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A normal girl living her biggest, messiest dreams.

Get to know me

As seen on

These are my unfiltered adventures, musings and stories.
I talk about birds, coffee and overcoming personal fears too much.

60
ish countries
7
continents
10
odd years
Find me on or or I'll email you!

My recent adventures

black lives matter

The uprising we could all see coming – BLACK LIVES MATTER

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter” MLK Jr.

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10 epic South Island hideaways I’m yearning to get back to

Nothing heals the soul like a getaway to a beautiful place

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6 of the dumbest fights I’ve had with my partner in mandatory lockdown

Are you even in quarantine if you haven’t showered in a week?

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More adventures from the blog

My favorite stories

All the mean, nasty and godawful hateful things people say to me online

Guys, why do people troll on the internet? Why are blogger hate comments ...
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Solo and single in the most romantic place in the world

How glossy and polished is the travel industry today? Well, I suppose it's ...
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A broken robot: the face of a burnout

My whole life I’ve always been told that my face reads like an ...
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More inspirational stories

Where I screwed up big time

That one time I crashed a scooter in Bali

A week ago I found myself upside down in a ditch full of ...
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Getting Naked in Istanbul

**Warning this post borders on the TMI, but I thought it was too ...
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This might be my funniest story of all time

Guys, the funniest thing happened to me the other day. Now, I know I ...
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More confessions
World Map
Iceland
New Zealand Road Trip Part 1
New Zealand Road Trip Part 2
Australia
Spain
Canada
Finland

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youngadventuress

American in New Zealand. Cynical but kind. Nature frother & #birdnerd. Friend of kākāpō and the girl with the whales 🐳 it’s all on my blog ⬇️

Liz Carlson☀️Young Adventuress
For the past couple of days I’ve been struggling For the past couple of days I’ve been struggling to find the words to articulate my thoughts the movement for equality in the US. I was afraid to say the wrong thing, I was afraid of saying something that could be perceived as racist, so I just didn’t say anything MEANINGFUL. . But then the realization hit - this isn’t about me. MY silence is just as bad than any words of outward racism. In the silence of the white moderate, of white girls just like me, lies the true killer. This silence in which I have been complicit, is what has allowed POC to be persecuted, hurt, threatened and killed for centuries. . I’ve been breathing the air of racism my entire life. I am racist. We are all either racist or actively anti-racist. There is no middle ground. Just like the 3 policemen who stood by and watched Derek Chauvin kill George Floyd and did nothing, we cannot stand by and continue to be silent while our fellow humans are dying. As the great and indomitable Maya Angelou once wrote - “do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” . I won’t be patronizing and say “I see you, and I hear you." Fuck that. Who cares? It means nothing. Instead I’m committing to show the fuck up alongside POC to upend the system (in which I’ve been complicit) that intentionally suppress basic human rights. . When your government fails you, you dissent. When your nation kills you, you fight back. When your country doesn’t follow its own constitution to provide “equality before the law,” you hold them accountable. When your “leader in chief” threatens violence, you vote him out. This doesn’t end with protests. This ends when black people and POC live and are treated equally and with dignity. . Are you committed to showing the fuck up too? Art by @jitterbug_art . @bailproject @aclu_nationwide Communities United Against Police Brutality Campaign Zero @thelovelandfoundation . #justiceforgeorgefloyd #justiceforahmaudarbery #justiceforbreonnataylor #revolutionnow #blacklivesmatter #defundthepolice
Hashtag New Zealand 🐑 . #nzmustdo #newzealand # Hashtag New Zealand 🐑 . #nzmustdo #newzealand #canterbury #christchurch #bankspeninsula #akaroa #sheep #sheepjokes
I don’t know about you guys, but I often feel pu I don’t know about you guys, but I often feel pulled in different directions. My heart yearns for different paths at the same time. As you can imagine, this often leads to quite a bit of indecisiveness as I hang out in limbo, stuck and afraid of going in the wrong direction. . Over the years I believe my inclination for loitering in a place of uncertainty has led me towards a whole heap of anxiety. But what if I do this and fail? What if I go in this direction and it’s the worst? What if I mess up and ruin my life? Isn’t it better to just play it safe? Then I can’t get hurt. My wounded inner child just wanted to feel safe, and I get it. . Over the years this niggling voice in the back of my mind grew and grew, to the point it began to cripple me. Only after I suffered loss, pain, heartache and hurt anyways, did I realize that it couldn’t kill me. In fact, there’s strength in risk and choice. Courage comes from feeling that fear, acknowledging it, and doing it anyways. . For years I’ve felt like I was sleepwalking though my life. My choices were so often ruled by dread instead of excitement. How ironic, the girl who became so well known for being “adventurous” is deep down actually really frightened. I understand her now but also I’ve woken up too. . We will always be presented with choices, this path or that path, that future or this one. Now is the time to lean in and chose and to learn to be content with that. Whichever way you go is the right way. Unless it’s drugs, or crime or voting for Trump. Then I’m here to tell you, pull yourself together. . Be kind to yourself, greet your inner fears, and carry on down whichever path you picked, confident in your choice and, I suppose, in yourself.
#DeBeersGroupPartner - “We are the first generat #DeBeersGroupPartner - “We are the first generation to feel the effect of climate change and the last generation who can do something about it." This quote from Obama is one of my favorites, and it helps drive me in my choices and actions of what I can do to be proactive about saving our planet. We are facing a world no one in our lifetime has experienced. Everything has changed, and priorities have shifted. And unfortunately as global economies suffocate, one of the first initiatives to get cut is sustainability. . Preventing and halting climate change is both absolutely vital and also SO difficult to comprehend. It’s become magnified to such a degree that even when I, a passionate conservationist, hear the words climate change, my reactive mind at first thinks “Woah way too big, way too complicated. I can’t do anything. I’m just one person.” . Interestingly enough, one business that taught me so much about the power of choice in commerce is the De Beers Group. Since 2016, they have been promoting and funding ground-breaking research to explore how kimberlite (the rock in which diamonds are found) can actually trap and store carbon emissions - a naturally occurring (but slow) process. After all, diamonds are made of carbon. . By researching how to utilize waste materials effectively for something so profoundly positive in partnership with top climate change scientists, De Beers Group is not only reducing their environmental footprint but also inspiring and aiding other mining companies to do the same. This CarbonVault initiative is just one piece of the puzzle as @DeBeersGroup works to minimize their carbon emissions. Even during lockdown, their dedicated team of scientists works from home, exploring how they can continue to reduce their carbon footprint. . Real change comes from innovation and collaboration. How incredible would it be that recovering diamonds from the earth leads to help to protect it? . #ad #DiamondsDoGood #BuildingForever #EarthDay
Forever obsessed with being cozy 🍂 . Check out Forever obsessed with being cozy 🍂 . Check out my wee inflatable air beam bud glamping tent from @lotusbelletents decked out with my favorite sheepskins from @wilsondorset, two of my fave kiwi brands ❤️ As the world changes, I really really hope that New Zealand continues to foster and support local businesses. More than ever it’s so important to consider where to drop your dollars, and I’m really thinking a lot about supporting my friends. Every single day I thank my lucky stars I’ve been allowed to live in such a wonderful country who cares about its people in a meaningful way. Here, you really feel looked after, like the country has your back. That feeling of security is priceless to me. . With the new financial packages, not only have we received quick government subsidies, but also there’s some really cool loans and grants available to keep people going. I’m not a financial expert by any means, but here it feels like we are being helped from the bottom up, that each individual actually matters. . For example, last week I applied and received an epic small business loan that I’m planning to use towards getting a personal side project (that brings me so much joy) it off the ground. In many ways it feels like now is the time to take a fucking risk and try something new here. In fact, I’m not sure I would have ever done this if it wasn’t for COVID. . What’s the worst that could happen? You fail at trying to do something you love? Who cares? Failure is a teacher, messing up gives you experience! Go for it! Once you’ve failed at something, it’s not really scary anymore. Why not try something new? . #nzmustdo #wilsonanddorset #wanaka #newzealand #takerisks #covid #coronavirus
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Who is Young Adventuress?

Hi, I'm Liz, and I got my first taste for traveling when I was 16 years old. On my own, 12 years and 50 something countries later, my wanderlust has only grown and the list of countries I want to visit longer. After living in Spain for the past few years and returning home for a stint, I then quit my job and moved to New Zealand and I've been here ever since. Follow my misadventures as I wander, eat, and photograph my way around the world

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