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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.

100
ish countries
7
continents
14
odd years
Find me on or or I'll email you!

My recent adventures

A big life update: join me in the Arctic

Let me help your travel dreams come true by connecting you with an Arctic adventure

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Takaka: a golden getaway to Golden Bay

This remote corner of New Zealand packs a punch

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How the Heaphy Track become my new favorite Great Walk

Predatory snails, prehistoric-looking rare birds, and a flat track? Count me in!

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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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Join me on Instagram @YoungAdventuress

youngadventuress

Solo female traveler ✈️ Author of “Houseplants & Design” 🪴 Polar expedition guide ❄️ “one of the most powerful women in travel” - Condé Nast Traveler

Liz Carlson☀️Young Adventuress
I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Greenland ma I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Greenland many times over the past few years, as well as work alongside and become friends with many Greenlanders // Kalaallit. Sure, it’s beautiful, with picturesque towns, lots of stunning glaciers and the occasional polar bear or two. But the best part of Greenland? It’s people 🇬🇱

For thousands of years they’ve walked these lands and sailed these waters. It existed long before Vikings and the Danes got involved and it will endure long after whatever this nonsense is happening now. Greenland is not for sale and belongs to no one except its own people.

Thanks @tomcochrane for this pic from Assaqutaq and @adventure.canada for taking me here ❤️
Just a regularly scheduled update that Greenland i Just a regularly scheduled update that Greenland is not for sale 🇬🇱 and belongs to no one except Greenlanders ❤️
For the past three years, I’ve spent half of the For the past three years, I’ve spent half of the year at sea in the Arctic and Antarctic. I didn’t grow up by the water or have some early childhood fascination with boats, but somehow I’ve fallen in love with wild seas. I love the stories of early explorers surviving against impossible odds and indigenous seafarers navigating by the stars and the swell. 

Being a book nerd, bracing myself against big winds when I’m driving boats or hopping nimbly from shore to sea or even just tying knots doesn’t come naturally to me. But I love learning and growing and improving, and I love sharing my passion for polar places with others and that makes it all worth it ❤️
2025 was pretty neat 😍 Thanks @tomcochrane for 2025 was pretty neat 😍

Thanks @tomcochrane for some cheeky shots ❤️
Dreams really do come true ❤️ so proud of the Dreams really do come true ❤️ so proud of the work I’ve done for @lonelyplanet recently including three covers and helping to write the latest Lonely Planet New Zealand 💙
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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

  • A big life update: join me in the Arctic
  • Solo female travel in your thirties? It’s so much better than you think
  • All eyes on New Zealand’s most spectacular aurora in decades
  • A year of learning to let go

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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