the future.

I spent my second research trip to Cozumel scuba diving, freediving, and mermaiding myself silly. I didn’t have a very clear picture of the retreat when I arrived but the pieces started to come together in a big way as I uncovered perfect sunsets, wild + remote beaches, pristine reef structures, hidden hipster cocktail bars, cute lil taco stands + even some real live mermaids.

When you book a @WanderWomenRetreats, you are booking more than just a trip. You are booking the years of experience that we cultivated in the dive industry, the thousands of dollars we put into yoga trainings, the relationships we’ve nurtured around the globe, the three weeks I spend exploring an island so you can have three perfect days there.

At any small business, you buy more than a product or a service. You buy hundreds of failures and experiments and tears shed on public transit. You buy weeks + months of frustrations and also pure moments of joy + happiness. You do not buy just a trip, you buy a piece of our hearts, our souls, and our lives.

And I humbly believe that having the opportunity to share that with you is just about the best job in the world — on the good days and even on the bad.

Times are tough for small businesses and entrepreneurs. For everyone, basically? But just keep swimming my friends. We are resilient. We are capable. We are surrounded by solutions and love. The future is bright.

Confession: I am a dive snob. Perhaps the better

Confession: I am a dive snob.

Perhaps the better word is jaded. I will give diving just about anywhere a chance and always try to look for what there is to love about any underwater world. But, I have been blessed to dive many beautiful places, and our oceans are changing quickly. I often arrive at fairly famous dive locations and think... gosh, that's it?

But W🐚W -- that was not the case in Cozumel. I was really blown away from pretty much my first breath underwater and it never let up! The coral formations here are absolutely incredible, as is the size and diversity of sea life you see on absolutely every dive.

I spent three days diving with @scubalifecozumel and know they are the first of many. They were one of the most organized dive centers I've had the pleasure of diving with, and were also incredibly COVID conscious, taking tons of care to keep their guests and staff safe and working and diving. Plus, their divemasters were awesome at leading dives with photography in mind (just follow their guide @n0rms for a daily dose of Cozumel magic!)

Cozumel has an incredible female dive community and on my final day I had the massive treat of being on a boat of all female divers!

In just six dives I saw an eagle ray, nurse sharks, the absolute largest turtle I’ve ever seen in my life (one of about a dozen we encountered), monster-sized lobsters and king crabs, new species of nudibrach, and more! What an absolute treat to have these gorgeous reefs in North America.

I was told that my timing was incredible, and that the reefs are in fantastic shape due to the lack of cruise ships for so many months. It makes me hopeful that this will inspire a new wave of efforts to curb the negative environmental effects of so many mega ships docking here per day in the future. After all, divers stay longer, spend more, leave a smaller footprint and contribute overall more positively to the island.

Have you been diving in Cozumel? Were you wow-ed?

Are you ready for the world to start spinning full

Are you ready for the world to start spinning full speed again? Like, really ready?

Recently I came across a message I sent a friend in the midst of Thailand’s lockdown where I said “I didn’t realize how important it was to me to put on earrings and drink overpriced cocktails with my girlfriends.”

Nearly a year later, I spend more days alone on my screens, and more nights alone on my couch than I ever did, pre-pandemic. In a way, it’s the life I moved abroad at 21 to escape.

And for the next decade I forged a life full of adventure. Late nights, early mornings, final boarding calls, first kisses, fresh passport stamps, old fashioned fun, big dream gambles, small business mistakes. It was wild, chaotic, and somehow both exhausting and nourishing at the same time.

Life is much smaller and slower, now. I’m taking time to do things I never had the space to do when I could barely catch my breath, let alone finally sit down and create an organized accounting system. I’m traveling less. I’m cooking more. I’m sleeping better. I’m checking off my to-do list rather than perpetually adding to it.

Recently I wrote out a list of goals for “how I want to feel on July 1st.” I don’t know why I chose that date as the arbitrary time I feel the world will be returned more or less to “normal.” Maybe because President Biden is aiming for July 4th for declaring independence from COVID. Maybe because it will be the kick off for a busy @wanderwomenretreats season. Maybe I just want it to be.

I simultaneously cannot wait for that day, and feel like I’m somehow “not ready.” Like wait, but I didn’t become fluent in a second language! Or write my novel! Or finish alphabetizing my guidebook collection! Or whatever. I have seen this conversation start to take place publicly, and it’s really made me pause and realize that even I too have my hesitations about diving straight back in to my old life.

So I have been reflecting on what I truly miss about The Before Times. (Continued in comments…)

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