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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

6 things no one tells you about US taxes as an expat

Spoiler alert – it can be quick and easy!

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A summer’s day amongst the vineyards of North Canterbury

Show me the Reisling!

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25 photos that will inspire you to visit the Nelson Tasman

Like we even need photos to inspire us to visit the home of the Abel Tasman?

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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
Roads through Iceland
Iceland
New Zealand Road Trip Part 1
New Zealand Road Trip Part 2
Australia
Spain
Canada
Finland

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Join me on Instagram @YoungAdventuress

youngadventuress

Mother of plants @node.nz 🌿 Nature frother & #birdnerd 🐧 Friend of kākāpō and the girl with the whales 🐳 let’s help save them here ⬇️

Liz Carlson☀️Young Adventuress
Just a girl who loves trees! . One of my favorite Just a girl who loves trees! . One of my favorite things about the west coast of the South Island is the lush forest. A temperate rainforest, the land here is earthy and damp, and home to the very last bastions of ancient native New Zealand forest. . As you meander along the one main road that snakes its way along the @westcoastnewzealand coastline, you’ll find walls and walls of big ferns- one of my favorite views. The woods here make you feel small and young. If you close your eyes and hear the birdsong, you could almost be on another planet! . #westcoast #westcoastnz #nzmustdo #newzealand
My favorite time of year 🍂 and the best colors My favorite time of year 🍂 and the best colors are always around @centralotagonz 🍇🍷🍁 . #centralotago #otago #cromwell #centralotagonz #nzmustdo #newzealand
West coast best coast ❤️ . Recently I spent a West coast best coast ❤️ . Recently I spent a week over on my beloved @westcoastnewzealand, visiting old friends and checking out new places. This quiet but stunning corner of New Zealand holds a big place inside my heart, and it’s a place I deep down dream of living in one day (@giuliosturla let me know whenever you’re ready to make a move 😆) In fact, it’s a place I love so much I often DON’T share my favorite spots or secret getaways. But I want to change that now. . The wild west coast calls me back again and again, and when I learned how much of a hit they took with the border closures and COVID19, my heart hurt. So many friends and people I consider family depend on tourism there (that or coal 😭) and I really want to inspire those of you who live in New Zealand to come and check it out. . This is a radically honest post, and I want to shamelessly influence all of you to consider the @westcoastnewzealand for your next getaway. It’s not as far as people might think either! You can fly to Hokitika or it’s only a few hours (of a totally epic) drive from Wanaka or Queenstown. Beaches, rainforest, glaciers, mountains, lakes and of course, lots of native birds, make the west coast SPECTACULAR ❤️ can’t wait to start sharing more soon. . #westcoastnz #westcoast #newzealand #nzmustdo #foxglacier
Fig season is my favorite season in New Zealand 😋 . I couldn’t tell you when, but somehow into adulthood, I’ve become obsessed with figs. Maybe because they ready just as autumn gets into full gear, which is my favorite season. Maybe it reminds me of travel times gone by and exotic places. Maybe it’s some kind of childhood nostalgia for fig newtons in my school lunches. Who know? 🤘 . All I can say is that this is an amazing time of year. On Saturday my friends at @oldroadestate who fuel my fig addiction (and @giuliosturla’s and his daughters’ feijoa addictions) are doing a wee pop-up at Riverside Market in Christchurch. Come say hi ✌🏻 #figfigfig
☀️GIVEAWAY☀️ . Who else dreads tax season ☀️GIVEAWAY☀️ . Who else dreads tax season as much as me? Lucky for us, the IRS has extended our filing deadline til May 17th whoop whoop! For the past few months I’ve been working with @myexpattaxes to get tax compliant and even getting stimulus check, something I thought I had missed out on! Navigating the US tax system as an expat is nothing if not tricky 😬 . I’ve been an American expat living overseas for over a decade, most of which has been spent here in New Zealand. Join me over on the @myexpattaxes’ Instagram Stories today as I share some behind the scenes of expat life in beautiful New Zealand - spoiler alert, it’s awesome! . I’m excited to have a wee giveaway of one of the MyExpatTaxes Base Packages which helps you file your taxes in minutes! To enter it’s pretty simple: . ☀️follow @myexpattaxes on Instagram ☀️follow me @youngadventuress on Instagram ☀️where’s your dream country to live in? ☀️tag an expat friend in the comments! . We’ll pick a winner next week
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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

Get Inspired

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  • Let me introduce you to NODE

Featured Stories

  • My big issue with fear and travel
  • The best hate I got in 2015
  • The Story of the Kākāpō + Giveaway
  • Why Experience Still Matters

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