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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

Dunedin’s hidden forest retreat is utterly divine

Excuse me while I sit back, relax and admire the gardens for days

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How Switzerland is leading the way for women in the outdoors

We need more female role models in the mountains

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New Zealand’s quirkiest museum is full of mystery (and bones)

Curiosity killed the cat. Or did it?

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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 🐳 It’s all in my blog ⬇️

Liz Carlson☀️Young Adventuress
Stillness and serenity, two things I am always sea Stillness and serenity, two things I am always searching for in our busy world, yet so often beyond my reach. Except of course when I’m on New Zealand’s West Coast 🌿 where you can find both in abundance. . Lake Matheson was a quiet place when I first visited in 2013 and now once again it sits in all its perfect loneliness til a blogger comes along and hangs out “oohing” and “ahhing” for hours til the sun disappears and she realizes she left her headlamp in the car 😭 . When you find quiet places try and slow down and soak it in. And if you’re seeking stillness too, I can’t recommend the @westcoastnewzealand enough 🙏🏻 . #lakematheson #foxglacier #nzmustdo #newzealand #westcoast #westcoastnz
Girl in Glacier ❄️ @foxglacierguidingnz @westc Girl in Glacier ❄️ @foxglacierguidingnz @westcoastnewzealand . I don’t know about you guys, but even after ten years in New Zealand, I LOVE it when kiwis say the word “glacier.” It sounds so posh to us yanks. Glas-ee-uh. Like “classier” but with a “g” and, well, with a lot more class too 💁‍♀️ . Sure; I might have gone full native with my flippant use of words like “bin” and “rubbish” and I say “garage” and “Nissan” like a true Cantabrian, but even I, with all my bravado, have yet to say “glacier” like a local, even though I spend a good amount of time on glaciers. I just don’t think I can pull it off. . If you’ve followed this incredible stream of consciousness caption, I’m so proud. Thank you. And if you find yourself in New Zealand, make sure you visit one of our 3,000 quickly-dwindling “GLAS-EE-UHS”, especially Fox Glacier which is both my favorite and most easily accessible over on the west coast. Over and out MAH DAH-LINGS. (I swear I’m done being posh now) please someone stop me 🤪 . #foxglacier #glacier #westcoast #westcoastnz #nzmustdo #newzealand
PSA to all my fellow American expats overseas ❤️ today’s the last day to file taxes as an expat OR if you’re me, file for an extension - check out @myexpattaxes to see exactly how! Procrastination has always been my jam, and I can believe how quickly these dates snuck up on me! Can you relate? #myexpattaxes
19,512 kilometers away. That’s the geotag that s 19,512 kilometers away. That’s the geotag that shows up beneath this image as I type out this caption with my thumbs. Spain takes up a lot of space in my heart and in my memory as I place where I’ve spent many years of my life, learning and growing. It’s a place I return to every June, and it’s a place I miss very much. 19,512 kilometers away from a second home. . Last week I made a tortilla de patata and listened to Alejandro Sanz for hours, lost in memories of my early morning walks to school, tap tap tap on the old cobblestones of Córdoba in very unpractical shoes. My old students would be horrified to see how casual I dress now in New Zealand. Makeup is a monthly occurrence these days ¿Quién me va a curar el corazón partió? 19,512 kilómetros de distancia entre este corazón y el otro que lo he dejado de bajo de los árboles andaluces. . Some of my most formidable years were spent in Spain. My blog began here, my confidence developed here, my youth evolved here. I miss it so much. 19,512 kilometers is so far yet perhaps becomes closer every day. Espero verte pronto ❤️
“It's not the mountains we conquer but ourselves “It's not the mountains we conquer but ourselves,” Kiwi icon Sir Edmund Hillary once spoke about Everest, a totally unrelatable experience to many of us, that yet, somehow, is also totally relatable. . As someone who climbs (much smaller) mountains, this phrase resonates with me on a million levels. I go to nature to challenge myself, to find strength and build resilience, and in many ways, to feel so completely human in a world that has become much less human. Inspiration comes to me from my friends, and from people who seem real and relatable, tackling the difficult and finding triumph. I’m especially inspired by women doing hard things. . Let’s be honest here, the great stories of alpinism and mountaineering are dominated by men. But truth be told, women have been kicking ass on the mountains for hundreds of years, all while wearing wool skirts and getting no recognition for it. @myswitzerland is aiming to change that by creating NEW female mountaineering role models. . As part of their initiative to inspire women in the outdoors, Switzerland has launched the COOLEST project - 100% Women Peak Challenge, where all 48 of Switzerland’s 4,000 meter high mountains will be climbed by women’s-only teams from now til October - and you can join in too (excuse me while I figure out how I can get myself over to Europe for this). . Let’s get more women on top of mountains! . #peakchallenge #inlovewithswitzerland #switzerland #myswitzerland #zermatt #matterhorn
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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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Featured Stories

  • My big issue with fear and travel
  • The best hate I got in 2015
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