All posts tagged: explore

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Max Chavelev

“I fell in love with capturing street art once I started to learn the artists’ names and get an appreciation for their individual styles… It’s all about the thrill of the hunt…whether it’s circling your work turf, or heading to new streets, it’s the same urge that drives me: Today I will find something new; something great!  Having that experience and being able to share it with others gives me a high each time… It was one of those days when I knew that I would find something special…My meanderings took me far away from work…One more turn, I kept telling myself and as I  was passing by a church yard, where lunch was being served, I saw the most striking mural I have ever seen…There was a sense of serenity to it, a sense of awe…This piece by Jules Julien remains one of my most memorable finds to date…” – Max Chavelev // @maxchavelev   036/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project

Katya Arsenieva-Jetsetterproblems.com

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Katya Arsenieva

“I was packing to go to Prague but ended up in Egypt. You would think that the most memorable part of my trip was seeing the Pyramids or acquiring a scar from sunburn that left me basically paralyzed for two days or stepping on a sea urchin but nope, that’s not the case! Don’t get me wrong, all of these memories are dear to my heart and I would not change them…and they were just a small portion of the beauty, frustration and hilarity that ensued throughout this trip! But when someone asks me about my trip, the first thing that comes to my mind is the night we drove 4x4s into the Sahara Desert, shut them down and just laid on their rooftops. I will never forget how amazing and insignificant I felt being surrounded by the sky, stars and the dessert with nothing else for miles and miles…When you are faced with such infinite space, you realize that you’re just one of the little dots that lives within the whole universe…” – Katya Arsenieva …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Brianne Miers

“Even though I’ve never really had a lot of money – with school loans, going to graduate school full-time and working mostly for non-profits – I’ve always made travel a priority. For as long as I can remember, I’ve preferred to spend what money I do have on new experiences instead of material possessions. This philosophy has allowed me to see a lot of the world, meet a lot of fascinating people and make a lot of memories that will keep me smiling well into old age – from sharing a seat with an armadillo on a bus in Belize to drinking wine on the banks of Seine with a handsome Parisian man. On the flip side, I drive a 2003 Honda Civic.” – Brianne Miers AKA @brimiers   015/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Les Franklin

“The best adventures to me or rather the ones I enjoy most are unpredictable…I’m a rather impulsive person so there are days when I’m in my car heading nowhere in particular and I’ll see a spot in the trees that looks “picturesque” and I’ll pull over and take a walk if weather and traffic permits… It’s been times when I’ve been on my way to a friend’s and I’ll get sidetracked walking down a train track or through a small forest…What sparks my curiosity most is going towards a place I’ve never been, seeing an area that’s unfamiliar to me… In my favorite movies during death scenes, the people who love the character the most always attempt to pull him or her back from the light…You know your experience, your full life over and then you’re given a tunnel with a light towards which to follow…In life, I like to take those tunnels and attempt to reach that light that’s ahead before time escapes me…” – Les Franklin AKA @l.franklin     014/100 of #100DaysofConfessions …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Meghan McNeer

“I have been known to be a road trip warrior in my day – two way tie for the craziest…Just recently, after being overserved at a wedding the night before, 5 of my friends and I piled into a car outside of Dublin. I drove on the wrong side of the road (it was my first time that weekend!) all the way to the Cliffs of Moher…  We thought it was like 2.5 hours away, it was definitely closer to 6! The drive was visually stunning and I wouldn’t redo it any other way. But after 50 minutes in the spitting rain at the cliffs, as 6 wet cats, we piled back into the car and drove straight back to Dublin. We did stop into a charming pub that let us dry our outside layers over the fire and have a world class chowder! The other time – when I was driving in the south outside Charleston on a Sunday and ran out of gas in the middle of the night on the side of …

#The100DayProject-Khadijat Oseni

#The100DayProject w/ The Great Discontent & Elle Luna

One of my greatest joys as a travel blogger and cultural curator is connecting on the road with others and sharing stories from perspectives that often go unrecognized. When I stumbled across #The100DayProject Instagram initiative rekindled by artist/designer, Elle Luna and The Great Discontent Magazine, I knew there was no doubt but to submerge myself into this intensive, creative pool of possibilities. This action proves to be a timely Spring reminder of working towards purging unproductive procrastination (not all procrastination is created equally :)) and further combining my love of travel, community and story-telling via developing more glimpses into my “Confessions of a Jetsetter” series. I’ll be interviewing fellow explorers across various creative disciplines and sharing 100 different travel confessions starting today April 6th and ending July 14th! If you’d like to be featured as one of the 100 people I’m attempting to profile, feel free to contact me and I’ll send over a random question for us to collaborate on! Shy?! No worries! Come along for the ride anyway as well as take up …

Star Hopping: A Cross Cosmos Trip with NASA

As a travel blogger from Bed Stuy, Brooklyn with a forte for pop culture, being invited to attend NASA’s ”State of NASA” at the Goddard Space Flight Center doesn’t immediately strike one as a union made in the cosmos. However, keeping up with the state of affairs at NASA unveils similar core reasons why I choose to travel so much and why I’m enthralled with cultural preservation for everyday consumption—a deep care and fascination for humanity, nature, and the Earth as we currently know it and how we imagine these aspects will further evolve. As a result, these central philosophies make NASA the perfect travel companion to keep on hand and here are some reasons why I’d choose to ride shotgun with NASA on any given day… Weather Forecasts of Epic Proportions Forget about your standard, daily weather forecast apps to determine if you should pack an umbrella or a light jacket. Following the state of climate change via NASA’s five slated earth science missions this year under their Earth Right Now initiative will provide …

Life As Travel

What is Life? Is it living infinity free of expectations? Or is it roll in, roll out of bed, day in and day out, a repetition split between reluctant deadlines and enthusiastic snooze buttons with the occasional party mixed in to remind you of your existence? If this certainty were guaranteed, would you opt to have a case of the mundane everyday? Or would you gamble against the odds and dare to be different? It’s easy to ask the questions, but more difficult to provide answers, because we all desire a degree of control in some form or another. What would life be if we couldn’t create the memories we desired to collect and retell at a later time to display our glory? The problem is that with all this desire for control, there is little room left for interpretation in our stories, because for the sake of comfort, we’re willing to give up our maps to the guides of family, friends, lovers, school, and career to determine where we end up. How about picking …

Khadijat Oseni-Ride A Camel-Jetsetterproblems.com

Ride A Camel Like A Badass

As affirmed in a previous post, camels are pretty badass animals and riding them makes you equally as badass. But riding definitely is not as easy as it looks. Here are some tips to stay cool while getting one of the most epic thigh workouts of your life and in no time, you’ll master how to ride a camel like a badass! 1) Cover up – protecting your skin from harsh sun rays as well as guarding your eyes from sand are lasting keys to your journey so bust out those sunglasses and sunscreen. My desert attire always follows the 3 Ls: long, light and loose, but if you’re not into completely covering up, dress in layers so you can pull on and off articles of clothing if you get too hot. To avoid itchy skin due to camel hair, I suggest going with long pants. For my naturalistas out there, turbans are especially your best friends.   2) Don’t just creep up on a camel unknowingly without a firm introduction Same rules as with a …

O’ Captain, My Captain: Life & Travel Lessons from Dead Poets Society

As a millennial obsessed with pop culture and digging up old movies from a young age, I stumbled upon my first entry into the wanderlust worlds of Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau and Robert Frost via sneaking a view of Peter Weir’s Dead Poets Society past my bedtime. Far too young to fully understand the depth of the various themes outlined throughout the film until I later encountered the original texts, I nonetheless was emotionally inspired by the overarching message of living life to the fullest without seeking the permission of others to explore self-expression through the arts. It was then that I fell in love with one of my favorite movie characters of all-time, Professor John Keating portrayed by the genius Robin Williams. With Williams’ untimely passing on Monday, it is here that I share five pre-mature life lessons I learned and still carry along my journeys from dear O’ Captain, my Captain John Keating, through quotes and travel images, in honor of one of my favorite actors, comedians, and creative inspirations of all-time. Rest in peace Robin Williams, you will …