Author: Confessions of a Jetsetter

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Dana El Masri

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“You need chaos to get to the depths of creativity but you need stillness to create. A perfect example for me, would be Cairo. Cairo is chaos incarnate! Upon arriving to this city, I always get a rush of energy, much like New York City. One memorable moment for me, was traveling to Fayoum last year, a small city two hours outside of Cairo. It’s practically an oasis lined with palm trees. There’s a small village called Tunis, where a potter named Evelyne settled over 40 years ago. Here, she taught the locals how to create their own pottery and live off their art. Upon my arrival to this village, I instantly felt at home. The stillness of the desert, the calmness of its people and the beauty that surrounded them inspired me deeply. Everyday they live and breathe their art. It was a reminder to stay humble and focus on what makes me happy. The scents that I came across – African violets, the scent of raw clay and Egyptian mimosas, were too beautiful to forget.” …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Anya Peters

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“There was a moment, in Marrakech, Morocco, that reassured and amplified my philosophy of feasting… One year ago, my sister and I went to work at the carpet shop she takes pictures for – measuring and documenting the thousands of carpets that are sold there. It was a long afternoon of holding up rugs while learning Darija (Moroccan Arabic dialect). We went in for lunch for a home cooked meal by Zoubida. We all settled into a small room lined with brightly colored, subdued and rich carpets on the floors, walls and rolled into stacks against the stairwells. A low round table was set out and my sister and I sat cross-legged on the floor with a bunch of Moroccan businessmen and merchants talking politics and agriculture, flowing in and out of Arabic to ask our opinions. Zoubida set before us the biggest tagine I’ve ever seen that smelled so divine. Loaves of semolina bread were broken and passed around the cipher. We dunked our piece of bread into the stewed tomatoes and they let us choose first which part …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Lili Lopez

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“2013, I was traveling across West Africa with my mom visiting family. Car rapides after car rapides, making key stops here and there, rediscovering our country like we’d never been here before. We curiously roamed with a different set of eyes, with a different sense of purpose. From Mali to Senegal, a little bit of Gambia, our trip quickly turned into a month. We now had 2 weeks left and Guinea-Bissau was our last stop. I could spend 10 more hours describing the village that welcomed us, but instead I’m just going to jump straight to the ending of this trip. For 10 days, they fed us, gave us a place to sleep, shared their bed, prepared “Ataya” for us, and taught us expecting nothing in return. “Let’s buy a cow for the village before we leave,” my mom said. To tell you the truth, even 10 cows wouldn’t have been enough to make up for their level of hospitality. The chief declined our offer at first, he is not the “give to get” type …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Austin Willis

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“Morocco…there’s still so much I want to see of the country. It’s refreshing to get away and kinda be off the grid and fully live in the moment. The food and people are amazing as well. The people of Morocco made me feel at home. I think it’s also due to the fact they thought I was Moroccan so I got a really unique perspective when I was there. A few people allowed me into their homes to meet their families and enjoy conversations about life over some delicious mint tea.“ – Austin Willis // @visualsbywillis   Photo by Hanif Castle    

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Eli Fola

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“I traveled to Montreal, Canada in 2014 for the first time ever with a band I used to be in. My band mates and I got to perform at a festival in Québec, Montreal, known as the Orientalys Festival. Québec is the French part of Canada and most people there don’t speak English. So, it was really difficult to communicate with the locals because I don’t understand or speak French and neither did any of my friends. Communicating with the audience we performed for was also a challenge due to the language barrier however, the trip was still an amazing experience. This particular journey was significant to me because I got to explore a city outside of my comfort zone and enjoyed so much amazing food. I tried Poutine for the first time and Oh My! Oh My! Haha, it was so delicious, I had to order more! The city was also super clean compared to New York and I got to hang out with locals and played on a big stage. The trip made …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Kamilla Sun

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“It’s hard to choose one specific memory! So many of them! Each trip has its unique, fascinating story: sad, funny, risky or inspiring. But, all of them have a similar trace. When I followed my intuition and was open in all these moments, I had the most incredible adventures. So I’ll just tell the first that comes to mind… In 2013, when I just broke up with my long-term boyfriend whom I lived with, I temporary moved to my girlfriend’s apartment and stayed there on a month-to-month basis until I figured out my next step. I was lost, confused, broke, didn’t like my job, and didn’t know what I wanted from life. Somehow I came to the realization that all my life, I’d actually never really known myself due to living under so many societal conditions and expectations. So, I was determined to reevaluate my whole life and what I wanted from it. One night, I went to dinner with a group of people and met this German girl named Maria. We connected right away …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Marrisa Wilson

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“In 2013, I lived in Paris for a semester in college. I was studying at the Mod’Spe International School of Merchandising and the Paris College of Art (formerly Parson’s Paris). There was a point in the trip when I was starting to feel lonely – this particular night I had called my mom a bit homesick and hitting a bit of a rut at this point during my stay. The next day, my best friend Nick and I went for a walk down Rue Saint-Honoré probably around 3 or 4 PM in the afternoon and we both got hungry. None of the restaurants were serving food at this time so we stumbled into a pastry shop called Rotin’s Home. I remember I had this delicious cheesecake and we both had tea. We both noticed that our server had those red high-top Margiela toe boots and we both gave each other a funny look. We finished our meal and went downstairs to thank the woman who seemed to be the owner. The man with the Margiela shoes came …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Deepa Paul

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“I am a product of two very chaotic and colorful cultures: Indian and Filipino. But after living in Amsterdam for five years, I was surprised to realize while packing my summer wardrobe for a trip to Sicily, that everything in my suitcase was black, white or gray! I keep it that way so it’s easy to mix and match. But color is too deeply rooted in me, so I always accessorize with a flash of color—bright red sandals, hot pink lipstick, a glittery bag. My outfits are comfortable and unfussy, but put-together and feminine. I wear a lot of dresses and skirts. I have always struggled with my weight, but when I became a mother, I finally embraced my body. I prefer outfits that subtly show off and hug my curves, without being explicitly sexual. My culture prizes femininity and modesty, so no matter how my style evolves I feel I will always have that in me.” Deepa Paul   About Deepa Paul Deepa Paul is the wanderer behind Currystrumpet, a blog filled with stories …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Raaja Nemani

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“I trekked in the Himalayas for two weeks in May 2009. Normally, people do this in large tour groups, but I ended up doing this alone with a guide named Prakash. Prakash and I got to know each other very well hiking for 12 hours a day and since I was on my own, at nights he would take me into the homes of various Nepalis and Tibetans who lived in the mountains to tell stories, drink rice wine/whiskey, and laugh … a lot. I learned that Prakash and I were the exact same age at that time, 27 years old. But while I was in the middle of a trip backpacking around the world, Prakash worked in the mountains 7 days/week so he could make enough money to send home to his wife and two kids in Kathmandu. Near the end of the trip, as we were descending, Prakash mentioned to me very casually that I was lucky. I asked him what he meant, and he said that I was lucky to be doing …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Sheena Sood

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“As a designer and color lover, every place I visit affects me creatively, professionally, and often personally. The art, people, textiles, street art, and food I experience inform my design work. Last year, I traveled by myself to Mexico City to visit a friend and to explore the city. Three moments from this trip stand out to me the most now. 1)   My visit to Casa Luis Barragán– the rich color palette of pinks, ochre, metallics, touches of blue glass, lots of wood and natural greenery, and the sense of zen that comes from being in such an impeccably designed space. My eyes were dancing for days after. 2)   A vendor selling these multi-color hand knotted bracelets on the street. The geometric rainbow patterns on each one were so mesmerizing to me and my fellow Libra friend that it literally took us both half an hour to choose about a dozen of them. Each one provides a perfect palette to inspire something to come. 3)   The insanely delicious, never-ending bowl of pozole I ate in …