- INTERVIEWED BY USA TODAY, THE DAILY MAIL (UK), THE NEW YORK TIMES and BLOOMBERG NEWS
- FREQUENT FREELANCE CONTRIBUTOR TO “INTERNATIONAL LIVING” and SHE HIT REFRESH
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- VIDEO INTERVIEW ON YOUTUBE ON “ADVENTURE FREAKSSS!”
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Hola. Bonjour. Ciao. Namaste. Welcome to my blog – thanks for joining me on my travels! I hope you learn, laugh and more importantly – go do stuff after reading this.
You’re probably wondering how this crazy life of full-time travel began…
In 2016 I took a leave of absence from my awesome job in Colorado as a national software and sales trainer and joined two friends to backpack an incredibly gorgeous and rugged 130-mile hike in Ireland – The Kerry Way. My very first through-hike! After that, I stayed in Europe for 3 more months and visited the Amalfi Coast and Greece with friends, then traveled solo (at age 55 for the first time EVER!!) to Portugal, Morocco and Spain, staying in hostels (for the first time EVER!!) and meeting people from all over the world.
I was a changed person… I returned to my job in Denver but couldn’t get the travel bug to stop biting. So…I planned and planned…and quit my job, left my husband of 32 years, and headed out the door with my trusty backpack in December of 2017 to continue traveling, spending 4 months exploring Southeast Asia: Laos, Cambodia, 
Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Nepal, and Bali. After my week-long trek in Nepal, I stopped in Pokhara, Nepal, turned on my Tinder app, and met the best travel partner a girl could want! “The Frenchman” Piu and I have been together for the past 6 years, traveling together as well as separately. We’ve explored over 20 countries on 6 continents, often paragliding there, as he’s a professional paraglider working summers in the Dordogne Valley in France.
That same summer of 2018, I got my first house-sitting gig – a two-month caretaker position in Tuscany at a haunted 15th-century villa.
When that ended I continued traveling – I kayaked in Croatia, hiked in Montenegro, floated in a hot air balloon at dawn in Cappadocia, paraglided over ancient burial sites in Madagascar, volunteered in an orphanage in Nepal, walked the Portuguese Camino, housesat in Australia on the Sunshine Coast, worked in a vineyard in New Zealand – and then…Covid.
I refused to let a pandemic stop me, so in the summer of 2020 I bought a VW campervan 
and headed east by myself, driving along the coast to Maine. I (safely and carefully) visited friends and family, drove along the Blue Ridge Highway, saw the Liberty Bell, frolicked with the wild swimming ponies of Chincoteague, did wine tastings at the vineyards in the Finger Lakes region in Upstate New York and stayed in Maine for a month, celebrating my 59th birthday in Acadia National Park.
In the fall I headed south of the border or warmer climes: Mexico. I enjoyed exploring Oaxaca, Taxco, Cuernavaca, Puerto Escondido, Guanajuato and Mexico City, renting a tiny studio apartment in Coyoacan – Frida Kahlo’s neighborhood -for a month, and then I headed to South America for the first time: to Columbia. In Medellin I spent 3 weeks in a Spanish immersion school and then adventured around for another month or so to Bogotá, Jardin, Salento, Jericó and more!
For the summer of 2021, I dusted off the VW van (her name is Tilly) and drove 7,000 miles on my own from Colorado through New Mexico and Arizona and up the West Coast to California, Oregon and Washington, thoroughly loving the Olympic and Hoh rain forests, the redwoods, Big Sur and so much more, and crossed by ferry to the San Juan Islands where I camped for a few nights.
Next came a month in the very interesting, delicious and welcoming country of Georgia and from there, a month in Cyprus exploring archaeological ruins, 
beaches and villages in the mountains; then Portugal for another visit – this time, to scout areas in Porto for finding an apartment… and to begin living there in October 2022. 🇵🇹
After living and loving and exploring the heck out of Portugal for almost a year and (finally!!) obtaining residency through their D7 visa, I pivoted…I packed up my apartment in Porto to travel full-time for a few more months – to Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Czechia, Poland, the Galapagos Islands and Ecuador.
After that, I moved to Umbria in January 2024 and spent 5 months living in a tiny hilltop medieval village, waiting to have my Italian citizenship recognized …and FINALLY got the coveted maroon EU passport!!
Wow! The things I’ve seen, experiences I’ve had, the people I’ve met and places I’ve been these past 7+ years of full-time travel have been amazing, educational, awe-inspiring, humbling and magical.
Join me as I learn, hike, drink wine, get lost, figure it out, drink some more wine, explore, take amazing photos and get lost again a few more times (it’s what I do!)
I’d love for you to follow me on Instagram and Facebook.
I post there pretty regularly – lots of pix and inspirational quotes to get ya out the door!
Thanks so much for finding me, following me and hopefully, picking up some valuable travel hacks on where to stay and how to save money, great ideas on where to go and how to make it happen!
Obrigada, merci beaucoup, madloba, dhan’yavada, gracias…
Cindy
🌎 🍷 🥾 🎒 🚐 📸 🚂 🪂 🍷 ✈️ 🌍
“For once you have traveled, the voyage never ends.”
Pat Conroy