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

I’ve been meaning to post an update like this fo

I’ve been meaning to post an update like this for a while. I think I’m the happiest and the healthiest I’ve been in a long, long time. My eyes quickly shift left to right as I tap this out with my thumbs - I don’t want to jinx it, or worse, create problems for myself that don’t exist. Hands up if you’re a self-sabotager too.

The past five years have been so hard for me, and probably for many of you. I lost close friends and family, a relationship I thought was forever imploded, I closed a business I put everything I had into. There is a whole year in there I don’t even remember! Hello trauma! I was as close to rock bottom as you can get. I shared a lot of this journey along the way in the hopes that it would make some of you feel less alone when you go through the worst moments of your life.

So often here we only see the polished, finished version of someone, not the mess. Well, I’m messy. I’ve always been messy. Even now, as happy as I can ever remember being, I’m still messy. My finances suck. I feel irrelevant in the social media space. I don’t really know what I want the next few years to look like. But you know what? I don’t care! I’ve over-cared for so long, now I feel free. I’m so happy on my own, with my friends. My give-a-fucks are on an extended vacation. If this is what being in your late thirties is like, ladies, let me tell you, it’s amazing.
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I met an old friend the other day at rock bottom now. When the life you’ve carefully built shatters, the pain, the heartbreak seems un-endurable( ugh men, do better). In fact, our pain tolerance is *nearly* limitless (the limit is getting lip filler, if you’re curious). But I’ll let you in on a little secret. They need us more than we need them. We are strong. We are built to claw our way up from those wells of despair. And when you crawl out again into the sunshine in your own, well, you’ll be unstoppable.

It’s that time of year again in New Zealand. If

It’s that time of year again in New Zealand. If only pumpkin spice was a thing here. As we slowly make our way through April, nighttime temperatures plummet, the frost begins, and the days become shorter. Winter is coming.
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Autumn evokes great nostalgia for me, and probably for many of you too. It reminds me of my of my childhood growing up in Virginia, playing in leave piles meticulously raked by my dad. Going to pick pumpkins and for turkey roasts around Thanksgiving and maple pancakes on the weekend. I went to university in Massachusetts, where fall is quite perfect in every way. Nothing beats an East Coast autumn.
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Here are some of my favorite shots of autumn in New Zealand over the years. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Swipe to the end for my picks for best places to experience autumn in New Zealand 🍂🍁🎃

It’s that time of year again in New Zealand 🍄

It’s that time of year again in New Zealand 🍄 Let me introduce you to New Zealand’s blue mushroom the world is obsessed with. The werewere-kōkako (Entoloma hochstetteri) looks like something out of a psychedelic dream - but it’s not!

New Zealand’s blue mushroom gets its Māori name, werewere-kōkako, from the color of the blue waddle on the endangered North Island kōkako, a native wattlebird. In one tradition, the kōkako brushed its cheek against the mushroom, giving its wattle the iconic blue color.

In fact, New Zealand’s blue mushroom adorns our $50 bill; we also hold the honor of being the only country with a mushroom on a banknote. Now that we’re rolling into autumn, head into native forest here and you might stumble across them. I’ve seen these guys all over the West Coast and Rakiura/Stewart Island. Have you spotted them in the wild?

Humpback whale waving hello 🐳 the puppy dogs of

Humpback whale waving hello 🐳 the puppy dogs of the whale world, humpbacks have pectoral fins that can grow up to 5 meters long and are around 1/3 of their body length. I’ve seen them exhibit all kinds of interesting behaviors down in Antarctica, as they’re by far the whale we see the most. This guy was slapping his fins around on the surface which generally people believe is a form of communication. I like to think they’re showing off for us, and hopefully not telling us to fuck off, but who knows? It probably has nothing to do with us at all.

One thing is not like the other 🐧👀 one lonel

One thing is not like the other 🐧👀 one lonely gentoo penguin amongst a sea of king penguins on South Georgia

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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
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A year of learning to let go

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