I can’t believe I’ve been traveling for ten whole years now! While these days traveling is my full-time job, I traveled a lot on my own for a long time, even before starting Hippie in Heels. Throughout the years and numerous countries, not to mention living in Goa for half of this time, I’ve picked up a lot of travel hacks.

These are both practical things (like little ways to save money) to big lessons learned from experience, and I wanted to share them with you! So below are my favorite travel hacks after a decade of wandering the world.

My 10 Favorite Travel Hacks After 10 Years

Mykonos in 2009

2. Packing cubes are very much worth the hype

Why did it take me so long to get them!? I can’t imagine just putting my things in my luggage loose, without packing cubes, anymore. This keeps thing so orgnaized and as I get older I somehow am getting even more OCD. I have three sets because I wanted all sorts of size options.

Check out some packing cube options below:

Uganda, 2010

3. Stay local as much as possible.

I was always a fan of Airbnb, but the past two years, I look at the housing options there before I even look at hotels. From a $30 apartment in Tulum to a $200 MANSION in Merida, I’ve been loving staying in people’s homes. I love to cook breakfast, make my own coffee, and it has saved me so much money on accomodation. I’ve used it in India, England, Mexico, Ireland, and 10 other countries so far and not had one issue. I tend to go for whole houses, not rooms or apartments and actually have a guide coming out soon with tips on using Airbnb. This is a way to get MUCH more into the real life of the place you stay and will honestly change the way you travel. You’ll never go back to booking random hotels.

Get $40 off with Airbnb here if you’re a new user

Some of my Airbnb posts:

• 5 Reasons to Choose Airbnb
• Airbnb in Merida, Mexico
• Cutest Luxury & Budget Airbnbs in Goa

Taj Mahal, 2012

4. Get an incredible travel credit card

I’m about to turn 29 and just got my first real credit card! I went with the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The main reason I decided to get one was that this particular card covers you up to 75,000 in car rental insurance. This means you can decline it at the rental counter no matter how hard they try to upsell you. The other reason is that I want to finally get into points and they give you 3x points on travel spends. The third and coolest reason I got this card, is it gives you a Priority Pass (for you and a guest). This pass allows you into a lounge in nearly every airport in the world – and the airports that don’t have a lounge for you often have a restaurant you can dine with $30 or $40 credit. I actually added Ben to my account and then he can rent a car under his credit card (under my account) and use the car rental insurance, too. No more paying for a second driver!

Koh Samui, 2013

5. Planning your own travel itinerary is usually better than going on group tours, but not always.

90% of the time, I’m down to plan my own itinerary and avoid the cost of tours. When I plan it myself, I really research deeply (I’m talking reading dozens of posts for each city I’ll be in, checking IG hashtags, and Pinterest, too). I cater the trip to what I like in terms of food, sight-seeing, adventures, shopping, and hotels. While I prefer this, there are times a tour can really be helpful and mostly that is in India. I have done some really cool tours here in rural areas and learned SO much in just a week on a tour about India that I didn’t living here as an expat or traveling as a tourist. I think that doing a tour is a great way to go even deeper into a place you are traveling – you just have to pick the right one. If you are going somewhere that stresses you out, it’s best to look into a tour so you can relax and enjoy the trip. My biggest tip here is that before you go on a trip, PLAN IT. I used to wing it, and have traveled all over Europe and even India winging it. The perfect example of why NOT to do this is my Rajasthan trip. When I compare visiting there as a backpacker winging it 6 years ago to planning ahead when I went this Fall, it’s like a completely new place – I saw so much more and loved every second without the stress since it was planned ahead.

Check out some of my itinerary & planning posts:

• How to plan a trip from scratch
• Two Weeks in Rajasthan
• One Week in Goa
• Why You Should Add an “ME” Day to Your Itinerary

Bandung, 2014

6. Sometimes renting a car is the best and cheapest option.

Ben and I rent cars basically everywhere we go. We figure, if we can drive in India, we can drive anywhere. Like I said above, I now have a credit card with insurance which is huge in keeping the rental car cost down. You can rent for under $10 a day most places if you decline all the insurance. It’s not just my credit card, but loads of them offer this – call yours and see if they do! I look on rentalcars.com when I start searching and don’t have a favorite company: I use Hertz, Sixt, Europcar and so far haven’t had any issues. I always take photos and video of the car when I pick it up and we are careful to clean it well before returning it. In places like England, for example, we spend so much less having our own car than if we took trains, taxis, and the underground everywhere we went. It saves us hundreds of bucks on nearly every trip.

Istanbul, 2015

7. It’s better to buy high-quality items than to just buy cheap and throw away.

My H&M and Forever 21 days are pretty behind me – and I don’t really buy clothing that is really “trendy”. I shop thinking about travel and where I could wear things. I also buy a LOT less although spend about the same amount. Quality over quantity is what I go by and if that means paying $200 for a leather jacket I’ll wear for 8 years (so far!) or a $100 for a pair of linen travel pants I’ll where on every single trip I take, it’s worth it! I did break that while i was in the UK: I was so cold and bought like 5 sweaters at H&M and Zara which I already regret doing! I should have bought one or two awesome ones instead. When you travel, you should feel good in what you wear and wear “real life” items, not “traveling” pieces that you wouldn’t wear at home. If you dress “normal”, you’ll feel much more intune with the place you visit. Here is a post on where I like to shop.

Some of my favorite quality brands:

• Studio TIA
• FARA
• TopShop Jamie Jeans
• Melissa Odabash
• Free People
• L*Space
• Uggs

Finland, 2016

8. You can start small in trying to be more eco-friendly as a traveler

You might not be able to go from not thinking about your effect on the environment to being a eco-warrior overnight but you can start just doing small things to help as a traveler. Even just not using straws or using reef-friendly sunscreen when you go snorkeling is helpful. This year, I have thought a lot more about sustainable travel and wish I would have been thinking this way a lot sooner. Ben is helpful with this because he literally builds reefs and is very environmentally-friendly so I’m always learning. Alex in Wanderland has a great post on this from earth day. This isn’t really a “hack” but learning how to be more eco-friendly while you travel is something we should all keep in mind.

Morocco, 2017

9. If you want to go somewhere but aren’t sure where think about the experiences

Instead of thinking about how a place looks, what the beach is like, or where your friends are going, plan your trips based on the experiences you want. After 10 years, I look back and remember not checking Budapest and Prague off my bucket list but instead, I remember flying in a helicopter in Maui, rafting in the Nile, and dog sledding in Finland. I remember learning to surf in Bali and shopping my heart out in Morocco. I try to really choose the places I go based on the experiences I want to have there. Have you always wanted to surf in Hawaii? Have you wanted to take a baking class in Paris? Think about activities you want to do in your life and make a list of them…. then start checking them off rather than checking off a place.

Goa, 2018

10. It’s sometimes who you’re with and not the destination at all

My biggest tip is that you shouldn’t just travel for travel’s sake. As a blogger, I could literally be traveling NON-STOP all year to anywhere I wanted. But we only get this one life and as much as I love to travel, I love other things: my dogs, family, boyfriend, and my home. I am careful to not get travel burn-out where I stop appreciating the new places I go. I also try to balance having a normal home life. I would rather go to Florida (again) with my mom than go off on a solo trip to somewhere new because the first one is memories I’ll always cherish – it’s not always about where you go but who you choose to go with, or even who you choose to stay home with instead of bouncing off on another trip.

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The post 10 Travel Hacks from 10 Years of Travel appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I did a survey last year where I aksed people what they wished I talked more about and a few people mentioned they wanted to hear more about the bad side of travel. They wanted to know about when things went wrong for me while traveling and how I dealt with it. I have been a lucky traveler, but no one has perfect trips. I’m going to share some times that things didn’t go as planned, and what I did in those situations.

1. Getting Pick-Pocketed

The first incident that comes to mind is when I was pick-pocketed in Barcelona. My second time abroad, at the age of 20, I came out of airport – first time in Spain – and hopped onto the metro with a friend. A group of 3 men and a woman kept bumping into me, all around my age or a bit older. When the doors opened for us to get off, Megan jumped off, but the guys blocked me in. I was pushing trying to get out and next thing I know they all jump off just as the doors are shutting. They had intended me to stay on the train, but I got off in the knick of time. They walked off and I didn’t realize what had happened until I saw my purse was open. They took my camera.

They were gone up the stairs of the metro when I noticed.  I left my backpack with my friend and run to find them. The boy closest to me didn’t really see it coming until I’d already grabbed his backpack and pulled him back to the floor. I yelled for the police and they came. They arrested all four of the people and found a lot of stolen goods.

To get my camera back, I had to go in their police car to make a statement. I had to call my Couchsurfing host from the police station and ask him to come to pick me up and help translate – looking back it was pretty funny. He was like “you’re where!? I’ll be right there!”.

So that is how I handled the sitution and honestly, would probably do the same thing again. But, I’m lucky they didn’t have a knife, to be honest, or that they didn’t get a chance to fight back. I wouldn’t do this in the USA if I was held at gunpoint or something, I would just over my things, but if some young probably unarmed person pick-pocketed me and was right there in a crowded area, I’d try to get my things back.

After it was said and done, I was bummed out because the moment they took my camera, they erased my memory card. Pro thieves they were. Luckily, a family member told me to get a new memory card and not touch this one so I wouldn’t write-over the deleted files. He used software to get the images back!

Later that night, walking into a club, the bouncer goes “you’re the girl from the train station today” and it was a guy who had come to help me when it happened. He helped, the police helped, my Couchsurfing host helped, and my friend helped. What was stressful then, became a traveler’s story. But, in the end, it was a $200 camera and it wouldn’t have been the end of the world if it went missing, but it was almost 10 years ago and the most expensive thing I owned, plus a band new present from my parents for my birthday.

As I’ve said before (in a whole blog post) do as I say, not as I do and when people rob you, let them. Safety is more important than a camera.

2. Having Luggage Go Missing

Everyone worried about airline issues and people (like me) get anxiety before flights thinking about everything that could go wrong. I have had my luggage go missing three times and all three times, it was returned to me (knock on wood). The first time it took a few days though, and I didn’t have much on me!

I was flying from Spain to Greece, a quick flight, and checked my backpack. The only thing I had was the tiniest little purse with my travel journal (to write in on the plane), my contacts, money, and my bill control. This wasn’t ideal. I learned from that moment to always carry a carry-on bag with a night’s clothing, toiletries, and things I would need in case my luggage went missing.

The next two times it happened was in India, and it came in on the next flight. So, what happens when the luggage isn’t there on the belt when you arrive? You need to go to the airline luggage counter at baggage claim and make sure it’s not there. Then, file a claim with them. They will try to locate it right then- it’s tagged and should be in the system. Sometimes they say “it accidentally went to ___” and others they say “we don’t have a clue”. Their responsibility is to get the luggage to you. You need to leave them an address and phone number and they will deliver it to you – you shouldn’t ever have to go back to the airport to retreive it.

3. Getting Very Very Ill

I get stomach bugs and things like that when I travel but there was one time I was sick enough that I called my parents saying I think it’s time I come home. I was in North India and had been trekking around in the Himalayas with Dengue Fever for weeks, although I didn’t know I had it. I just knew I had blinding migraines, nausea, and vomiting, the worst stomach pain of my life, couldn’t eat or sleep, had rashes on my hands and feet, and had a very high temperature. These things weren’t all at the same time though, and it was easy to blame food or altitude sickness for a long time. When I started to bleed from my nose and get large bruises all over my body, I went to the hospital. They tested me but already knew it was Dengue. My platelets were so low that the small hospital recommended I take a helicopter to Delhi for a tranfusion. I wasn’t up for that and said I’ve gone all these weeks with it, let’s wait and see. As long as I don’t bump into anything and rest I thought I’d be okay. And I was – I checked my platelets for the next two days and they had finally leveled out. It took a LONG time to recover from this and honestly was a rough month!

My parents were the ones who told me to stay in India when I was ready to call it quits, and thank goodness because a week later I met Ben and ended up living in India for five years, as you know.

When you’re sick abroad, you really have to make a personal decision. The place will always be there to come back to. If you are totally miserable there is no shame is coming home. You’ll know when you feel this sick what is right for you. The change ticket fee is usually a few hundred bucks and always keep in mind that worst case, you can be on your way home at any time – just get to an airport and book the next flight out if you need to.

4. Booking a Flight on the Wrong Day

This is my worst fear. I actually check my tickets and bookings 500x to make sure this doesn’t happen and yet – it happened recently. Luckily, it was a short flight from Bocas Del Toro Panama to Panama City. I had to pay a $50 change flight fee at the airport. I showed up for my flight and the lady said: “you booked this for the same day a month from now”. I was like oh my godddd… how!?! But, these things happen.

I should have followed my how to plan for a trip checklist more closely and how to stop anxiety before a trip as I mention going over your paperwork to make sure it’s all in order. The other thing to note is that these things happen: you could show up somewhere without a visa not realizing you needed one! Or go to the wrong airport in a city that has two (I did this in Bangkok).

When these things happen, it’s usually an issue of money. Money is what fixes these problems – a later flight, a change fee, or paying for a whole new airline because you have to leave right then. The only way around this is to plan better – and remmeber if it does happen that it’s just money and it’ll be okay. I recommend always having an emergency credit card for these situations in case you are low in your checking account. Here’s a post with some tips on handling money abroad.

5. Police Problems

In some countries, the worry is that you might face issues with police. For example in Mexico, Thailand and India (among others) where they are sometimes corrupt, you might be asked to pay bribes. It can be scary at first as you don’t really know your rights – and you don’t know if it’s safe to say no. 

Yes, I have had to pay bribes. Sometimes they are obvious and other times they are sneaky and I’m given a fake ticket – not even realizing I paid a bribe until later. Sometimes they ask for 500 rupees and then make a bill for 100 rupees. In Mexico, they straight up said there is not going to be a receipt for this. When they have guns and a reputation, it’s scary to stand your ground.

While you don’t want to add to the corrupton of a place, you want to stay safe. You have to make the choice that makes you feel the safest, regardless of it’s it’s contributing to corruption. This happens in Asia at border-crossings as well; they will say you can’t come to the country without paying a fee that you know isn’t correct. You have to ask what your other options are. Sometimes there aren’t any. Sometimes it’s night time and you are alone and you need to pay it.

Sometimes you will feel angry because you’d been targeted for something you didnt do: you “ran a red light” or you “didn’t stop back there” but you know you did. Are you in a position to essentially call the cop a liar? When dealing with police in countries where corruption is there, you have to use common sense and do the option that makes you safest.

In most cases, if you call the cop out they will let you go, but other times I have heard horror stories of drugs being planted or other things.

6. Not Having a Place to Stay Organized in Advance

I’m not really someone to do this now, but in my backpacker days I would often show up to a city with nowhere to stay. When you are a hostel-lover, it’s usually okay. Train stations in Europe almost always have people from hostels hanging around trying to get you to go theirs, and the same with guesthouses in places like the Thai Islands. There are many places where it’s not a big deal to have nothing set up – these are mostly tourist places.

The times I would set something up, even as a backpacker, are in very large cities, or countries where it’s my first time there. It’s a sort of mind-easing thing for me to know when I arrive I can get local money from the ATM, and grab a taxi to my hotel. Easy peasy. In places known for scams, you do not want to rock up with nothing planned at the airport and get in someone’s car to go to a guesthouse. Just don’t! In small towns that are backpacker haven’s, go for it.

When people ask me about going to India and talk about pre-trip jitters, I always say “have your hotel send a car”. You’ll pay two times more than a taxi, but your stress will be nada. You will have a guy there with a sign when you arrive. If your luggage is missing, guess what a local is there to help, he can help you find an ATM, watch your luggage while you go to the bathroom, and safely take you to your hotel.

If you do show up somewhere, a city that isn’t known as being very safe, especially if it’s nighttime and you are a solo female travelers (let’s just say Delhi!), then you should get on the airport WiFi and book a nearby airport hotel that is a brand you know (Ibis, for example, is a known brand but not too expensive like a Marriott). Just have some piece of mind that first night then go find a guesthouse or hostel. This is expensive so I don’t recommend (instead you should plan ahead) it but it beats booking a random guesthouse online that you don’t know if it’s good or bad minus some booking.com reviews and have a taxi driver take you to its location – that could be 40 minutes away in a big city – only to tell you it’s “burnt down but his Uncle’s place is nearby” – which yes, is a scam in India.

As with many issues that happen abroad, money is what fixes them. Planning ahead is what prevents them!

7. Fighting With Your Travel Buddy

The worst is when you start to get annoyed with your travel buddy – and they are probably just as annoyed with you. It’s so key to stay positive even if it’s a little fake and not act annoyed at everything that annoys you. Sometimes you have to fake it til you make it in these cases until that day you feel annoys passes. The next day you might feel fresher and realize it wasn’t them annoying you, but actually just the heat and a long day you had before. Had you gone mental telling them off for being annoying, you’d put a big kink in that trip!

Prep is important. Always talk ahead of a trip about what your goals are, what places you want to see, the type of traveler you are. You should be on the same page starting out. Talk about what should be done if one of you gets wasted and wants to go home with a stranger.

If you do have a drunken fight, you will just have to make up in the morning. These things happen. While in real life you can avoid the person for a week if you want, when traveling, you need to get things back on track right away. You have to be a little more open, understanding, forgiving, and be able to apologize.

You can also take a “you” day. I love solo travel and even on trips with friends, we will take days on our own. Maybe I want to go somewhere scenic and read and she’s up for another museum. Maybe I want to ride an electric scooter around town but she’s afraid, so we split up for the day. You can be a little selfish in what you want to do – it’s your trip too – but remember that when they want to do their own thing, you should let them without being bothered by it.

8. Feeling Homesick or Overwhelmed

This is for me, the worst thing about travel. I don’t get it often (thankfully) but when it does hit, it hits hard and it’s a really shitty feeling. Sometimes it’s because I’ve just been gone too long. Sometimes it’s work-related and I’m doing too much with travel companies along the way making it so I can’t even enjoy my trip. Other times I’m having shitty days, have traveled 50 hours it feels like and just miss my dogs and Ben and ask myself “why the fuck am I in Malaysia again!? I was just here!”

I get overwhelmed when I work too much, book too long of a trip to too many places, or when I’m just having people attempt to scam me left and right – it does take a toll. Sometimes pollution and dirtiness, crowds, and traffic can add to it. A long day to see the Taj Mahal might end up being a let down because you get scammed by the driver there, have long lines because you didn’t get there at sunrise as you meant to, and you have people bombarding you for photos – only to get back to your hotel to find out their powers out and you’ll be having a cold shower. That didn’t happen to me, it’s just a made-up scenario of an example of a bad day.

car broke down on the side of the road in Goa

The worst is that on top of it all, you might feel lonely. That is where the kicker is – when you are overwhelmed with a trip and start to feel along. Homesickness comes crawling up! But these things pass. Ask yourself if it’s the town you are in? Maybe you want to head to a new one – hop on the train. Maybe you’ve teamed up with a travel buddy you don’t even like that you met at a hostel. Tell them you want to do your own thing. Maybe you miss some guy back home – email him! Or FB, whatever. Call home. Talk to family. Have someone send photos of your pets.

Take a day to relex and recharge. I’m all about that self-care! I will take a spa day and go get pampered. I’ll get greasy American food like Pizza Hut or McDonald’s if I can find it and get a massage, manicure, and pedicure. I’ll book a nice hotel room, have a bath, put on my VPN and watch the Real Housewives and get a good night’s sleep. It will feel no different than a “treat yourself day” back home and then you wake up excited again for the beautiful new destination you have to explore!

9. Getting Injured

Getting hurt abroad can be scary. Some countries won’t have healthcare that you are used to, maybe it’s lower quality or things are done differently. The language barrier can also be difficult. Some places will even try to scam you at a hospital – it’s happened to me in Koh Phi Phi!

In regards to being overcharged, don’t just accept these numbers that hospitals come up with abroad. If it’s a developing country with a reputation for scamming, you need to really ask around what things should cost. I was in the hospital in Koh Phi Phi with awful food poisioning. I was just on a drip. They wanted a TON of money from me. I asked another girl there who was in for the same thing and she said she negotiated them down to 1/4 of it which was still so expensive. I did the same thing. Locals can help you to know what things should cost.

I was once head-butted by a bull. This happened in Varanasi, walking down a tiny alley in the backroads trying to get back to my hotel. I saw the bull, but having been in India for months and thinking that all the cows were my friends, I thought I’d walk past like I always do. No way Jose said the bull. He swung his head around and with the sheer force of his giant neck, threw me into a brick wall. His horn had ripped my pants open and left a puncture in my butt cheek! Going pantless in the holiest city is India is about as no-go as it comes.

I ran, thinking this bull might chase me and do it again! How many people saw my butt, I do not know. I pulled scraps of my pants over and got to my hotel, actually in tears from the pain, and told them what happened. They didn’t believe me. “No cow in India has ever done this”. Ermm, okay.

I bruised up a green and black bruise the size of my entire butt cheek and couldn’t really sit. It was terrible! Not bad enough that I needed to get help – what could they do? The puncture wasn’t deep but the impact was so intense it had probably bruised my bone.

I’ve ended up with a black eye surfing, Ben’s ended up with stitches from dog bites and surfing more than once. There is always a clinic nearby. Getting injured can happen. There are some things I avoid. I don’t drive scooters because I am not good at it (I can do it but don’t feel confident). I see so many people injured from scooters! I would never do risky things like running with the bulls (I’ve already been gored once – which is enough! lol but in actuality, I wouldn’t do this anyway because, to me, it’s animal cruelty).

I also have travel insurance (review there for the one I suggest) in case something very serious happens and I need to be transferred to a better hospital or even back to the USA. If bills are high, I can have my insurance cover it.

10. Money Issues

Running out of money would be a pretty bad thing to happen abroad. I don’t worry about this now and have credit cards so it’s not going to happen. I did use to worry about it – and it’s something that you should think about before a trip.

Consider this scenario: My first time abroad. I have a debit card and so does my friend. She had never used an ATM (we are from small towns, people, where you go to a bank and personally withdraw money from a bank teller). She got the card for our trip – it was 2008 I think. We got the ATM and she didn’t know she needed to know a PIN code. Whoops. Her bank couldn’t tell her over the phone or send a new card, so we had to share my money the whole time. I had $3,000. We were in Europe for like a month! I can and have traveled on a shoe-string, lol.

Looking back, there were so many ways to fix this. She could have wired me the money to my account – something that isn’t actually that hard and these days with Venmo and PayPal it’s super easy. We could have asked our parents for help. She could have sent money to herself via Western Union. When Ben and I need to get cash in large sums we use Western Union instead of an ATM. You just send it literally to yourself from yourself.

You should always keep a spare card hidden in case your purse goes missing, but in the case that ALL your cards go missing, I like to keep a secret place that I write down my card number. If I lost my card and know it wasn’t stolen (for example an ATM gobbled it up), then I can use the card for online purchases like hotels and send myself money via Western Union. If it’s been stolen, this won’t work. But you can still have a new card sent out to your home address and have someone there tell you what the numbers are. You can also use your bank account (no card needed) to wire money to someone you are traveling within the meantime. Here are some tips on how to manage money abroad.

There are always ways to figure out money issues – unless of course, you straight up run out. Don’t do that.

So there we go – those are 10 things that went wrong on my travels. What has gone wrong on your travels? Tell me in the comments!

The post 10 Times Bad Things Happened During My Travels & How To Overcome Them appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

As part of my Ask Me Anything series, I answer common questions I get from readers. You can read other AMA posts here. In this article, I want to answer the question of how I decide on a place to take my next vacation. If you have wanderlust and want to book a trip, here are some things to think about before that will help you narrow down the destinations.

Readers will sometimes email me overwhelmed with their travel options, because don’t all of us travel-lovers want to go everywhere? It’s all on “our list”. They ask me how I decide where to take my next vacation hoping it will help them decide where to take theirs.

5 Ways to Decide on a Place for Vacation

There are things I consider when I choose my next vacation spot, so I’ll kind of share the thought process I go into when I’m choosing somewhere to visit with the 5 questions you will want to ask yourself.

1. Have I been before?

The first thing I’ll consider is if I am in the mood to go somewhere new or somewhere I have been before and like to return to. I love going back to India, Sri Lanka, London, and so many other places so I try to think if any of them are calling me back.

I know returning to places isn’t as exciting as going somewhere new – but they typically require way less planning and on repeat visits, you get to experience the place more in-depth. You’ll have already done all the touristy things and now you can do the cool things you missed, try new restaurants and bars, and really chill out like a vacation that doesn’t have a checklist of “things to do and see”.

If you want to go somewhere you haven’t been before, think about where friends have gone. Who has told you about a cool life-changing trip they had recently? You can get travel inspiration from Instagram and blogs.

You can also just spin a globe and see where you land! That is what I did in a way with India in 2012. I chose it 100% on a whim. I wanted to go somewhere I hadn’t been before that would provide a little culture shock. I thought, why not India?

2. What the weather like?

It’s important to think about if you want to go somewhere warm like surfing in Maui or you are interested in a cold vacation like playing with reindeer in Finland. Once you decide that, it will help you narrow things down a little bit. Additionally, you’ll have to think about what the season is at the place you want to go – maybe it’s rainy season and all the activities you have in mind aren’t going to be possible at that time.

3. What do I have the budget for?

Do you have the money for flights all the way across the world or just to a few states over? Do you need to take the train/bus rather than fly? Unfortunately, the budget is going to play a major factor. Yes, you can get to places like the Maldives on a budget – but do you want a budget trip to the Maldives or do you want to save it for a luxury honeymoon one day?

Often I will do a close trip – in India, I can do a two-week trip to another state I haven’t visited and spend a lot less than if I flew to Kuala Lumpur for the weekend. In Mexico, I recently did a getaway to Mexico City on a whim. I considered other places but wanted a “big city” break I could afford and it was the cheapest city nearby.

Try using the Skyscanner “anywhere” or Kiwi “anywhere” options with your airport as the departure and “anywhere” as the destination. It will give the results of the cheapest places you can fly to. See if any of them stand out to you.

4. Is it an adventurous trip or a chilled one?

For my bachelorette party, my bridesmaids were up for anything! We could have done an all-inclusive in Cancun and chilled or gone to Lake Tahoe for a relaxing lake vacation. I had to think not just about the destination but about what I wanted to do there. I didn’t want to SUP. I didn’t want to go clubbing or just lay by the pool. I decided I wanted to go to Universal Studios. There is so much to do all day at the parks, it’s sunny, there are bars and restaurants within the park and it makes for an easy trip.

Sometimes I want something really adventurous and want to experience a place I haven’t been. Recently, I wanted to go somewhere new with a friend. Neither of us had been to Central America, so we started there. Costa Rica seemed over-traveled. Honduras wasn’t safe. We went through each country to kind of see what we wanted to do. We decided on Panama because it has the city, the Pacific, the Carribean, whale watching, trekking, culture, pristine islands that hardly anyone travels to, new food we’d never tried, and beautiful boutique and eco-friendly hotels and B&Bs. It had a lot to offer and we could do a lot in two weeks.

If you want an adventurous tip, ask yourself what you are interested in: skiing, surfing, safaris, rafting? You can figure out what you want to do then google “the best places for ___”.

5. How much time do you have?

The last point brought us to this: do you have two weeks to go to Panama? If not, and you have one week, is it worth going all the way to just hit up two cities? Would you prefer instead to go to Costa Rica and do a lot in a smaller area?

Maybe you have just a long weekend and could think about flying to Mexico City for a weekend. You can often get flights there from the USA as cheap or cheaper than flights to Vegas, LA, and NYC. Try to think outside the box and make the most of the short time you have. There are international destinations that work for a long weekend. Alternatively, you can do to places in the USA you haven’t explored like New Orleans, Nashville, or St Augustine.

The post Ask Me Anything: How Do You Decide on a Place for Vacation? appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Six years ago, near the end of my huge first trip to India, I met Ben in a bar in Calangute, Goa and moved to India. Six months ago we took our dogs and cat from India and moved to Mexico… a big adventure! One month ago, Ben proposed to me in the Yucatan. Soooo I guess that means we are getting married!

I think you guys know by now I’m not really the mushy gushy type. Ben and I have approximately 20 photos together, 10 of which we are drunk and 10 we have helmets on for go-karting. We just aren’t that type of couple that takes a lot of photos together (hence why he’s never on my Instagram) or make a big deal out of things like anniversaries (something we never celebrate). I’ve only written one post about Ben and it was about how we met which you can read here.

So I’m getting out of my comfort zone a little bit here to share this news with you! It’s obviously going to be a big part of my life, so I definitely wanted to share about it with you.

Ben and I 5.5 years ago in England at a wedding, one of the probably 5 times we’ve ever got this dressed up together, all of which were friends’ weddings

Ben’s sister’s wedding in London last year

I’ll start at the beginning, the proposal

I’m trying to think which day it happened but just can’t think of the date. It was a weekend about a month or so ago! Ben and I went to the beach like usual and took the dogs with us. We drove an hour out to our favorite beach, San Crisanto.

We packed up the beach chairs and umbrella and made lunch to take. Doritos and PB&J. Classy.

We chilled with the dogs for a while and I read most of the afternoon and then we went on a walk, yada yada, Ben proposed! Haha! Is that good enough? No? ;) I’ll share a little more.

Okay, so basically he had the ring on Shanti’s collar. In typical Ben fashion, he stepped on a huge amount of burrs right before he was going to propose so he had to sit down to take them out. I was laughing at him because he literally does this all the time – and in India recently on a beach walk stepped on a nail.

We walked a bit further and he stopped and got the ring from Shanti’s collar but I just thought he had a burr in his foot still so I was like “hurry up” haha! And then he asked me and I was like wait what is happening… because I did not see that coming, but obviously said yes.

It was perfect on the beach with my dogs there, too! I always told Ben I wanted a simple proposal, not big grand thing, and with no one around. Couldn’t have been better.

Now for the funny part which ruins the romance but it’s just so funny. So he had obviously been down on the sand to propose and we were over there for a little while, so when we went back to our little seating area this guy and his son came up to us and were like “we had a little figurine we are missing it… it was over there.” They pointed to where he proposed. We are like “umm, okay, we didn’t see anything”. They were like “Are you sure?” We told him yes. He then proceeded to scope out our stuff like he thought we stole some figurine!? We were like this is so bizarre but it was pretty funny. The guy and his son left, definitely thinking we were over there digging around taking their supposedly hidden and now lost “figurine”, because why else were we over there for so long with Ben down in the sand!? What are the chances?

The ring (that’s what everyone wants to really know!)

Ben proposed with a simple band that he got this summer when he asked my parents if he could marry me, like the gentlemen he is (shocker, I know). He did that so that I could pick out my own ring. We had always talked about getting one online at Blue Nile whenever we did get married. Living in India and seeing the wholesale prices compared to the prices of rings in stores big jewelry stores is literally crazy, like double. Blue Nile is an online site that has GIA official rings and you can select the cut, color, quality, carat, etc and pick out the perfect ring for your budget. We had looked in London a year ago just peeking because he had asked what kind of ring I wanted and similar rings there compared to online were about double so I told him if he ever proposes with an overpriced ring, I would hate that haha!

I also wanted a compass ring with a “NSEW” setting which is a little more rare to find, and I wanted 14K gold (because any higher is really yellow and I didn’t want it to be a bright gold). I found that setting on Blue Nile and told Ben it was what setting I wanted after he had proposed. He then picked out the stone so I’d be surprised and sent it to my parent’s house in Ohio so that when I got home for Thanksgiving it was there. Best present ever!

It was too big, though, so I sent it back for resizing which is free and now it fits perfect (if not a little too small but that’s just because I have giant knuckles) and I’m so obsessed with it! I always wanted a simple band and just one diamond on there and its perfect. I suppose it’s a little unconventional to order a ring online but was actually Ben’s brother’s idea to propose with a pretend ring and then let me pick out a ring later which Ben thought was a good idea and I agree. Ben wanted to give me a wooden ring and once asked me if I’d like tigers eye or “amber with a bug in it” as the stone – so I think it’s only fair that I told him I’d like to pick the ring out myself ;)

I got it insured online and have to triple check they’d cover me living in Mexico and traveling all the time! When I insured it, it made me realize how much money you actually save buying a ring wholesale – because you insure the “retail” value which is what it would cost in a store, and that number is on a document from Blue Nile and is nearly double what we actually paid. No Tiffany’s for me, lol.

The wedding

We are getting married in August next summer. I’m 30 in June so feel like this summer is a good time to get married and honestly just don’t think anything will change so it doesn’t really feel like that big of a deal – we’ve been living together for six years. We’ve lived abroad in India which has its challenges, had pets we love pass away, adopted more pets, and moved across the world to Mexico and started over again. I feel like we will be just fine getting married!

I think I’ll just keep my name because I honestly can’t imagine changing my passport, India and Mexico visas, USA and Mexico driver’s licenses, etc. It would be such a pain!

I’m getting married in a barn just 10 minutes from my house. It’s going to be a fairly simple wedding but just what I pictured with all the people that I love there! I think that most of Ben’s family and friends will be coming over from England, and his bestie, Mitch will be officiating the wedding. We are having a cool band play, and my friend Colleen is singing at the ceremony.

Don’t worry, I won’t spam you out with boring wedding details all year. I’m going to share about it though – but over on my lifestyle blog Omni Curated. If you want to follow along, then make sure you sign up to my email subscription over there or follow my Omni Curated Facebook page.

Ben has been the best part of my life for so many years now and I couldn’t be happier to get married to him! The next thing to consider is: where will the honeymoon be!? Let me know where you think Ben and I should go! Somewhere epic and adventurous!

Tanzania? Zanzibar? Madagascar? All three!?

Thailand

Singapore

India

Malaysia

Goa

Sri Lanka

This post is sponsored by Blue Nile. Ben had already purchased the ring before I was ever in contact with Blue Nile. This is a ring I will be wearing for the rest of my life and wouldn’t take a sponsored post for something like this if I wasn’t already going to be loving it, and I do love it so much!

The post Six Years Later, We’re Engaged! appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Wow, time flies! I feel like it was just a month ago I wrote my one month in Merida update and started it with “time flies!”. But it does, and we’ve really been loving it here living in Merida, Mexico. We moved here on May 22, 2018, after years in Goa, India (5 for me, but 8 for Ben). We’ve now been here almost a year!

A lot of people ask which we prefer more between India and Mexico and how they are different, so I wrote a blog post comparing the two which you can read here. I am just updating you on life here in case you’ve been following along and wonder what it would be like to move to Merida and just in general what it’s like living in Merida, Mexico!

Living in Merida Mexico

We love living Merida, Mexico! I have so many blog posts about how to move here from buying a car, getting car insurance to getting a license to getting a place to rent, health care, and so much more like the best restaurants and such! You can read them all here.

We are still in our beautiful rental house which we originally took for 3 months and extended to six months… and now have extended quite indefinitely. I love it here and am so glad we found this place. The landlord of our rental house is an architect and he’s actually designing a new home for us. We are planning on building a house in Cholul, a village outside of Merida to the Northeast. They’ve agreed to let us stay here until our house is done which is such a relief.

As for the house, we have found land but are still having it checked out with a notario before purchasing. We have some backup land in mind in case it falls through but we hope it will happen and be finalized before Christmas so that after that, we can start building. Ben was the project manager of building giant reefs in the sea, so I think he can manage managing building our house with the contractor – even though he doesn’t speak Mayan or Spanish. It will be an adventure and I will definitely share updates about it. I’m actually going to do monthly updates on my website Omni Curated so that I don’t overwhelm Hippie in Heels, since after all, it is a travel blog, not a house-building blog!

San Crisanto

less happy cat, dreaming of how he can next escape

we celebrated Halloween this year…

In the time I’ve been here in Merida, we’ve traveled to the USA in July to see my family, I’ve been in New Orleans, New York, and Florida for work. I’ve spent two weeks in Panama as well. Ben’s been to Austria to see family, and Toronto a couple of times for work. I’m actually back to the USA now in Ohio for Thanksgiving. I’ll be back again in a week to go to an awards show in NYC. We don’t sit still much! Luckily, we have found an incredible dog-sitter who loves Shanti, Omni, and Kitkat.

Merida airport is an international airport but a big connection was dropped – the Aeromexico flight from Merida to Atlanta. This flight was amazing because it connected us really well. But since it dropped, places we need to go involved long flights like 12+ hours to go a short distance. Merida just doesn’t have enough international connections. Most often, you have to fly to Mexico City then out. Other than that, we’ve been taking ADO buses to Cancun (4 hours) then flying out of there because it’s actually been faster. That’s been a bummer – but really the only downside.

downtown Merida 

Other than that, we have no complaints here. The pets have been settling in perfectly fine, too. The dogs love it here because we can walk them more, wander around parks and the beach, and not worry about dog fights with strays. Kitkat likes to escape when he can, but he always comes back. It does worry us since we live on a busy road but he’s a cat and they are sneaky – what can you do!?

I’ve gotten a lot done since moving here. I completed my Mexican residency and am now a resident which is pretty cool. I bought a used car, registered it legally, got car insurance, passed my driving exam (on the second try – damn parallel parking), and got a driver’s license. We got health insurance that covers us for accidents abroad and opened a bank account, which I transferred money into from the USA. We are 10x more legit here than we ever were in India in just six months. Okay, I am more legit… Ben has done 10% of that, but does that surprise you? Kidding, kidding ;) He can’t do it because you really have to do the residency first to then do the rest of it and he needs to go to England to get his bank papers notarized.

so many cute cafes and bakeries & so many nice people

With so much travel and so many “to do’s”, it was a busy time. I love checking stuff off a list, so now that it’s literally all checked off (minus building a house), it feels incredible! I actually have a post written, which I’ll post soon, about how to move to Merida and the exact steps I took and how to do them yourself.

Since we moved here in May, we got here at the hottest time here in the summer in the Yucatan with full humidity. May in India is hot but it was that same heat here for three months straight. I won’t lie, it wasn’t great! I begged my architect for central A/C in our new house (split levels just aren’t the same, I want to come home to a house that is already cooled off) but after running through the pro’s and con’s it’s just absolutely crazy to do central A/C here. Damn!

As for the rain, summertime rain here is nothing compared to India’s monsoon. It was nothing compared to Spring in Ohio, really!

The funniest thing is that Christmas-time here is the “peak” season and it’s still really hot and beautiful weather – but if you go into Costco or the mall, they’ve put away all the summer stuff like coolers, beach chairs, and umbrellas, and put out all winter clothes and flannel PJ’s! It’s so funny. It’s still like 90 degrees here and in the evenings, old ladies are in like winter coats. It’s SO Indian! They do the same thing. Our friend Leena used to come to our house in a winter coat with a scarf at 2 PM and it was like 85 degrees.

downtown Merida

Anyway, through all the busy-ness, we still did a lot of fun things around here. We had a couple of friends from Goa visit. We explored the yellow town of Izamal and did a day trip to Uxmal (Mayan Ruins). We’ve found cenotes and haciendas, tried local food, hung out in cantinas, explored different beaches, and tried as many restaurants as we can! We try to get out and make friends but it’s not that easy since we live in the Norte area and the bars and such are all in Centro 20 minutes away, we kind of talk our selves out of going. My goal next is to get out more and meet more people.

We’ve also been loving that we can get items at the grocery store that we couldn’t in India so we’ve been cooking a lot. The funny thing is, Ben had to cart Indian curry paste from Canada (the good stuff) so we could make curries here. We definitely miss Indian food!

tacos4life but missing us some curry!

Other things I’m loving here: being able to go to fancy movie theatres, my pilates class, going shopping with friends at actual malls with stores like Sephora (I have two friends now, lol), and being able to eat local Yucatan food but also Texas Roadhouse because lets be honest, I missed that kind of thing like crazy in India! I love the spas here (as good as Snips in Goa!) and the fact every single person is friendly – my Uber drivers wait until I get in the door before they drive away. I love Uber Eats! Food delivery is the bomb.com. It’s just been pretty wild coming back into the “real world”.

there is always something going on here, you are embedded in the Mayan culture

It’s always a hoot to see what expats from the USA complain about here because Ben and I are still in the mindset of “it has everything, it’s so easy!” because compared to five years in the jungle in India, I might as well be in the USA right now. I mean, there’s the Walmart – several. I can get Velveeta cheese here and coffee creamer. Life is good.

I’ve gotten to see my family more this year than I have in the past 7 years and it’s really nice; a feeling I can’t really describe. India was SO far from home and just being closer is a nice change. I’m on the same time zone and can message friends and family throughout the day. My mom came with me to Florida and when the trip was over and she went back to Ohio, and me to Mexico, I didn’t have that pit in my stomach because I knew I’d see her again in a month (which is right now because I’m home for Thanksgiving)

In December, my parents and Ben’s mom and her boyfriend and his little brother are coming to stay with us over Christmas. My mom said, “by then, we’ll probably be sick of you!” After so many years seeing each other only July every year, it’s quite a change to be able to laugh about seeing each other too much.

After Christmas, we plan on visiting India in January. My friend had a baby, Zyon, and I’m (one of) his godmother(s). We’ll hang in Goa, and then I’m off to explore around India somewhere new! From there, I don’t know what travels await really. I know I want to see more of Mexico, Central America, and South America but we’ll also be building a house and I have a feeling that’s going to be more work than I’m imagining.

It’s been a crazy change this year but Ben and I both know we made the right choice moving from Goa when we did. We’re really happy here in Merida and looking forward to settling in even more! I hope you liked this look into what it’s like living in Merida, Mexico.

The post What it’s Like Living in Merida, Mexico appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Lately, I’ve noticed in Facebook comments people are asking what it’s like being an expat in India compared to Mexico and if I can share a little bit about it. It’s really hard to compare two countries and I haven’t been living in Mexico that long but I want to write about this since you’re asking – so I’m giving it my best shot! I hope that this will give some insight into how my life has changed since moving from Goa to Merida and if you’re living in Goa considering the same, it will help you make a plan.

Being an Expat in India Compared to Mexico

Weather in Merida compared to Goa

Goa has a rainy season from June to September. Merida does as well! But, Goa’s monsoon is WAY more intense than the springtime rains that come to Merida. Unless you live on the coast in Progreso, you won’t really be bothered by the rains at all. It doesn’t rain for long and it passes quite fast.

I’m told May and the rainy season is “unbearable heat and humidity” but haven’t found that to be the case. It’s less hot than Goa’s April/May although hotter than Goa’s monsoon. I find it much less humid here compared to Goa.

In the season time which is October to March, it is clear sunny days every day in both places. Evenings get cool in December/Jan but overall it’s hot year round. Basically, the weather is quite similar with Goa being much more intense.

Below: Merida nearby beaches on the left, and Goa on the right.

Immigration in Merida compared to Goa

India immigration is a pain – requiring a lot of visa paperwork and to stay long-term, an employer to invite you. Even then, you have to do visa runs every six months. India makes it difficult to stay long-term unless you are part Indian. Now, they are making it even harder – some saying they will ask if you are paying taxes if you stay for six months on a business visa. Tourist visas for over 60 days are a long process to get, requiring you to mail your passport and fill in a lot of paperwork, plus they are expensive.

Mexico allows for tourists to come for six months for free. You can exit and re-enter after that. You can apply for residency so that you don’t have to exit even if you don’t work for a Mexican company and are instead self-employed or retired. Tourists can buy land here but not in India. Residents can get health care and other benefits in Mexico but not in India.

Food in Merida compared to Goa

Both Mexican food and Indian food are spicy. I find the Habenero a bit spicier than what I eat in India. The food isn’t really comparable – they are so different – but they both have their homecooked specialties and in the same way when you go to any local restaurant in Goa and they have the same 10 things on the menu (xacuti, prawn curry rice, rava fry), Merida restaurants have their 10 things (kibi, panucho, salbutes, tacos…)

Below: Mexican food left, Indian food right

Prices in Merida compared to Goa

You do get bang for your buck here in Merida. We paid the same price for rent in both places and in both places we had amazing houses that were on the highest rent scale. You can get a house rental here for just $150 a month if you really try, same as Goa although it’s rare and most people pay around $300-500 per month. You could pay over $1,000.

Housekeeping, groundskeepers, pool cleaners, etc are more expensive here. In Goa, you might pay $75 for someone to come a few hours every day for a month or to live with you for around $250 while in Merida, you’ll pay someone to come to your house and clean about $15 for a full day (once a week, comes to about $60 for the month) or maybe someone to live with you to help for around $500 a month. Pool cleaners seem to be around $5 per clean and groundskeepers about the same depending on how big your yard is.

Local food here at markets is as cheap as the food in Goa’s markets and local restaurants. Chain restaurants and cafes are comparable to Goa’s normal dinner places like Sakana or Baba Au Rhum. Merida has some luxury restaurants that are much more expensive than anything you’d find in Goa like a $100 steak.

For travelers, you can get a hostel in Merida for $7 while in Goa you can get one for as low as $4 but usually closer to $10. So it’s about the same.

Petrol seems to be about the same. Buses are a little more expensive. Groceries and such are about the same. Keep in mind, Goa is more expensive than other areas of India. If you live a western life in Goa with imported food and such, then you’ll find Merida very comparable.

Driving in Merida compared to Goa

The roads here are the other side of the road (right side). Cars are a mix of manual and automatic, while Goa is just manual. Roads here use proper rules with stop signs, stop lights, police directing traffic, and roundabouts where people follow the rules. In Goa, it’s much more relaxed, no stop signs, and people just kind of honk and go. Here, you have to follow the rules and you cannot speed.

There are police checkpoints in both places where you can be breathalized and searched for drugs or other illegal things and we have been multiple times in both places.

Religion in Merida compared to Goa

Funnily enough, they are both mostly Catholic!

above: Merida left, Goa right

Things to do in Merida compared to Goa

In Goa, mostly it is beaches and partying – maybe a little go-karting and going to the markets. Here in Merida, it’s beaches, cantinas, and markets. But, there is more to do in Merida since it’s a big city like city events, baseball games, tons of nearby tourist attractions, several malls and movie theatres, ballet, museums, shows, the symphony, etc.

Shopping/Western Stuff in Merida compared to Goa

Goa did end up getting a mall a couple of years ago with a Marks and Spencers and McDonald’s but mostly shopping consisted of VERY local markets of foreigners making clothes in upscale boutique shops. Mostly, I had to buy things in the USA I wanted to have in India, and bring them. For Merida, I can get it all here – literally every grocery item I want so far except grape jelly.

In Merida, there are 10 or so big malls with places like Zara, H&M, Starbucks, you name it – they really have everything. There are also shopping centers like Home Depot, OfficeMax, Sears, and all the big stores. I think I’ll do a whole post on this later and kind of sum them up.

For Western food, Goa had Dunkin Donuts, McDonald’s, and Subway as the big Western places. Merida has everything from Carl’s Jr to Texas Roadhouse.

Merida also has many boutique places similar to Goa that are cute curated shops, however when it comes to cute boutique hand-made clothing and homewares Goa definitely beats Merida.

Travel connections in Merida compared to Goa

Merida is an international airport with cheap flights to the USA and Latin America. You can take a $35 5-hour bus to Cancun and catch cheap flights all over like a $500 round-trip flight to London.

Goa does have some international flights but only through Doha, and charter flights to Russia. Mostly, you have to fly to Mumbai then catch an international flight which adds a lot of time to your travels waiting in airports for layovers. I would say Merida is more connected, however, if you want to get to Asia for Merida or Latin America from Goa, they are equally as challenging and long journeys.

Rent/home buying in Merida compared to Goa

As I mentioned, tourists can buy land in Mexico by setting up a trust with a bank here. It’s supposedly painless and you just hire a lawyer to help you out. In India, there is no way for a tourist to do this legally.

Tourists cannot legally buy a car and register it to their name in either country as a tourist. In Mexico, you can BUY the car but you cannot register it.

Renting in Goa and Merida have been similar for me: signing a lease with a notary or lawyer present.

In Goa, you cannot pay bills online as a foreigner with a foreign bank card. In Merida, you can. Actually you can take your lease to the electricity office in Merida as a tourist and get the bill changed to your name which allows you to prove your residence for other things you might want to do here like buying a new car.

Amenities in Merida compared to Goa

Many people have the same situation in both places where they hire people to help at their home to clean or do gardening.

There are people in both places that will help you with parking, pumping your gas, and other tasks – in India they are paid to do that and no one tips but in Merida you are meant to tip 5-10 pesos for this. Speaking of tips, Merida is a bigger tipping culture by far and when you pay on a card, it’s like the USA where you can choose what percent you want to give. In Goa, when you give 10% it’s really the max anyone would give and mostly just Americans who leave that. Many locals will not tip.

Healthcare & gym in Merida compared to Goa

Goa has loads of yoga classes and a few other ones like kick-boxing and Pilates. There are gyms as well – although many do not have A/C and are crowded.

In Merida, I would imagine the yoga is not as good but there are many gyms where you can get a private trainer very inexpensively. I am taking private pilates classes here on the reformer for the same price I took group classes in Goa on a mat.

There are country clubs here where you can join and do swimming or tennis and there is even a polo club. There are also random classes here like Zumba and Barre.

I found a fantastic masseuse to come to my house in Merida that is AMAZING but is $30 for an hour while in Goa I paid about $8.

Safety in Merida compared to Goa

Merida is said to be so safe that you can walk around any area at 4 am alone and not have a problem. I have found it to be incredibly safe so far and the locals have been nothing but friendly.

In Goa, I would not recommend going out drinking alone as a solo female traveler for SO many reasons which I’ve covered in this article about safety in Goa.

For Merida, I will never have to write such an article, as there just aren’t these kinds of issues.

I also find that the police in Merida are friendly and not out to “get you” whereas in Goa, they definitely were and were constantly taking bribes for no reason. In Merida, if you have a flat tire, you can expect the police to help you and of course, not take any money from you.

While Mexico has it’s own safety issues, they are cartel related and totally different from the issues in India, so impossible to compare. Merida and the state of Yucatan thankfully don’t have the cartel issues and this is a safe city and state.

People in Merida compared to Goa

I’ve always found people in Goa to be incredibly friendly. So far, that is the same here in Merida. I will say that Indians can be a little blunt – which I’ve shared about in stories in my This is India series before. Mexicans seem to be more polite and bubbly. Either way, they are really nice in both places. It’s too soon to compare. In Goa, of course, I encountered bad times with some people but I was there for 5 years. I haven’t been here long enough to have a bad encounter I don’t think.

Making friends in Merida compared to Goa

It took me a long time in Goa to find a group of girlfriends (who are now my best friends!). I don’t know if I’ll find that in Merida. Overall, Goa is FULL of young people and if you put yourself out there and party and go out, you’re going to make loads of friends. Merida is more digital nomads working online or retirees. There are meet-ups here for expats and it’s a very different vibe than in Goa. Let’s see how it goes!

Overall quality of Life in Merida compared to Goa

I guess it seems like I’m saying Merida is better – but I’m not. I’ve never said Goa was perfect or the best place to live but the lack of Western amenities and safe roads was always made up for with STUNNING sea views, amazing people and vibes, and just that “Goa Life” you can’t really imagine. Merida is a city, and of course has more “real life” vibes. I go to coffee shops to work. It’s just a totally different life – yet, there are empty stunning beaches here, too, and it’s a similar price point for most things here compared to Goa. I am loving living in Merida so far. It’s not that “hippie vibe” at all but it’s something new and I’m really enjoying be back in the real world for now. Of course, I miss Goa, and I think it’s going to be somewhere I go on long vacations every winter for probably the rest of my life!

For more India expat information, check out my This Is India series.

The post Being an Expat in India Compared to Mexico appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Many people get pre-trip travel anxiety which is relieved when they land in their destination, but others carry that anxiety while they are on vacation making it so they cannot truly relax and enjoy the moment. I want to talk about being nervous to travel or fly, being afraid to travel, and how to travel calmer so you can enjoy the moment.

You might see these carefree chilled-out travelers on Instagram or IRL on your trip and think “I wish I could feel that stress-free”. You can! If you are Type A and not naturally chilled out, you just have to prepare a bit so you can get to that zen state.

How to Travel Calmer and Avoid Travel Anxiety So You Can Actually Enjoy Your Trip

I have written about how I get anxiety before I travel which seemed to surprise a lot of people, but actually, it’s very common and many people feel uneasy before a trip. Some people even feel sick to their stomach from the nerves.

Travel anxiety is a mental thing, so for me, it’s all about calming my mind before a trip. To do that, I organize my mind first.

I know that sounds really weird but stick with me. I organize my mind then I organize my stuff for the trip. I start with running through the anxious thoughts I’m having and write them down. Am I worried I don’t have enough connection time at my layover? Am I worried that my luggage is overweight? Am I worried that the Airbnb I’m staying at isn’t in a safe part of town?

Basically, the way that I get over my anxiety and travel calmer is by addressing everything that is bothering me head-on. I use a luggage weigher and make sure my luggage is the right weight. I read forums to see if the area my Airbnb is in is safe and message my host to make sure someone will be there to meet me and let me in.

Preparation is key.

• Make sure your flight and hotel bookings are saved on your phone.
• Double check all the dates and timings.
• Make a list of what to pack. I love using the KonMari method to pack in an organized way.
• I make sure my travel documents are accessible like my travel insurance, my passport isn’t going to expire, and see if I need a visa.
• Have I done the things at home I need to do before I leave for the trip? Do I have a ride to the airport and did I give extra time in case there is traffic?
• Are you nervous to go alone? Consider planning the trip with a friend even if that means waiting until your friend is able to travel.
• Keep all the important stuff in one place so you know they are there. If you suddenly think “omg did I pack my passport?!”, you can quickly look in that pocket and see all your most important items.
• Do it all the day before you leave, not the day you leave.
• I also make sure my house is clean and in order before I leave so I don’t have to stress about that near the end of the trip.

Those are really the key things you need to have sorted out. Your paperwork, lodging, flights, and packing what you need. Somehow just going through it like a list will help you feel more relaxed because your mind will realize that you’ve DONE the things you need to do.

In severe cases of travel anxiety, you could even take photos of the things you are afraid you’ll forget to do at the house like turn on your curling iron. Then you can look at the photo later and know YES, I did turn it off. This is quite extreme, but if you worry that much then definitely try this out.

While you’re on the trip, having the things you needed packed and ready to go will make getting started with your day easier. You should pack only what you need and actually think about each outfit – pack the outfits that you love. Make sure your personal item tote bag on the plane has the things you need in it.

The more you plan, the less stress you’ll have. Here are my tips to plan a trip. Try to compartmentalize your trip into pieces and make a list. Start going through it all so that you can clearly see you ARE on top of things.

Read about your destination. Read personal blogs. Read safety tips. Download apps that will help you like Uber. Make sure you have internet access abroad by buying a SIM card at the airport or renting a hotspot to take with you on your trip.

Once you have gone through this and know that you are prepared, then STOP. Don’t keep going over it. Don’t keep checking your luggage or flight time. Do it once, and stop.

It’s time to enjoy the moment. Read a book you’ve been putting off while you’re on the plane. Watch a movie you’ve been dying to see. Try to enjoy the flight journey as part of the adventure. I recommend avoiding alcohol and coffee on the plane as well as excessive sugar. Some people swear by using [easyazon_link identifier=”B075W9KL7G” locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]weighted travel blankets[/easyazon_link] and I bet that does work considering being under a heavy duvet is the best feeling ever.

Focus on anything other than the trip and if you feel anxious, take deep breaths and go back to reading your book, listening to your favorite music, or whatever you are distracting yourself with. Some people say you can tense every part of your body one by one for 10 seconds then release starting at your feet and working your way up to ease anxiety or distract yourself. You can also snack which for me cures everything, haha.

On the trip, once you arrive, you’ll already have everything sorted and most of the stress behind you. It’s time to TRY to relax. If you are an anxious person, avoid coffee. Meet friends and get out of your hotel room. If you are worried about getting lost, use Google maps and if you don’t have internet take a screenshot of the map, download the offline version, and carry a business card with the address of the hotel on it.

Always carry $50 USD with you so that in any case, you can hop into a taxi and get back to your hotel. Knowing that you can just get back to your hotel at any time is a nice way to relax!

These are some tips I use to ease travel anxiety and be able to enjoy the moment while I’m abroad. I hope these will help you travel calmer, too! When you travel while feeling totally carefree it’s pure bliss! Pin how to travel calmer for later:

The post How to Travel Calmer and Enjoy the Moment appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

My feet are getting itchy again – and I’m dying to go somewhere totally new! This last year, I did some traveling in North India, Singapore, Malaysia, and the typical USA/UK trips but I didn’t really go crazy compared to the year before where I think I went to Finland, Bali, Morocco, Israel, and Latvia just in the winter.

The biggest reason for it wasn’t that I was bored of traveling or ran out of money – it was that it was my last season in Goa and I really wanted to spend time in India. But, now that I’ve moved to Merida and am enjoying getting totally embedded into a new culture, I’m ready to go explore again.

I will say, I am a bit pickier than I used to be. As a travel blogger, I get invitations to go on trips a lot. At one point two years ago, I took on a handful of writers who I sent in my place to Nepal, Maldives, Luxembourg, and even sailing a luxury yacht around the Greek islands. But, after a year, I decided I really didn’t want to just send people on trips just to get content added to my blog and ended it.

Just this week, I have had invitations to Thailand, Sri Lanka, Uttarakhand, and several luxury hotels. Most don’t work out time-wise and others aren’t the type of travel I do (ie: bird-watching or a camping trip). But, I do have some travels planned (ish). I’m only going to say the ones that are confirmed because I fully believe in jinxing myself, but there are a couple more fun trips added into these.

June: Merida

This month I am staying put in Merida, well the month is almost over now – but we had our first month living here and loved it. We are seeing some towns nearby in the Yucatan but mostly staying put.

July: Atlanta

Just a quick stop in Atlanta for a couple of days to do some residency paperwork and have a meeting with the Mexican consulate. Anyone know of a great boutique hotel or Airbnb in ATL? I also am hoping to meet up with my (now) friend Naveen, who runs Next Vacay. I’ve worked with him on promotions for his amazing flight deals for three years and we’ve become friends, so it’ll be great to finally meet in person if he’s not off traveling the world.

July: Ohio

As always, I head home to see family in July. I am going for two weeks and Ben is coming with me. He hasn’t been to Ohio in a couple of years and actually hasn’t met a lot of my friends so it’s going to be fun: heading up to the lake with my dad’s fishing boat, having cook-outs, going shopping lol (sorry Ben), and hanging with my friends that still live in Ohio. We’ve luckily found a great dog sitter here in Merida! She came by and met our pouches and they were all totally in love.

August: Panama and Costa Rica

As soon as I got to our new home in Yucatan and really studied the map, I was like holy crap, I could drive to Belize and Guatemala in half a day. I decided then that I really needed to take a couple of weeks and go somewhere in Central America. I reached out to my best travel blogging buddy who lives up in Norway, Heart My Backpack, and begged her to come along – but I woke up to a very excited message that she would freaking love to. Yay! Girls trip in the making… We met in Finland and are just about as weird as each other, lol (jk, Silv!). We decided based on reading all of Alex in Wanderland’s Central America blog posts that we needed to focus on Panama and then cross over into Costa Rica at the end. Nothing is planned yet except for that. I really wanted to go to Guatemala and Nicaragua first but between a serious volcano eruption in the first and news of impending civil war in the second, with other bloggers saying it was unsafe and they had to leave the country, I figured I can wait and go there next time.

September: TBEX in Finger Lakes, NY

So some crazy last minute news is that I am speaking at TBEX. TBEX is a travel blogging conference held in a few places around the world each year. I am speaking on outsourcing with Alex and Angie (from AngieAway). I am so excited to be on a panel with them and excited to go network now that I live in North America and can finally work with some tourism boards that were just too far away from India to make a quick week-long trip. I went to TBEX in Bangkok, their first in Asia, about 3 years ago but have heard the North America ones are the best so cannot wait to check it out.

November: India

Still looking at going to Inida in November. If I have other trips come up, it could be pushed back to January. I am excited to be working with a hotel I’ve partnered with before there on a campaign in Madhya Pradesh (and fingers crossed I finally see a tiger). I also want to go somewhere that readers ask about a lot and after really thinking about it I think you guys want content on Calcutta, Darjeeling, and Sikkim. So I’ll likely spend two weeks there then head down to Goa to see friends for a week or so. Ben has work in India in Mumbai, Chennai, and Pune so probably will head over to India together.

I’m excited about all my upcoming trips!

I think there are two other trips that will come to fruition, one this summer, and one the end of September, both in the USA. Between all the travel, I look forward to exploring the Yucatan more and going to check out some (from what I hear, touristy) places on the Caribbean coast like Cancun and Playa Del Carmen but also some lesser known places like Isla Mujeres and Bacalar. I also want to travel around Mexico and Ben wants to hit up Mexico City for the Grand Prix in early November. So lots to do, but also want to enjoy our gorgeous rental home in Merida and build a house (lol, so little time).

Do you have any fun summer plans coming up? Is there somewhere else in India I haven’t been you think I should go to instead of Calcutta. Tell me about it!

The post Where to Next? My Upcoming Travel Plans for Summer/Fall ’18 appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Time flies and it’s been a month since we moved from India on the 22nd May to come to Mexico. I know I haven’t really been sharing much, and I apologize although I’m sure you haven’t even noticed! My mom did, though, so that’s something ;)

Moving to Merida

I thought I’d just have a chat and tell you what we’ve been up to, how the move went, and what our new place is like here in Merida. I know I didn’t give much of a heads-up before we left then kind of fell off the face of the earth, which was a “bad blogger” of me to do. But, life definitely gets in the way sometimes.

The Actual Move

The move itself went pretty smooth – and actually as good as could be expected since we brought our 3 pets with us. We didn’t fly here together due to regulations with the pets so I got in a couple days before Ben. That gave me time to find the nearest OXXO and eat about 10 hotdogs (sorry, not sorry). The people working at OXXO probably said no dogs allowed since I took Shanti in with me – but my Spanish is still “muy mal” so I just smiled at them. Jk, sort of.

We stayed in a great Airbnb in Centro (the center of town). This is a gorgeous city with colorful colonial buildings from back when the Spanish were here. The little streets are so pretty and the many of the homes here are renovated architectural gems. They are really stunning. We stayed at this particular one for a week – they allowed pets which was great. It had a pool and was perfect. Then after a week, we moved into our 6 month rental in Norte (the North part of the city).

Our Neighborhood & House

At first, we thought it might have been a mistake going North as we really loved being in Centro, able to walk the dogs every morning to the park and walk to basically anywhere we wanted. It was really nice and convenient. It also got us out of the house a lot – in fact, I didn’t even have a chance to work or watch TV because we were always doing something fun in town. We ate local food all day and night and it was delicious! I could pop into the local markets and there is always some kind of festival going on.

But, we now love the North! It’s a $3 Uber into town 15 minutes if we want to go to Centro – but here we are also near where we do all our errands (Chedraui, Walmart, Sams Club, Costco, the Mall, you name it…) and we live within a 5 minute walk to all of these places I should not be going to Dairy Queen, Krispy Cream, TGIF, McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr. The list goes on and on. Luckily, there are also loads of Yucatan style food places around here like little Pastor places and we get our fill of tacos.

It’s really safe and I can walk around any time of day here. We can walk the dogs around the neighborhood and haven’t had any encounters with stray dogs (which is great since in Goa it was impossible to walk our dogs due to that, and dogfights ensuing).

We actually live across the street from the best movie theater in Merida. They give you a blanket to take to your giant reclining leather seats. When you want food, you just hit the button on your seat and they take your order – 2 tickets on Wednesdays (their 2 for 1 day) is 140 pesos ($7). I actually went to see Amy Schumer’s new movie by myself, lol. I don’t exactly have friends yet!

This is at Local 59, in centro, really tasty brunch

Our house is AMAZING. I already shared an album of photos on Facebook you can click here to see but I’ll put a couple more below. I said the rent on Facebook so might as well repeat it here. It’s 21,000 MXN per month. This is a high rent for Merida but this is a kick-ass house. That’s around $1,050. It includes a weekly housekeeper, biweekly groundskeeper, and pool cleaner. Like India, here, you have a lot of staff to help take care of your home, although most people here have a housekeeper weekly or biweekly come the entire day, while in India, they have someone come daily for a few hours.

mi casa!

we have papaya and bananas plus the neighbors oranges fall onto our side :)

We have had to buy some things when we moved in, like a TV, which Ben has been dying to get for years. We also stocked up our pantry and such – so spent a big amount at Sam’s Club but are finally all settled in. It’s literally 100% like being in the states here – it’s so modern, it’s so clean, it’s so just orderly and you can get anything you need.

It’s funny because on Facebook groups for expats here, I joined months back just to see what people complained about. I expected to face so many challenges plus according to them, basically, nothing we are used to in the USA is found here. I have found that to be totally not the case. So far, I haven’t been able to find a Swiffer but found a decent replacement, grape jelly (but maybe that’s for the best), and an affordable quality pool float (why are they a million dollars here!? – but I got one from Amazon USA).

Here is a random shot of the groceries you can get in Merida:

TIP: Moving to Merida? You can use Amazon USA to order things here. Some items are kind of novelty here: Kitchenaid mixer ($700 USD), pool floats (swear to god, $200 online), steam mop ($300)… and for example, I saw the steam mop I wanted on Amazon USA (not the Mexican site) for $50. If you sort by international deliveries with Amazon Global, you can have them deliver and pay the customs upfront. I paid $30 for shipping and customs on the mop. I also got two pool floats ($35 in total and one’s a donut with a bite out of it, so cute). It all came fine and on time. Basically, if the customs is more than they think, they take the hit. If it’s less, you get refunded. AND $75 was still a hell of a lot cheaper than a steam mop purchase in Mexico. By the way, I’m so domesticated now that I use a steam mop.

What We’ve Been Doing

We have been totally re-energized moving here. We wake up early, walk the dogs, I make smoothies (seriously), and we usually work in the mornings. I lounge in the pool a bit. We eat normal lunch food like turkey sandwiches (you can get all the normal lunch food here!). We cook more. I even bought a crock pot and make Pinterest recipes now. I baked cookies! It’s just so many things we didn’t do in Goa. We do go out to dinner a lot still.

Ben’s mom send my sunflowers for my birthday! They are my favorite flower and it was so nice – thanks, Alex!

some homemade meals – lasagna was yummy!

We tend to see a movie a week so far, haha. We go into town for drinks around 4 sometimes to see live music and bar hop on weeknights. When you drink at the cantinas, they give you free snacks. The more you drink, the better the snacks get – by the end of it, they’re bringing out free tacos! There’s always markets and cool stuff going on during the weekends, too, so we are usually out and about. We saw an awesome Beatles’ cover band and it’s just nice to have music other than Goa’s Psytrance.

We have tried TONS of popular restaurants here (for blog research, of course) and have been up to San Cristano, which is meant to be one of the best stretches of beach about 30 minutes from us. I found an awesome masseuse that comes to the house and a great nearby hair salon, Kate Miasik. You can get ALL the USA brand beauty products here as well. The mall has like Clinique, Mac, Bumble & Bumble, etc.

I started pilates class on the reformer which has been awesome and I love actually doing some exercise. Ben and I want to join a club near our house so we can join and play tennis. I might even take lessons because I SUCK at tennis, lol. There is SO much to do here. I’ve met up with some cool bloggers and girls I met on Facebook (sounds weird, but it’s kind of a great way to get out there and meet people). I’ve been cool people in bars and stayed in touch. We plan on seeing some baseball games here; the team is the Leon’s and Ben has never seen a baseball “match” as he calls them.

My friend Tia’s mom, Natti (you know, Natti’s Naturals in Goa?) just visited us from Tulum for the weekend so it was nice to already see a Goa face here. We went to IHOP, lol. Like in India how in Goa we were secluded and would go to Mumbai or Bangalore for some Western life, she did the same with coming from Tulum to Merida. How funny.

Learning Spanish

You MUST learn Spanish here. Wow, we are like idiots trying to do anything. I would say 90% of people we encounter don’t speak English. This is so different from India and something we took for granted in India. I luckily have some High School Spanish in the back of my brain, resurfacing. Ben, not so much. But, we are getting by.

I plan to start some classes with Spanish55 who offered me (as a blogger) and Ben each a free 1-hour private online class each month for 6 months. I don’t know what 6 hours can do over 6 months but we’ll see.

I plan on taking real classes here too, but really need to find a private tutor. The University is so cheap (like $120 for a semester) but I travel so much and would miss too many classes to take it seriously and I’m too OCD to take a class and not try to get an A (and a gold star sticker if they are giving those out).

Since everyone speaks Spanish, we are learning a bit each and every day. Sentences will come out of my mouth that afterward, I think: “holy cow, how did I know to say that!?” Other times, we struggle for 20 minutes (no exaggeration) trying to order a pizza over the phone.

Is the Heat Really Too Much to Handle?

We were told the heat was unbearable and the humidity is something no one can stand. We were also told mosquitos would eat us alive and ants would run our kitchen. While it is hot, it’s nothing like Goa in April/May. It’s 100% normal bearable heat – honestly, nothing more than an Ohio summer. The humidity has been under 60% so far while it’s 100% in Goa and even, I kid you not, Ohio! So, I haven’t found it too hot. In Centro, the ants and mosquitos are annoying but outside of there, it’s totally fine. I haven’t gotten one bite (which is good, because they do carry Zika here) and I haven’t seen any ants in the kitchen. Kitkat kills cockroaches for us – but other than that, no critters here!

It’s rainy season, but it’s rained maybe two nights and during the day a few times, lasting just an hour or so each time. Very light drizzles, not huge storms and downpours. Coming from years of Goa’s monsoon, this is nothing. In fact, we miss the monsoon!

We have had one power outage but it wasn’t due to a storm, it was some technical issue with a neighbor that took the street out. Mostly, the issues we had in Goa as expats living in a small village don’t exist here.

Instead, we have the issue of this being a city that follows laws and you cannot just bribe here and there like in Goa (driving cars without papers and license), etc.

Here, we need to do things properly and we need to learn Spanish!

Becoming Residents & Driving

So, we do have a rental car here and we cannot buy and register a used car until we are residents.

If you search online for a car rental in Merida, Cancun, and many other places in Mexico, you’ll find them for 50 cents a day. We booked for $7 for two weeks when we got here. Basically, everyone under the sun will say “it’s not real, you have to pay more when you get there, you’re an idiot thinking it’s real!” But, you guys – it’s real.

We’ve done it three times now. You just have to book through Kayak, or lately directly through Mex Rentacar and make sure it says the rental includes the 750,000 MXN liability insurance which is mandatory in Mexico and IS included on all rentals (but you need to make sure it’s listed in your booking or they try to upsell you on it). They also tried to lie at first and say the law is 1,000,000 MXN but after asking him to prove that to me, he dropped it.

Next is the CDW insurance – if your credit card at home covers you, you just need a letter from your bank’s benefits team saying so. You can then decline all coverage. I am with Chase Sapphire Reserve and they gave me one in two minutes when I asked. I put Ben on my credit card as an authorized user, so he has his own card with his name on it, and he can rent then as the primary driver and is covered with my insurance. They will try to make you take the car rental insurance but you have to be firm. Europcar basically told us no way, we had to take it, so we just left and rebooked at Mex Rentar. You just reserve online and don’t pay until you get there so it’s fine.

Anway, we did it 3 times, no issues but it’s annoying so we cannot wait to buy a car. To do so, we have to become residents. I’ll be writing a whole blog post about becoming residents. I have an appointment in Atlanta in July at the Mexican Consolute (none in Ohio) and will stop there on my way to Ohio with Ben. Even he could have done his interview there, IF he had his paperwork notarized in UK, which we didn’t do. It’s harder to get approved being self-employed so I’m a little nervous but will just take literally way too much extra bank paperwork and such to make sure I’m prepared.

Once we get the interview done, we have 30 days to register this in Mexico at the immigration office to actually be temporary residents (which is apparently a pain). In a year, we have to renew, and can renew up to 4 years. Then, if we stay on, we have to transfer and apply to permanent residency. Then we can pay into the government healthcare and other benefits.

As temporary residents, we can take that and a bill in our name to go register a car we’ve bought and got insurance for it. We can also get health insurance here in Mexico rather than paying expat health insurance which is really expensive.

The information online about residency makes it seem incredibly hard and like you need to hire a third party to do it. So, I guess we will find out as I’m going to try on my own and see if I can make it work.

What We Miss From India

Our friends! My bestie, Tia, is about to have a baby and my other BFF, Amy, and her daughter Ava I really miss. Priyanka and Rishab and all the people we always hang out with are so missed! We miss Babu and Leena, Ryance, and Sonu, literally everyone. I miss puppy, the little pup that hung out at our house and we talked Sonu into adopting – they are BFF’s now so it’s perfect.

We miss the monsoon and our home, and the chilled out jungle vibes. I love Goa and I’ll miss it a lot. I will be back there soon. I JUST updated the Goa ebook with all the changes that happened last season (this winter) and it’s got loads of new information in it. Nothing happens during the monsoon (and if it did I would see from all the friends of mine on Facebook who post about everything new in Goa!) but when I go back, I’ll check out any new places that open for next season and add them, too.

What’s Next | Building a House

We hope to build a house here! We have looked at land but have not had much time to really dive into this. I think in August we will get more time to really think about. It’s likely we will extend this house rental to a year instead of six months.

What’s going on with the blog? Are you even traveling anymore!?

I am still blogging and traveling! Not only that, but I have loads of trips and projects lined up that I cannot wait to share. But, this post is already far too long, so I’ll put it in a post for Monday. Stay tuned!

The post Update: One Month After Moving to Merida appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I have a series on my blog called Ask Me Anything and I keep track of reader questions that I get over and over and slowly answer them with a full blog post. So, many of you email saying something like, “How to fly so much? How do you deal with taking so many exhausting long-haul flights? Do you want to quit traveling sometimes?” I’ll answer that and give some tips for long flights. 

Tips for Long Flights:

“How do you deal with taking so many long flights every year? Don’t you ever get tired and want to stop traveling?”

I get exhausted from them just like anyone else and I haven’t become immune to that. It doesn’t get so bad that I want to stop traveling but I have taken breaks from travel for a month or two at a time because the idea of going back to an airport is too unappealing.

I hate flying… I hate getting ready, going to the airport, the whole experience. I’m not chilled out until I’m at a cafe near my gate and can see the name of the city I’m headed to – so I know I’m in the right place. On flights with 5 layovers, this is really tiring. Having anxiety while traveling and being a travel blogger seem like it doesn’t make sense, but it’s actually not that unusual as many people feel this way.

My mom and I recently went from Ohio to Florida and back and that required a layover. This is such a simple journey. So imagine, a restless night afraid my alarm won’t go off, waking up at 6 am, an hour drive to the airport, getting through security and chilling for two hours, the flight, layover chill out, another flight, then getting a rental car and driving to the hotel in Florida… it’s kind of tiring and we didn’t reach until nearly 4 pm. That is a long day to go just from Ohio to Florida – 10 hours – and that is probably the shortest flight route I did all year.

On the way back to India this year I flew: Myrtle Beach to Charlotte to Toronto to Amsterdam to Mumbai to Goa. That’s five flights over nearly two days.

I do these types of journeys a LOT maybe every 2-3 months I do a really big flight. Sometimes I stay in a hotel at the airport to break it up and sometimes there isn’t enough time to even try to nap.

Flying in India always involves flying to Mumbai or Delhi first and because of flight times it usually means taking the latest flight out of Goa at 10 or 11 pm, and waiting at the Mumbai airport for international flights that go out at 5 or 6 am. Not quite long enough for a hotel sleep! So, I start most of my journeys tired before I even leave India.

A lot of people who fly mostly domestically still find it stressful, boring, and tiresome and I do too – so these long ones require a few days to deal with jet lag on a new time zone.

So people do ask me how I manage to take so many a year when they suck so bad, how I still feel energized for more trips when they take a month to recover from their tiring beach vacation.

I get it! Travel is so hard sometimes. It can be draining bopping around all over and it means when you get home you’re likely behind on work and chores.

I do still feel up for more travel usually, although like to take at least 3 weeks between big trips. Last year, after I went to Israel, England, Latvia, and Morocco in one go, I realized that I would never have made it as a “digital nomad”. I mean, how would I ever get work done!? I was so tired that I took two months off and stayed in India before my very long trip to Finland.

But, although I don’t mind the flights too much, there is a limit and once I reach it there’s not much that can get me on a trip. I was invited to a beautiful overwater villa on an island in the Caribbean last year for a THREE-night stay (and would have been paid). That would take like 20 hours to reach each way – I was too tired to extend the trip and travel around that area, so I turned it down. I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it at all and would be jetlagged the whole first day there.

Because I was based in India, I realized I was turning down a lot of offers for press trips due to distance and time traveling. That is part of why I hired writers to go in my place.

How to make the flights more bearable

I’ll share a few tips on what I do to make the most of these long journeys. Some people say that you should try to match your sleep up to the right time zone, but I go by the philosophy of “more sleep is always better” so I will never try to stay awake so I can sleep on a plane. I sleep as much as possible before a flight and on it (I am lucky to be able to sleep on a plane). Then if I arrive somewhere and it’s night time, I go to sleep! haha – the more the better. If I can’t sleep on a plane then at least I had a good sleep before boarding and I remind myself that I can sleep when I reach and just make the best of the plane ride by watching movies.

I pretend there is no food and drink service on all the flights I take – and come prepared. I bring water and try to get a sandwich in the airport. That way, I don’t have to have a tray sitting in front of me for an hour while I want to go back to sleep but am waiting for them to collect, and waste time that could be spent sleeping for a crappy airplane meal.

I only have coffee before a flight if it’s a morning flight for a short trip where I stay in the same time zone (or close to it).

I also make sure I have done all the work I need to do before boarding, pack everything I need in my personal bag (toiletries and fully charged electronics: a good book, movie, and TV shows on my tab), and make sure I’m nice and clean and freshly showered so I feel good! It doesn’t hurt to also wear an outfit that you feel comfy and fab in.

I try to book international flights at night time so I can pretend like I am just going to bed, but even for international day flights I try to “go to bed”. It’s the only way to make time pass faster. I do wear an eye mask, earplugs if they are on the plane, socks, and my TRTL pillow to get fully comfortable. I’m often already wearing all that, ready to go to sleep, before the plane takes off.

How I sleep on the plane…

In this case, above, I’ve let my legs a bit free because it’s just Ben sitting next to me, haha but normally I keep them under me and much more tucked up so I’m not in anyone else’s space.

I sleep a little weird, but it doesn’t invade anyone’s space. Promise! And I only do this on long-haul flights where the lights are out and everyone is sleeping.

Basically, I stand backward facing the back of the plane in front of my seat then sit on my knees, then scooch my butt to the side, and turn my head to the other side and wrap in a blanket so I’m kind of like a swaddled baby. No little bumps will wake me and I’m not even touching the armrests on either side or bothering anyone. I’m actually not that flexible and it still seems to work out. Being curled up on a ball just helps me sleep so much better and I don’t get swollen feet/ankles.

My neighbors even get extra leg space out of it since my legs are tucked up. I can stay like this for like 10 hours (I know, it’s mental). When I wake up my neck and knees hurt, but I’ll probably do this until my body rejects it or I gain weight. If you’re smallish like I am, give it a try! I also love my TRTL pillow for when I face forward (when my legs fall asleep, ha ha, and I have to put them down like a normal person). I wrote a review of it here.

Read more on flying:

• How to book the cheapest international flight
• Review of Kiwi.com (my favorite booking site)
• Travel outfit ideas for planes
• Best pillow for flying

The post Ask Me Anything: How Do You Deal with Taking Long Flight Journeys (Like USA to India) Multiple Times a Year? appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

You know how when someone loses weight or changes but you see them every day, you don’t really notice it? I feel like I woke up in Goa every day for 5 years and I don’t think anything of it – yet, when I think about the fact I lived in India for over 5 years, I am a little shocked! It’s hard to believe I first came here in 2012, and now in 2018, I’m looking back at these 5 years of traveling around India to share with you some of my favorite memories from my time here.

I’m not usually sentimental but with so many changes coming up in my life moving to Mexico, I’ve been reflecting on my time here quite a lot. I’d love to share my memories with you! I know on social media, I’ve been posting about my new house in Mexico and how excited we are to live here BUT we DO miss Goa and India! I decided to sum up some of my favorite memories from the past 6 years of traveling there. I’m also looking forward to being back there in November.

My Favorite Memories of Traveling and Living in India So Far

When I think about the first time that I felt incredibly happy in India, I go back to the first time I cried happy tears here (yeah, that’s something I do). It was after a few days in Udaipur. I’d only been in India for about a week and I was walking outside of a temple at night when I came across some people doing a traditional performance. There were tons of people and it was all synchronized: so many colors, so much noise, and so many happy faces. I was like “wow, I don’t know what this is but it’s amazing!”.

I’ve seen so many performances since then that have brought tears to my eyes, some insanely epic like the Soliga tribe in Karnataka or the Apatani tribe in Ziro Valley. Sometimes it is even just a kid singing and his dad playing the flute, begging, outside of Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur. I mean, even a puppet show once got me all choked up!

I love seeing traditional performances, even though sometimes they are maybe inauthentic and put on for tourists. I’ve seen all different kinds and for sure, it’s some of my happiest thoughts of India!

If I really press myself to see when is the happiest I’ve ever felt in India, it takes me back to the first two weeks I spent in Goa when I met Ben in 2012. I picture floating in the sea in Palolem, having a candle-lit dinner at Thalassa (back when it was a small non-partying restaurant), and driving around with the windows down in Ben’s nano (which yes, we crashed). I picture our road trip to Hampi, where Babu drove us – unbeknownst to me, Babu was going to become a good friend and I’d get to know his whole family over the years. He asked to bring his friend, Ryance. Ryance is a good friend (and was our neighbor) as well now, and watched our dogs when we went out of town. Every time there is a dog in our village who needs help we team up with Ryance to figure out what to do. At those times, back in 2012, I didn’t know I’d be moving to Goa and it was all just “vacation”.

The night before Diwali at Babu’s

yes the kids are playing Grand Theft Auto at our house, no they aren’t drinking beer lol

One time, we were in Kovalam and Ben and I had been out in the big wave there body surfing for hours. I got fried bright red like a tomato. Babu started walking out to us and was going to give it a go. The lifeguards went up to him and told him something – and he started waving us in. He said, “there are sharks!”. There were not but the lifeguards just saw Babu and assumed he would drown so told him there were sharks, lol.

When we visited Hampi, we bought a boat. This is one of my favorite stories from India and one that I wrote about for the newspaper in Goa when I first started writing! Those were the days, ha! I had just been backpacking around India and was feeling tired, tired of traveling and of being ripped off. Ben was what I called a “breath of fresh air”. He saw India in such a positive light as an expat in Goa and thank God I got to see it that way, too, to round out my trip here. We went to Hampi and went out in the traditional coracle boats and Ben jokingly told our 7-year-old driver that he’d like to buy the boat.

The kid was immediately on it and said he wanted to take us to the boat makers. They said they’d make us a brand new boat for 7,000 rupees. Ben gave the child the money under the promise they would deliver the boat to Goa. Keep in mind, we are 8 hours from there and there was no proof we gave a kid any money.

Look at Ben stroking his chin in thought, lol

The boat showed up three days later. They forgot the paddle, but they sent that along later, too. The kid came on a local bus! It’s still so wild that the boat showed up – and it was such a magical India moment!

My parents visiting is another huge chunk of amazing memories. I loved showing them Goa and think it would have really sucked if they never came to visit and be able to see the places and people I’m always talking about on Skype. We also went to Mumbai and showed them the city vibes in India as well as Hampi so they could see the temples and rural towns along the way. They were here for Christmas and we had a ton of fun. It was also nice for them to get to know Ben better since they’ve actually only met three times.

My friends Vince, Ann, Britani, and Amanda all visited as well and we had so much fun. Ben had friends visit as well as family. It is always fun to host people and show them where we’ve been calling home for so long.

My first Thanksgiving in India, Ben (being English and not knowing how big of a deal this was) said: “I’ll make Thanksgiving dinner!” Now, keep in mind we had a toaster oven. That is all – a tiny little toaster oven. Now, it’s hard to cook a chicken (no turkeys here last minute) and be able to make anything else. It’s always hard to make green bean casserole when you don’t have canned green beans, French’s fried onions, and Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup. He made it all from scratch and it was damn good! Even a copy-cot Stouffer’s stuffing recipe. He actually did it again a few years late when my friend Ann visited.

The Omni van is such a fun memory. Oh, the nostalgia of that – as it now sits dead in my driveway with the trunk rusted off and mold growing up the sides. When I was first in Goa, I had been in the Omni. It was Babu’s taxi. When Babu bought a new car, Ben offered to buy the Omni for around $900. He told me when I was out of town and said: “let’s drive it to the mountains!”. I was like erm, no.

The Omni grew on me…. to the point where I loved this car. When I came to Goa, I had to learn to drive and the Omni was my way around town. It didn’t have A/C, a radio, the windows didn’t work, the doors in the back were held on by rope. It doesn’t have power-steering so learning to do stick-shift in a car without power-steering and avoiding crazy drivers and cows, was tiring!

The Omni was a hoot because in India, they are taxis and you just VERY rarely see a foreigner driving an Omni so when Indians saw me and my friends driving around, they would honk and laugh at us – and my friends and I loved it when we would go out at night. Ben would do donuts in parking lots and we could just throw the dogs in the back to go to the beach. One time, the Omni broke down on Panjim bridge and we had to push it halfway across while traffic stopped on our side of the road and everyone, everyone was honking.

So, weirdly seeing my first python in the wild is such a fun memory! Ben, our best friend Rishab, and I were in our Omni van when we slowed down for a speed breaker. We thought hmm, this is a new one! But, as we got closer saw it was an (at least) 8-foot python. Of course, videos had to be made. This was just the first sighting, though. I have seen at least a dozen over the years – most either in my backyard or the alley right outside my house – even where I park my car, taking my parking spot! I love the wildlife here: Cobras in the trashcans, a baby python under our couch on Christmas, and monkeys literally on our balcony every other day.

On my first birthday in Goa, in June, when I’d been here just one month I walked downstairs and Ben and Babu said, “let’s get a dog”. We got two. Huckleberry Finn and Piso (which means crazy in Konkani, the local language). Those first few days of having a labrador and a golden retriever crawl all over me were the best – until Piso got sick. Piso had parvo-virus and it was a tragic loss that was maybe the worst week of my life at that point. We had to put him down Then, Huck got sick. It was also parvo… they were long days and nights of feeding him through a syringe.

He somehow recovered and I had a year with him as my best buddy. Ben was often working in Kerala and I didn’t have a lot of friends yet – Huck was literally the bomb. I would walk with him around the Wednesday market or up to a restaurant and feed him prawns under the table. But, at a year old, fully vaccination, he died from rabies. That became the worst week of my life and actually still is, looking back. I don’t think there could be a worse way to lose a dog. A friend who visited wrote a blog post about him – he was the coolest dog that ever lived.

Right before Huck died, we got a kitten. Ben was the one who wanted him – he was all alone and would have surely died at just a few weeks old. The cat was obsessed with me. I really didn’t like him. Huck loved him, though! He would carry him around in his mouth and take him around the house. Eventually, I loved the cat and I was glad he was there when Huck died.

Huck and the cat… he was so tiny

A few months later, Ben found Shanti on the beach in Goa. I went down there on the train and saw the dog. I said “cute but we aren’t keeping him – I can’t stand to have another dog die”. I went back to Goa. Another favorite memory is when my doorbell rang at 4 in the morning and there was a random Keralan guy there with a cage and Shanti was inside. He had been sent by Ben on the train 17 hours to bring me the dog. I thought I’m going to kill Ben but then I thought Ben is basically the best… Shanti was the most spoiled dog in Goa and everyone loves her.

I went up to NE India once, a year later, and got a call from Ben. There was a dog hiding under the Omni because there were some fireworks. I told him I was not kidding – he wasn’t keeping that dog. He kept him outside and when I came back I felt bad and let him in the house. We kept him. His name is Omni.

Our house was always revolving with pets, some we just took care of temporarily. All of our pets have brought me such happiness in India!

Shanti was actually taken care of a lot by our friend Azad. Ben has known Az for at least 8 years. He is a rickshaw driver in Kovalam but he’s also our good friend and comes to stay with us for the weekend each season with his friends. The first time I met Az, he was dropping me off at the mall in his rickshaw in Kochi, Kerala and I said “okay, I’ll meet you in an hour” and he said, “I’ll just be bowling…”. So, I found him at the bowling alley and we bowled. He was hilarious and I thought, wow I can see why Ben likes him so much. One time we all went ice skating…

Azad got a job working for Ben on the reefs. He spoke English well but picked up so many phrases from Ben’s workers on the job who were Kiwis, so he talked like that. He calls me and says, “Rachel, broooo, how are you?” One of the funniest memories of Azad is a silly story when he was going to pick up food for the crew. He was going to get Subways subs. Ben said to get turkey subs and Az called “Bro.. no turkey bro.” Ben said okay, get ham then. Az then asks the guy behind the counter for ham and says to Ben, “Bro, no ham, bro!”. Ben’s like “what, okay, what do they have?”. Az asked then told Ben, “Bro chicken only bro… mcchicken”. Ben’s like “BRO you are at McDonald’s”. Az has made me laugh til I cry so many times until we said goodbye in Mumbai when we left for Mexico, then we all really cried.

When I look back at my travels as a backpacker, I remember how little I knew about India. I was hitchhiking, Couchsurfing, and not really thinking about the “dangers of India” but those are some of my best memories because I didn’t know the dark side of India and didn’t have a care in the world. I literally did no research before I came here, on my own, and wandered around without much of a plan and little money. I am so glad I did that before I moved here, because not only was it a unique way to travel here, but I had so experiences I would probably be afraid to take again. These days, I read the news in India and know the dark side so I really feel grateful that I came here naive at first. I definitely got ripped off but I also saw the kindness of strangers over and over again when I needed it.

six years ago, my friend Chloe I met in Delhi

Some of the best travels I have had while living here have been the month I spent in Karnataka with a tour company called GoMowgli. One month in a state that wasn’t that well-traveled by foreigners – it was so unique and not only did I see cool things, they were things that weren’t really being written about online and it helped my blog grow a lot. I spent half of that month in such rural towns and saw a very new side to India. I remember a boy handing me a baby goat he was carrying home. It had just been born in the field hours before. It was then I decided I loved baby goats and picked them up every chance I had after that!

This post is so much longer than I intended and I feel like I haven’t even gotten into the travel memories: listening to the Dalai Lama speak, trying opium with a man from the Bishnoi tribe at his home, drinking tea in -5 degree temperatures with female monks at their nunnery in Tawang, playing duck duck goose and taking selfies with monks in Bomdila, NE India, trying my first bhang lassi RIGHT BEFORE going on a freaking camel safari… 

…Sunrise from the Ganges while people cremated their loved ones along the Ghats, lounging on a houseboat in the backwaters of Kerala, going to babu’s village for festivals, riding the INSANE slow local train in Mumbai at rush hour (video), celebrating Holi (video), learning Thai massage (and doing it as a career for a year), going on safaris…

Staying in an ashram, that one time I was in a music video about Malana cream, which I am not linking to, having a meal with tens of thousands of people at the Golden Temple, babysitting a baby monkey with Ben (he changed the diaper), bathing an elephant at a sanctuary..

[fvehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS0XJHAP_tU[/fve]

I had made life-long friends living in India and really I just feel really lucky to got to call another country and culture a second home. I think that I’ll always consider India a second home even as I leave and head to Mexico. I still see myself traveling it more in-depth even when I’m old and retired. I hope you enjoyed reading some of my random memories about living in India.

The post Some of My Coolest Memories of Living in India appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

The last time I went to the US, in February, was to renew my visa after my 5-year visa expired. It’s hard to believe I moved to Goa that long ago, and have been in India overall (as a traveler) since 2012. As you might have seen, I am leaving India and moving to Mexico! But I’ve been reflecting a lot on my time in Goa, what I’ve learned living here, and how I’ve changed for the better.

Going from working as a nurse and living in uptown Charlotte to living in Goa in a small village in basically the jungle with no job was quite a 180 for me as you can imagine. I’ve changed A LOT since I moved here and it was pretty gradually. I didn’t realize it until I really sat down compared how I was back in 2011/2012 living in the US to now.

How Living in Goa Changed Me (and Some Ways It Hasn’t) + What I’ve Learned

Goa is a really chilled out beach town right on the edge of the jungle. It’s stolen my heart completely and although I am moving away, it will always be a home to me. Living here was paradise, but living in India, in general, does come with some challenges. Here are some ways that living in Goa has changed me and things I have learned from living here that I will take with me when I go.

Life can be so much more simple than we make it.

The thing that I think has changed the most for me is how simple my life was in Goa. In the US I was always rushing around for things I thought were important but most of those things I did don’t even exist in the Goa in my lifestyle, and I didn’t miss them. I somehow went from loads of responsibilities to pretty much just making sure my pets were taken care of.

I would go to the market during the day I’m cooking and buy exactly what I need. I used to have to plan out doctor’s check-up’s months in advance in the US, but in Goa, I could just pop into the dentist or eye doctor last minute for a check-out or teeth-cleaning for $10. Life was so easy and chilled that you really didn’t need to plan or worry.

Things are a lot cheaper as well, which of course cuts the worry because even if you mess something up, it probably won’t be an expensive mistake. The chilled out Goa vibes (and Ben’s influence) have really rubbed off on me. I have always been really Type A but now, I’m much more relaxed and that’s something I will hopefully take to Mexico. I take things day by day rather than having so many plans and checklists – even with travel. I have one to-do list now which is always so empty that there are currently two things on it: find a pool cleaner in Merida and renew my nursing license in 2019.

In Goa, there is less responsibility because everyone is chilled. Five months late on your electricity? It’s literally no big deal. Snake under your couch? Just a Monday morning! Life is totally different and Goa sends you curveballs which over time make you learn to be more flexible. I don’t know if Mexico will be as laid back but I hope so.

Basically, life can be simple. You can throw away everything, move to a cheap country on the beach, and live off your savings for a year or so – it’s just if you are up for the adventure!

I’ve become a lot less materialistic.

You might be thinking, “yeah right” but you should have known me in 2012 and see how much junk I would buy on a trip to the mall. Living in India had really kept me out of the loop. I don’t know what is on trend and when I do see something I like on Instagram, I can’t buy it if I wanted to thanks to import customs so slowly, my brain stopped thinking about all the material stuff it wanted. I just go shopping mainly once a year while I’m in the USA. No more online shopping for me. Throughout the year, I don’t really buy anything.

Goa just got a mall. There is a Tommy Hilfiger, Marks and Spencers, Adidas, and a couple of other stores. They are stocked with clothes chosen specifically for an Indian buyer and they are way more expensive than the same items in the UK or USA. I never shop at the mall and there’s really nowhere else to shop but local boutiques, like my friends Tia and Rachel from FARA. I do get a dress here and there from them for Christmas or my Birthday and other than some souvenirs while I’m abroad, it’s refreshing not to be buying so much. I think Mexico might be a bit similar in that way.

By the time I go home next, the things on trend now aren’t anymore anyway so it’s a hell of a lot less waste! I love wearing local designers and could 100% care less about the brand name on my clothes or makeup which I couldn’t have said when I was 22. I’m excited to see if Merida has some cool local designers, but based on my two weeks there – I don’t think so, it seems like more big chain stores.

I’ve become more of a minimalist.

At first, I moved here with just one piece of luggage and a 65L backpack. I spent my first year in India with only that. Over the years, I accumulated things, but not too many and most was gifted to me by brands hoping I would blog about it. Ben helped since he owns basically nothing.

With the combination of not having much stuff in Goa and not being able to shop + mixing in a little bit of OCD and Type A behavior (I LOVE throwing things away and hate clutter) – I didn’t have anything in Goa that I don’t love and use. The less I have, the better. When we packed up for Mexico, everything we owned fit in four pieces of luggage and two carry-ons.

I also am more about shopping for quality over quantity thanks to this change. I might buy a $150 high-quality suede bag that I know I’m going to carry for years and not buy any other bag that year. Instead of a random raincoat, I’ll get a seriously heavy-duty one I know will last 10 years. When I bought my new tennis shoes last year, it was after my old ones from 2010 wore out. I use things until they are literally unusable.

I also read the book [easyazon_link identifier=”1607747308″ locale=”US” tag=”Hipinhee-20″]The Magic Art of Tidying Up[/easyazon_link], which is another reason why these changes happened I imagine!

My thoughts on education have changed.

I go back and forth with my opinions on education where some days I feel like the way I did things is the best way (try to get straight A’s, take school really seriously, work for a scholarship for college, do well in college so you are open to any kind of job you want). Other days, I think the Goa way is amazing: kids learning and playing outside, not getting grades at some schools, and learning more creative skills to become artists and fashion designers.

The way I grew up with school was all I knew so it seemed normal, but now that I see so many other ways of schooling, it seems extreme. I 100% loved school and college but it’s no secret I’m not exactly using my nursing degree. Don’t get me wrong, I loved school growing up, playing soccer, and after school clubs but now I see that it wasn’t the way everyone grew up.

I’m sure there is some middle ground that has creativity and actual school stuff balanced out like a Montessori school. As I look around and see so many people doing jobs that have nothing to do with what they went to school for, it does make me wonder if we spent the first 25 years of our life wasting time. I do think when I have my own kids I’ll travel with them and let them learn that way rather than put them straight into pre-school and all of that. I know a lot of people who didn’t go to school at all until they were 9 or 10 and they are running their own businesses in paradise. I’m sure my parents are really annoyed reading this, ha! Woops.

Not just education, but I’ve definitely become much more liberal in my thinking on just about every subject. I won’t get into it all!

I feel way more in-tune with nature, as lame as that sounds.

Of course, I was always outside as a child. I grew up in the country; we played in the woods and swam in the creek and rode our bicycles all over. I was not a city girl, that’s for sure. I would ride four-wheelers through the mud and loved sports. In the winter, I went snowboarding. But the thing about the USA is that when you go inside your house, it’s literally the same all year round because of central air.

In Goa, the monsoon weather wreaks havoc on houses: mold on the walls and light fixtures, clothes that smell, floors that are literally WET with condensation all morning long, and rain and clouds constantly. This goes on for about 4-5 months. It made me seriously appreciate a nice breezy sunny day. I would wake up and I see monkeys jumping around outside and the beautiful palm trees we can see all across the fields from our house. We would open up all the windows (no screens here, so the bugs come inside) and let the breeze cool the house down during the day.

Although I never got used to the amount of red dirt that comes blowing into the house each day (and tracked in on my dog’s paws), settled as a fine layer on top of everything, I do absolutely love being outside even more than I did as a kid, which is hard to beat.

The state I am moving to in Mexico has like 60% jungle, but Merida the city is definitely not a jungle vibe. I think we will likely live outside the city so we can have a mix.

Other than needing A/C and WiFi, I think I can get used to just about anything.

Did you know I slept on a cotton-stuffed Indian-style mattress for 5 years? They carry them around on their heads and sell them on the road. It was dirty when we bought it. At first, I thought, “no wayyy” – I need a real mattress and mattress topper. But now when I’m in a 5-star hotel, I am dreaming of my Goa bed.

Every day when I go outside, it’s so dirty (I mean actual loose dirt) that my feet are dirty all day every day. I also only drive barefoot due to how the pedals are in my car – dirty feet all day long? Used to it!

I am used to drinking only filtered and bottled water – no filling my ice trays or coffee pot up from the tap. I am used to my well going dry and having to get more water. I’m used to power cuts that can last all day or sometimes a couple of days. I’m okay with finding cockroaches in my bathroom.. or them running across my feet in the kitchen, or in my luggage when I open it up.  I’m used to my broom being made of dried grass. I mean, really.

I got used to the fact I cannot leave bread out on the counter without a million ants coming and it molded in a day due to the humidity. I am okay with the time of year flies infest houses here and you have to put sticky paper around your house to catch them; sometimes a paper has 15 flies on it by the end of the day! I am guessing this will be similar in Merida.

I also sadly got used to seeing things in India that I wish I didn’t get used to like injured animals (an everyday occurrence, although we often take them for help when we can).

I think Merida will be a lot cleaner but I’m sure there will be things I need to get used to there, although I don’t know what they are yet! I’ve heard ants and termites are bad and that you can step on scorpions. So we’ll see!

I think having jungle animals around is the best!

One day, I was driving with Ben and some friends and we thought we saw a new speed bump. Turns out, it was a 9-foot python. That’s how I found out there were pythons on my road. I saw a few more 8-foot ones that year in my backyard and where I park my car. I found a baby one under the couch. King cobra? Behind the trash cans.

I found a 6-inch scorpion dead in the bottom of the swimming pool five years ago which is how I found out we have those, too!

I’m okay with the dozens of dogs and cats in my village and love watching the monkeys put on shows or even come drink from the pool while I’m laying in it saying “no monkey, bad water!”.  I would walk through my garden at night and my dogs are out there all the time and I never thought about snakes or spiders – even though I’ve seen spiders half the size of my head (hanging from a tree at my favorite restaurant, Gunpowder). I used to have such a fear of snakes that in North India when a snake charmer would have a cobra, I would literally start crying in shock.

I think in Merida there won’t be snakes… but outside of the city they definitely have pythons and other snakes.

Everything is possible.

In India, everything is possible. In Goa, everything is possible… but tomorrow. They are slow about things but they do get things done here and I’m telling you, everything you want to do is possible! Just go to the market, ask around, find the guy who can make you want you want or go to where the workers hang out and hire someone to help you with a project. Most people speak English.

Beyond getting things done and work, people here can get by on so little and be so happy it cannot help but change how I think about things. I know Mexico going to be less expensive than America but it’s much more expensive than India.

I also created my own job while I was living in Goa and was pushed by the creative people around me to think outside the box on my blog. To go from what my life was in 2012 to how much it’s changed now – and how happy I am in my job, I would say I really do believe anything you set your mind to can happen.

The positive outlook has just changed my lifestyle. I really will take so many things I learned in Goa and keep them with me in life and in Mexico. I don’t really drink anymore (okay I drink lol but not like I did in the USA), I go to bed at 10 pm a lot, I don’t get FOMO for missing a party, and I think that these 5 years in Goa has really made me a better person (I think Ben helped with that, too).

Being around so many different nationalities living here and learning the Goa way of living has opened my eyes to other lifestyles and let me see how I really want to experience life. I love Ohio and it’s great there – I am sad every single time I have to leave, but I also am happy that I have been exposed to so many unique ways of living that I can be more open-minded and understand people more than I used to. I hope living in Merida will teach me even more.

India and living in Goa taught me a lot of patience and how to be a calmer person, which I am grateful for. Goa also gave me Ben, Shanti, Omni, Kitkat, and loads of life-long friends. Thanks for following along on my time in Goa! Let’s see what Mexico will bring…

Read more: 10 things I love about India’s culture & 22 ways I’m becoming Indian

The post How Living in Goa for 5 Years Has Changed Me appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I’ve been putting off this blog post for a month now, and even now staring at the screen from my Airbnb in Juhu, Mumbai, I don’t really know how to start telling you all about this. But, since my flight out of India is Tuesday and I really am moving, I can’t put it off any longer.

I have been in India since 2012 and now we are moving out of India. We being Ben and I and OF COURSE our pets: Shanti, Omni, and KitKat. Ben has been here for a couple years more than I have, having lived in Kerala before he moved to Goa (where I met him).

While we are moving, we will still be in India a lot, at least four times a year! Ben has work here still and my blog as you know is a lot of India content, and that will not change.

We spent our last night with friends at Thalassa, which is basically where we met in 2012.

Okay, I’ll try to start from the beginning. First off, why we decided to move.

I wrote about this a little bit in this Ask Me Anything article where I talked about why we had been in India so long and if we would ever move – plus, where we might move if we did. We love Goa. I am not exaggerating when I say that last 6 years have been a vacation with basically no responsibilities. The thing is, we could stay like this forever – just working from home, going to the beach, hanging with friends, partying, and living the Goa life. Our friends here are amazing and the local people who “help us” with things here like our housekeeper, driver, security, and more have become like family. We all cried when we said goodbye! I really cannot even write what I’m going to miss because I’ve already cried enough! Basically, I’m going to miss everyone there and my whole Goa life which has just been like being in the best dream ever. The people, the food, the vibe, our house, the monkeys and jungle, and beach – it’s all perfect. But like an Instagram photo, there is always more behind that.

Sonu, Leena, Sunni, Ben, Me, Kala, Nitesh, Ryance – some of our friends we will miss so much! This was right before we hopped in the car and left.

and of course Azad!

There are some small things about Goa that we don’t love but overall, it’s paradise and that is why we stayed so long. Goa isn’t like the rest of India. Goa might as well be an island!

Living in Goa is almost like not living a real life. We are so far removed from the Western world; the news, the politics, the fashion, the trends back home… We really are in a bubble in Goa. And, this bubble stays the same every single year. Most foreigners stay in Goa just six months then leave before the heat comes and the monsoon, but we lived here year-round. Monsoons can get quite boring as basically every nice restaurant is closed and most of our friends would go off traveling. Then season would start back up, the same parties, the same dinners, the same beach days. They are amazing days, don’t get me wrong – but it got to a point where we were like, should we try something else?

In a bigger picture, as foreigners, there are some things that are more difficult for us. For example, we cannot buy land or a house. We don’t have businesses here so we don’t even have bank cards and even paying our bills is a pain in the butt. We don’t speak the local language or Hindi which isn’t usually a problem, but would have been helpful when you’ve got a long-term rental house and need work done, and have business to do. In the long run, we do want to buy or build a home, have kids, and all that jazz. In Goa, if you have kids here they go to a foreigner school and then once they are 9 or so, you send them to a boarding school for like 9 months of the year. It works for some people and who knows what the future brings, but to me, it is a very foreign idea.

Then there’s family. Ben is lucky to be able to take a direct 8-hour flight from Mumbai to his family in London or Vienna but for me, it usually took 35 hours or more to go from Goa > Mumbai > London > NYC > Ohio. It was also expensive to take that journey and I only visited home once a year. Each year, it got harder as I realized I had less in common with my friends who all had kids I barely know and still see each other all the time. We talked less and less online and I didn’t even know where some of my closest friends were working. My brother and his wife had a baby and I really want to be around to see him grow up. It’s also little things like as a silly example when I went to Vegas and all the girls are singing along in the club I didn’t know a single song – and hadn’t been in a club in 3 years. I’ve changed a lot (and I mean, maybe a bad example because I have no desire to go clubbing anymore or know all the words of a rap song, but basically just feel out of the loop when I go home). I’m from such a small town and have had the same best friends since I was 3. Their parents are all like second parents to me. I haven’t had Christmas in the USA in 6 years and have missed some of my closest friends wedding, and even funerals of family.

I have met Ben’s friends loads of times in London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and India and know them and their kids so well. They are such cool, funny people and it makes me kind of sad that Ben doesn’t know my friends in that way and some of my best friends haven’t even met him. He’s been to Ohio just twice. Plus, I have really cool funny friends, too (haha), that I think Ben would love to get to know. This is just because it’s so far away and expensive to go. I also have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Ben’s family while he’s not gotten to know mine very well. I think he’s met my brother just once for a 4-day vacation in Nashville. So, of course being closer to home is a bonus for me.

Obviously, there are also small things in Goa that are annoying as well, but not enough to move: the long 4-5 month monsoons with nothing to do an rain and clouds all day, getting pulled over and having to pay fake fines to police (which weirdly this year started to give me anxiety), the power outages (before we left, while Ben was in LA we had one for 3 days/nights – it was so hot I had to sleep in a hammock outside with the mosquitos). We lost our vaccinated dog, Huck, to rabies and there are so many strays where we live we cannot walk our dogs. We aren’t crazy about the trance music scene, and it does get boring eating at the same 15 restaurants all the time. I don’t write this to complain, because Goa will always be my second home but these are just some tiny reasons added on to the fact we are we kind of felt ready to move.

Even getting our animals out of India, was so typical India, we got scammed completely and lost a lot of money. We later found a great company in Mumbai, hence why we are here now. I’ll be writing all about taking our animals out of India in a later article because wow – it’s a HUGE undertaking.

India can be a hard place to be. When we travel to Mumbai or Chennai or wherever, outside of Goa, we are reminded that WOW India can be a ball-ache. I mean, I love India as you know but if you’ve come here as a traveler and encountered the hard things about India then you know what it must be like to stay here 6 years. Some things that are charming become not so much… I won’t go into the issues that we have in Goa but the little things can add up to make your day too annoying where you have to ask “why are we going through this?” when we realize that our friends at home in the USA and UK are not.

Overall, living in India can be hard at first, but once you’ve been here a while, know the right people, have local friends and know the prices of things you really can sort of live like a local and not get scammed and such. Plus, in Goa, most people speak English and are very laid-back.

I guess the main reason we are leaving is just to try something new – because we are actually going to start over in a new country (where guess what, we don’t speak the language and they don’t speak English). I know that the grass is always greener but we figure, Goa will always be there and we can always go back.

The steps we started taking to move and deciding where to go

We started to think about moving more seriously about a year ago. Truthfully, I was ready to move somewhere new about two years ago but Ben wasn’t. This last year, he did a lot of work in India outside of Goa and finally said “okay, I’m done – I want to go somewhere else”. Once we were both on the same page it started to become “where can we actually move without being married?”

Not being married is one issue but the second is that I work for myself so can’t even get sponsorship from a company for a work visa. Ben’s job is based in California but in the USA it’s hard to get a work visa.

We both wanted a new country and neither of us really wanted the USA (unless we were richer and could afford California) and Ben thinks England is too cold. Either way, we can only stay in each other’s home countries for 3 months. And it turns out, getting married to come to America is a HUGE hassle. Just look what my friend Anna had to go through – to get her green card they took her passport for a YEAR and she was stuck in the USA.

We thought about Europe but with Brexit, we wondered, can we both stay, unmarried with Ben being British? Visas would be hard nearly anywhere in the EU but they do allow some kind of domestic partnership we would qualify for possibly. But, after Brexit, would we be able to build a house or buy a house without issue? It was all kind of an unknown.

Ben had worked with a Mexican company on a project in India, and the people he was in contact with, Enrique and Monica, were living in Merida, in the state of Yucatan. They said it’s awesome you’ve got to come see it. It’s the most cultural city in Mexico and the safest, plus just 30 minutes from the city center to the Gulf coast and 3 hours to places like Tulum and Cancun on the Caribbean coast. Plus, the food.

That is why we went to Merida last fall just after my trip to Rajasthan. You might have noticed I didn’t post much from that trip or “do” much. That is because we were house-hunting every day and I didn’t want to tell anyone in case it didn’t happen (we didn’t end up finding a house). It was a BUSY trip but we loved the place. We dreamed of buying a house 15 minutes north of the city between the city and the beach. It is a “real” city with places like McDonalds and Walmart which to us was like “holy shit we can buy lightbulbs and cheese in the same shop!”

There are also cheap quick flights from Merida and Cancun (even cheaper) to USA and Europe. When I looked from Cincinnati to Cancun it was $300 round-trip. I was paying around $1400 from India each time.

In Mexico, you can come for 6 months at a time, back to back, as a tourist. You can buy land as a tourist. You can pay for things online without a Mexican bank card (like bills). Plus, you can buy a brand new 3 BR house there with a pool for $80,000. It’s beautiful, the people are awesome, it’s safe, it’s clean, it has stores, you can walk the dogs here without issues, and there is so much around Merida to travel and see.

Merida has some downsides for us like we speak no Spanish and literally couldn’t even order Pizza Hut on the phone without them using Google Translate on the other side of the phone. We HAVE to learn Spanish ASAP. I speak some elementary but we need to be fluent. Scams are real in Merida, too. They are sadly mostly done by expat “realtors” who rip people off and we’ve heard some horror stories.

In the rural areas, it might not be Goa jungle but they do have jaguars, pythons, crocodiles, and more all across the state of Yucatan.

We don’t know Mexico at all. Ben had some work in Chalacatepec on the west coast (real cowboy country) 5 years ago and I went with him. We went to Sayulita and Puerto Vallarta too, which were pretty touristy. Merida is not a tourist town at all, that’s for sure! It’s also not totally Mexican – it’s got all Mayan culture, Mayan people, and some people still speak Mayan. You don’t get normal Mexican food, you get Mayan food. The Mayan ruins are all around the state, along with awesome cenotes (underground lagoons), pink lakes, and lakes filled with flamingos!

So, we are moving to Merida, Mexico!

We came back from Merida in November I think and both of us thought we should try not to travel too much and really enjoy Goa since it was going to be our last season. Other than working with Telunas Resort in Indonesia, and a quick trip to Malaysia, we didn’t travel much at all. I was kind of worried about the blog taking a hit since I was being a little boring but I posted a lot of images and articles about Goa and people seemed to not mind!

I did have to go to the USA in February to get my visa renewed and see my newborn nephew – and just before I left, we went ahead and booked our flights to Mexico for May 22. We booked with Air France for us and the dogs and last month that all fell through and we had to re-book with Air Canada. I cannot stress how much insanity comes with taking 3 pets from India to Mexico. Like I said, I’ll write about it more but wow, the paperwork and bureaucracy is pretty wild. Ben and I cannot even fly together. He has to come two days after me.

The thing we had to do for the move was pretty easy, but somehow took ages!

• Find out if we needed visas – we didn’t
• Buy a house – we went and didn’t find one
• Rent somewhere – I did this via Airbnb and we took a 3-month rental in town for around $1,000 a month which in Merida gets you a really nice place with a pool and a walled-in garden for the dogs. It was not available until June 1st so we are renting another place for a week until we can move in which also looks amazing. I’ll share it all once I reach!
• Find a flight that is NOT a codeshare (meaning it’s one airline only the whole way) from India to Cancun – this was the hardest part which I’ll explain in the upcoming article on the dogs after we reach Mexico
• Find someone to pick us up with our dogs at the airport since our stuff and the crates won’t fit in a rental car – we hired a girl I found in an expat Facebook group to drive us in a big van from Cancun to Merida 3 hours.
• Pack – I took some things like all those amazing rugs I got in Jaipur and a lot of clothes home when I visited the USA in Feb and the rest we fit in 4 pieces of luggage to take to Merida. I have 3 and Ben has one. The includes a huge king size duvet and two pillows. Ben literally packed like we are going on vacation because that’s all he owns.
• Figure out a car in Merida – we can’t buy one as foreigners on a tourist visa we don’t think, so instead, I booked a rental car for the first month. There are all these car rentals for $1/day which according to my friend Hannah’s blog is real if you can turn down all the insurance. For this, I applied for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card which gives you $75,000 in car insurance and added Ben as a registered user of my account so he has a credit card in his name, too, so no fees for an “added driver”. It was $17 for a month. Let’s see if it’s real when I get there! They sent the credit cards to India. They came with the Priority Pass which means free lounge access for us both in airports around the world, too!
• Be legit – we want to be “legit” in Mexico and get our residency visas and proper paperwork which we will start doing once we arrive.
• Clean up our house in Goa (aka hire someone to clean it up)
• Cars for the drive to Mumbai – the dog crates are huge so needed to have two cars, we had Babu our friend and driver (and his friend who we know well) take one car with me, Shanti, and KitKat, then Ben and Azad (our good friend from Kerala who has worked for Ben for years) and Omni went in the Bolero, which is Ben’s work car.

When it’s all in bullet points like this, it seems like it was an easy breezy thing to do but actually, it’s a lot of work and it was pretty stressful at times planning this move.

All of our luggage for the move! 4 large pieces of luggage and 2 carry-ons

Where I am now and the plan

The two weeks before we left is when it all started to come together – getting the packing done, cleaning out 5 years of junk from the house, and finalized our pets shots with our local vet.

We also had a puppy we were caring for (who has an owner but we just loved him so much) and took him to be neutered. He is staying with his owner but is an outside dog. It was hard to leave him, but he is being taken care of.

Ben was in LA for work so I admit, I was a little stressed putting it all together. When he came back we had just 2 full days to see friends and say bye, and for Ben to go through my piles of his stuff to see what he wanted to take and throw out or give away.

The ONLY flight we could do was an Air Canada from Mumbai to Toronto (a long flight for dogs, 15 hours) then a layover there and onward to Cancun. So, we said our goodbyes on Thursday and drove 12 hours to Mumbai getting in here at 5 AM. We have a great Airbnb in Juhu that is pet-friendly and under 6,000 INR per night.

Shanti was freaking out and laying only right on top of me – and kitkat was down at my feet in a carrier. I took him out to clean up his pee pads and they were totally non-absorbent and it got all over me… Comfy smelly ride to Mumbai lol 

Roadside stops along the highway to Mumbai… I had to pee behind a bridge but at least I had this view

Friday, we were running around ALL day with the dogs doing their quarantine inspections and getting all their export paperwork and health certificates from government vets finished. That was on no sleep, and we were exhausted.

They only let one dog on the plane at a time on such a long flight and don’t do that route daily, so I go with Shanti (checked in the back of the plane) on Tuesday and Ben will come on Thursday with Omni (checked) and the cat as a carry-on.

Our Airbnb in Juhu – great if you have dogs (here is the link) it has this huge balcony and is walkable to a lot of restaurants and such

Can you guess which bag is Ben’s?

That’s where I am now – looking out over the balcony, enjoying Mumbai this weekend and just trying to believe that I’m really moving from India after all this time. Mumbai is an amazing city as well so we’ll be out and about until we leave.

What it means for the blog

Honestly, things aren’t going to change that much. I plan to come back to Goa in November to visit and check out new places that have opened (and update my Ebook). I’ll go on a trip somewhere new in India as well (thinking Calcutta, Sikkim, Darjeeling) and write new blog posts.

I’ve never written just about India and usually do just one big India trip each year, spending most of my time in Goa. I don’t think you’ll even notice much of a change on the blog.

One thing that will change is my This is India stories will stop. I had considered doing a This is Mexico series, but honestly it’s so normal life in Merida that I don’t think it would be interesting enough – not crazy stories like India! We’ll see.

After I get settled in Merida, I’m sure I’ll want to travel more in Mexico and around Central and South America, so expect new content from there! I haven’t explored at all in these areas, so I’m really excited about that after spending so much time writing about Asia. 

I am a little worried that some of you only like my India content and might not want to stay along as a reader with me in Mexico, but I really hope that you do! Plus, I’ll be back in India in just 6 months :) Thank you for taking the time to read this WAY TOO LONG of a post. 3,500 words later, I should end it!

I’ve been off social media this week since I was moving and hadn’t shared the news yet, but if you check my Instagram stories now you’ll see live what we’re up to in Bombay! I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments about the move – tell me what you think!

Leaving India is really hard and a little more emotional than we thought it’d be plus traveling with the pets is really stressful so I’ll do my best to keep you updated on social media next week.

The post I’m Moving: It’s Bittersweet, But We Are Leaving India on Tuesday appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

A few years ago, my parents had called from Ohio to India saying they were off work again due to snow and wind-chill. It was -32 degrees; so cold our dog couldn’t walk outside without her paws getting stuck in the ice and snow. So imagine my surprise when I’m on the last of four legs to home to Ohio (which was a 41-hour journey this time) and the lady next to me says in Ohio it’s been 70 degrees (F)! I was like “WHAT!” Here I am hoping for snow and I’m going to get the warmest winter ever!?

Well, I got lucky because after a few days we got a nice little snow storm. That meant fluffy clothes, big puffy coats, fires in the fireplace at home, homemade chili, and winter candles. I had missed winter! Ben and I were just in England last month, and it was cold, buuut England winter is not that fun because it rains bitterly cold wet nonsense.

So, thought I’d share two things 1) what I did while I was home and 2) what I bought which is what I always share – this time I won’t share what I ate because it was all the same stuff as always.

What I got up to in Ohio

I cam back to Ohio this year for about three weeks. As always, it doesn’t feel like long enough!

Most years that I come home I go work with a tourist board (last year it was an epic trip with my mom to Florida and a healthy retreat to Myrtle Beach). This year, I came home in the winter because I needed to renew my Indian visa. Normally, I would visit family in Ohio in the summer.  So, not only was there no vacation but my parents were at work most days. They are both teachers. I don’t have a car or insurance when I’m in Ohio so I’m basically 15 again.

PS: this is an old photo I recently found of my family on vacation that I just love!

But, luckily I have the best friends ever and they come drive me around and hang out with me! They even call the house phone first to see if I’m home and take me to the Taco Bell drive through (lol, it’s too much! Thanks, Arielle).

My brother and his wife had a baby so the timing couldn’t have been more perfect. I got to go stay with them and be the first babysitter for the baby, Luke. They haven’t posted any photos on social media so I’m not going to share any but he is seriously the cutest.

I went down to Cincinnati one weekend to see family and also stay with my friends Melissa, Arielle, and Rachel who live down there which led to a hilarious night of drunken skating – yes, just regular skating like when we were kids. I hope you saw my Instagram stories of the synchronized skaters. We went to OTR in Cinci which was really cool and also really crowded (a two-hour-plus wait for any table). When we showed up to skate the lady behind the counter was like “who you guys here to pick up? I’ll call them over the speaker”. We are like umm, we aren’t moms. We are here to skate. I’ve been friends with these girls since we were 3 years old! We went to pre-school together. Arielle has been over to England and met Ben’s family and she’s who I was in Ireland with last year.

My besties from college, Alex, and Ann (who came to India) both came up to my parent’s house on the weekends and chilled. It’s basically like being a kid again and my mom as you might know from reading past posts about my time in Ohio, cooks me all my favorite foods. Another bestie since I was like 8 years old, Rochelle, came by with her daughter, Evie, who is the cutest. Not only did I get to see a bunch of my friends’ babies, I also got to see their cute new puppies! People don’t always want their kid’s photos online, so I’ll just show you the dog (and some Easter M&M’s haha)!

Of course, I had to stock up on some food for India and snacks for Ben and the dogs. This time, I saved loads of room in my luggage so my friends could do some online shopping and took things back to India for them. The mailman was like “you order a lot…” There were packages showing up every other day!

What I bought in Ohio

Imagine only doing one major shop per year.

Of course, when I travel, I shop a little but it’s mostly homewares like rugs and pillowcases. I don’t really shop for clothes much. So, this year I had to stock up on some new things like jeans, shorts, some sweaters (it was cold for a couple weeks haha), and other bits. I always share photos on Instagram stories and people DM all the time asking where I shop so thought this time, I’d just show you all the things I got since it’s what I’ll probably be wearing all of next year in photos! I can’t take too much to India so will only share my favorites and things I’m obsessed with!

An iPhone

After years of using a Xiaomi, I gave in and got an iPhone. The camera is just TOO good. It is nearly as expensive as a laptop but I honestly feel it’s worth it especially because my job requires taking so many photos. Now to make sure I never break it or lose it!

Etsy

There are some shops on there I have bought from over and over.

1. This belly button ring from Adi Miraro Jewelry
2. This crochet bikini top I literally always wear, in a new color. I have colors #62, #348, and #619. Cannot recommend this enough to wear for a swimsuit but also as a bra under rompers and jumpsuits.
3. These gold studs from Star River Rocks. I needed new studs and love these.
4. This dog tag. We just keep getting more pets. It’s ridiculous. I got the puppy that lives in our complex, our cat, and a friends dog new dog tags with the name and number on them.

UGG

I also have worked with UGG in the past and they sent me a winter coat to try out, so I got to be SO warm and cozy in this coat. I cannot wait until I do a big trip somewhere cold again. I also got some UGG tennies that are called the “Tye” and they are my new favorite shoe. I got them in “slate”.

Anthropologie

I shouldn’t even walk into Anthropologie because it’s really expensive but since I don’t shop often, I do kind of think “quality over quantity” and don’t mind paying a little more for stuff I know I’ll wear all the time. I got some striped pants that I know I’ll wear ALL the time, a sweater that was on sale and I had to have (even though it’s the last thing I need), and a striped shirt that Arielle says looks like a grandpa’s nightgown. I can’t find it online!

New Suede Jacket

The suede jacket in the photo above and below with that purse is from Nordstrom. It’s called “BLANKNYC”. It was less than $200 which for a jacket like this is fine for me! I have worn the same black leather jacket for 8 years and if this one ends up being the same, it’s well worth it. I got the color “midnight toker”. This is the link to it on Nordstrom or below are other places to buy it from.

Lo & Sons

I’ve used Lo & Sons for years and their camera bag is what I always carry. This year, they gifted me a little white canvas bag for upcoming “Earth Day” It’s organic. I also got a little orange crossbody that can be worn a bunch of different ways, even as a fanny pack.

Z Supply

I’ve been wearing a brand called Z Supply for a couple years now. Since living in India, all my tees and tanks get worn out after a year of wearing them to kickboxing, the beach, and washing them in Goa with washing soap that isn’t up to par. So I basically have to re-get basics each year. I re-bought this basic tee shirt, a v-neck, this tank dress that I love and got something I never buy: joggers. I have been seeing them everywhere and these are the softest things I’ve ever touched. I also got a new sleep shirt that is heavenly.

North Face raincoat

I have had the same North Face raincoat for about 10 years but the inside started to finally come off in little flakes, I think due to the high humidity in Goa. So, I finally got a new one – let’s hope it lasts another 10 years. This time I got one that is a little more fitted but always get black. Here’s some of theirs in case you want to look.

Free People

Like Anthropologie, I shouldn’t go in here! But, this time I only bought one thing and it was so cute I just couldn’t walk out without it! It is the cutest black suede bag. I usually always carry my fringe tan tote from Etnike (a Bali store on Etsy) but I didn’t have a black bag. But then I got online and thought oh, I should just look… and then I bought ALL the things. I’ll link them below. It all fits so good and I can’t wait to wear it back in Goa.

Shoes, of course

So, I live in the same black and brown booties from Lucky Brand and have for years. I got a pair of blue suede ones this year. They literally never change even 6 years later and they are the best boots I’ve ever had. I also got some cute flower platforms from Carlos, some festival style shoes, and flip-flops and sandals from a brand called Malvados that are just sturdy everyday shoes. I usually wore my Reef leather shoes to the beach but wanted some that really wouldn’t be damaged by contact with water and sand.

A few beauty items

I haven’t had a hot tool for my hair in years and when I was in England has to borrow Ben’s mom’s blow drier and straightener. I thought I’m basically almost 30 so I should probably get some of these things. So, I got this thing called the Beachwaver which is supposedly what Victoria’s Secret models use for their perfect waves. I’ve tried it once and it is really cool – it is a motorized thing that rolls up your hair – but I don’t think I did it right. I’ll play with it a bit but sadly it doesn’t work in India. I also got my Aveda ‘Blue Malva’ shampoo which keeps blonde hair from going ashy and the Aveda hand repair I always get. I also had a Sephora gift card so decided to get Laura Mercier tinted sunscreen – I haven’t tried it yet so will let you know if it’s any good!

So – did I shop too much!? Haha, no don’t answer that.

The post My First Ohio Winter Home in Over 5 Years appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I’m trying to write more of these “Ask Me Anything” series posts since I do get asked similar questions very often. I’ve been writing them down and slowly will write posts answering them. One thing I get asked a lot is “Why India?” There are a number of reasons I am still living as an expat in India. “Will you ever move?” is another common question. So, let’s dive in!

Why I Chose India…

I did choose to travel to India and move here but it wasn’t based on an impulse decision. You might know that I met my boyfriend while traveling in India when I was here backpacking solo almost five years ago.

I loved India but truthfully never saw myself living here. While backpacking I loved it but also got scammed, very sick with Dengue, lost, and annoyed quite often. I thought “it’s a great place but I can’t imagine staying forever…” I know this might surprise people, as since I’ve grown to love it as a home so much.

When I got to Goa as a traveler, It was totally different.

Goa is like an island in a sense it’s not like the rest of India. It is very westernized, has amazing food varities, laid-back people, siesta from 1-3, and of course the sea.

I loved Goa.

Then I met Ben after a couple days here. He was here from England working and had been for about 3 years. I went back to the US for a travel nursing assignment and we planned on me moving to India.

It really happened that fast and there wasn’t a lot to think about. It was just a simple decision.

I didn’t think my move to Goa would be permanent. I didn’t even have a job! I didn’t even know Ben and his life well enough to know if his job here would be permanent.

What we do know is that I can’t stay in England very long as a tourist and he can only stay in the USA something like 30 days. Unless we were married, we can’t really live in each other’s countries unless we got work visas, which aren’t easy to get.

So, we stayed in Goa.

We love it here. We have friends here and people who are like family to us. But, we have said that it’s not our “forever place”. Every time we think about moving so many complications come up.

I’ve been here over 5 years now. These are the things we question:

• Where can we move with 3 Indian pets? How expensive and safe is it to ship them on a plane journey that could be 30+ hours overall. We can’t be moving all the time because of our pets so no “nomadic lifestyle” for us. Wherever we choose, we better like because we’ll be there a while.
• Where to go? We’ve thought about Mexico. We know we want to always be on a beach. We don’t want to be in the USA or the UK because 1. visas and 2. it’s really expensive
• Where can we have a similar lifestyle? With India being affordable we are free to eat out at restaurants, see movies, travel by train and more very cheaply. We have a housekeeper, driver, and security. In somewhere like the US, we would be spending all our money just on rent.
• I can work from anywhere since I travel blog but Ben has a very specific job, and it’s one that he loves (building artificial reefs to prevent coastal erosion). He can’t just get that job anywhere and he doesn’t want to go back to a 9-5 (which is why he left Microsoft in London so many years ago)
• If we did move somewhere expensive and supplement with me getting a 9-5 then I couldn’t really travel and then my travel blog would die. Now that it’s kind of a legit career, I really don’t want that to happen and a two-week vacation a year would actually kill me slowly, not just my blog. Now, we get to travel A LOT and I like that.

Do we want to stay in India?

We love Goa. We could stay here and live happily and comfortably but no I don’t think it’s our forever place.

There are so many places in the world I think we could love. I do want to be closer to my family. It’s not cool to only see them once a year. He misses his friends and family, too.

So, what’s next?

Literally, you know as much as me. We have no idea! We are just kind of going with the flow for now.

So, I guess I haven’t really answered the question that well but it’s because I don’t know the answer myself.

I definitely didn’t think I’d be here as long as I have, so only time will tell what happens next!

The post Ask Me Anything: Why Are You Still In India & Will You Ever Move? appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

You don’t stay in a place as long as I have unless you really love it. It’s been five years since I’ved lived here and 6 since I first came traveling here. India has its challenges not just as an expat or traveler, but for Indian people – but it has a unique culture that has some charming parts to it which I haven’t come across in other parts of the world. It’s something about India being so old I guess that makes it such a strong culture where you see people with the same habits and as I wrote about before, you start to pick up on them and acting like you, too, are Indian! I’ll share some things about the culture in India that I love or crack me up here.

10 Things I Love About the Culture in India

1. Indians are sometimes blunt & not overly friendly

It seems like a weird thing to love, right? Well, coming from America where everyone is so “nice” all the time, it is a more of a culture change than maybe it is for Europeans, but I was so surprised how blunt Indians are. For example, if I offer an American sweet to an Indian friend and they don’t like it they just say, “I don’t like this”. On the other hand, I feel bad when offered something I don’t like so I eat it anyway and say yummy.

This behavior has changed how I act over the years and I’ve become more blunt, too. But, some see Indians bluntness as demanding. Actually, in the travel industry, numerous hotels and airlines have said that Indian passengers (especially wealthy ones) are their most demanding and hard to please passengers. I’ve seen this myself many times, too! It can be bad when taken too far, but in general, I love that Indians just speak their mind.

a very nice hitchhiker! I happen to have an Omni van which is a taxi so it’s a common mistake to hail a cab with me lol

They are not overly friendly either and “thank you” isn’t something that’s hardly ever said here, especially by friends because I guess it’s sort of “unsaid”. Another example would be when I picked up a hitchhiker, some old man, and drove him 20 minutes. The first few minutes he told me (not asked) to turn off the A/C. Later he asked me to turn down the music. 90% of the time I pick up hitchhikers I tell them I’m turning up ahead to go home and do they want to get out at the corner and they’ll reply “no, you can take me to the church in Mapusa” or “no, take me to the bus stop in Anjuna”. They are quite demanding even when getting a free lift! I don’t know why I find it so funny, but it’s a hoot to me.

2. Eating with the hands

Does it make the food taste better!? YES! Haha, okay, no it probably doesn’t but I love it. I really love it – lol, especially when it’s rice and curry and you just get the perfect little combo bite and scoop it up. Not super into seeing people eating rice and curd with their hands though, that’s just messy (kidding). When at local restaurants or at home, when I have a curry you can bet I’ll be eating it with my hands. Things like this you just pick up on I guess – like the classic head wobble. I find myself at home eating something ridiculous like mashed potatoes with my hands and being like okay, wait, I should use a fork.

Did you know that Indian families are a really unique closeness where moms and grandmas will feed the younger ones with their hands, even once they are grown up? I mean like a 30-year-old woman will have their grandma or mom’s hands put food directly in their mouths. This is a sign of love and caring. Can you imagine doing that in your own culture? Actually, many foreigners married to Indian men have told me when they go visit the husband’s family, he will sleep in bed with his parents and her in another room.

3. Jugaad

A little jugaad here and there is what keeps this country running so smoothly! Jugaad is essentially a hack that you use when you need a fix a problem but don’t have the money and resources. Here are a couple stories of jugaad from my This is India series: story 1 & story 2. Those are just tiny examples but to really understand it, you MUST click over and see this article which shows some epic examples of Jugaad in India. It will crack you up and give you an insight into daily life here that I swear is 100% accurate. This is the one thing that I cannot really explain to people about living here that everything from my plumbing to our car has parts of jugaad in it that fall apart all the time.

this little waterhole becomes a car wash in the monsoon

I love that signs are mostly all painted here

The van has seen better days… after so much jugaad we are going to have to scrap it! The monsoon weather makes things rust fast here. Most people don’t have garages. Our “boot” (trunk) fell off. 

Ben getting into the spirit of jugaad!

This is India! Indian people have always been known as being innovative. My security guys can jugaad a little electricity problem, make a can of paint last about 6 years, and help Ben fix our Omni van with basically glue.

4. Driving rules & fitting ALL the things on bikes

First of all, driving in India is an organized MESS and I live for it. I mean, going to the market has never been so exciting because every car ride in India is a race. You are racing all other people on the road. You will play chicken with the car coming head-on at your when neither of you wants to go into the dirt of the side of the road. You will pass the car in front of you even though it’s going the same speed as you or faster – and there are cars coming the other way. Don’t worry, they will run off the road to let you through or open it up to a third middle lane. They won’t be angry as this is how you drive here. You drive with your brights (full beams on) because hey, it’s better for you, right!? If you blind someone else they’ll learn to turn theirs on too (jk, this is my least favorite thing about driving in India).

Add in the scooters, cars, drunk and lost people on vacation, goats, cows, and stray dogs, and you’ve got a serious video game. Why does everyone rush to go nowhere? I don’t know but it’s very Indian. The shocking thing is that it works. There aren’t that many crashes considering the absolute ridiculousness of the driving here. Once, I had a driver in Rajasthan drive the wrong way down a highway because it was a shortcut. He drove in the fast lane the wrong way for at least 8 minutes while cars coming head-on in THEIR fast lane would simply get over to make room. No one honked. No one was angry. We finally cut across at a checkpoint where there were police. They didn’t bat an eyelash. On the other hand, on the winding coastal road in Maharashtra, I have seen head-on fatal collisions.

Then you have the scooters and motorcycles. When people come back from a trip to India and say they saw whole families of 5 on one scooter and this isn’t an exaggeration. It’s so normal and actually legal. Only the driver has to wear a helmet as well. Nearly every single friend I have here in Goa has been in a bike crash. I can’t help but smile though when I see a family on a scooter: the man driving, mom in a sari sitting side-saddle, the littlest one in her lap, a bigger one behind here, and the toddler standing on the platform by the handlebars. Dogs ride scooters here, too!

5. Ridiculous slogans & ads

Here are some signs that I saw on the highway in South Maharashtra

Control you nerves on curves.

Don’t go to hell, mate. Wear a helmet.

Better to be Mr. Late than a late Mr.

Safety on the road is safe tea at home

Line between life and death is very thin.

This is a highway not a die-way.

After whiskey, driving risky

Pretty creative! Road signs are funny. One sign for a cash wash in Panjim, Goa says “the best handjob in town”. I don’t know if they know what that can mean, haha.

This one tells you to “NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER share your confidential information with anybody.” That’s 9 never’s people. You should see the TV ads and the health ads from the government. They are a hoot.

6. The idea of things being lucky

In India, it seems like everything is auspicious. On the other hand, everything is a bad omen, too. You have to do things to get luck. For example, you shouldn’t build a second story on your house. Or when you build, you should hang these little fake men to keep the bad luck away.

You should also hang lime and chili on the back of your car for good luck on the road. You can even take people with you for big purchases to make a purchase auspicious, like when Babu took me when he and his family bought a bike. I think Diwali is even meant to be an auspicious time of year to shop so they have huge sales here like Black Friday.

7. The art of negotiating with a smile

Nearly everything is negotiable in India. If you aren’t careful, you’ll pay triple for potatoes! But it is kind of fun when someone offers you to buy something and you can reply “eh, okay but not that price, how about __?” It’s not just in India, but I have found that in India it is really an art that is appreciated and when you get a good deal the seller will laugh and find it a good thing for him, too, as he still made money. In Morocco, it was not like this – people got angry. It’s pretty crazy how basically everything here is negotiable! Here are tips to negotiate when shopping here without being rude.

8. Either everything is possible or nothing is possible

It will never cease to amazing how half the time when you ask for something: everything is possible and “no problem” insert head wobble. But the other half of the time it’s simply definitely not possible and no they won’t even look into it or tell you why.

When we wanted to pay our electricity bill they wouldn’t take cash, they wanted a money order, bank won’t give money orders to non-Indians. It was a standstill of a bill to pay, cash in hand, and the electricity company telling us they would cut off the electricity as it was simply not possible to accept our money in cash, card, or wire. That is that. Of course, you can jugaad your way out of these things with outside help. But, they weren’t going to help.

On the other hand, sometimes “everything is possible because this is India” Like the time we asked the 7-year-old boat driver in Hampi if we could buy his boat and 3 days later he delivered a new one to our house in Goa.

You literally never know what you are going to get! It’s so annoying and amazing.

9. The handholding

You know how I said some moms feed their kids with their hands, and grown children sleep in bed with their parents? There’s another friendly thing that is done here which is that men hold hands, cuddle, and put their arms around each other when they walk, hang out, or ride on the buses and trains. It’s a sign of friendship and this image from Varanasi 6 years ago is one of my favorite pictures I’ve taken in India!

buddies in Varanasi, India

10. People riding around selling stuff on bicycles

You can do window shopping a unique way here: from looking out your window to the street and buying stuff that passes by. They will honk a horn to let you know they are there. You might buy bread, select a mattress from the top of someone’s head, get your knives sharpened, or buy a bucket. Fascinating!

Every few months he sharpens his knife and the fee is “whatever you like”

So there we have it, 10 of the fun quirks of India’s culture that I just love. There are hundreds more and these were the first I thought of, but maybe I’ll do a follow up on this with even more! What do you love about India’s culture?

The post 10 Quirky Things I Love About the Culture in India appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I have a series on my blog called Ask Me Anything and I keep track of reader questions that I get over and over and slowly answer them with a full blog post. So, many of you email saying something like, “I want to travel the world! You’re so lucky! How do you get to travel so much?” I want to break it down here and start with how I get to travel so much plus how you can too.

I want to travel the world!

It seems weird to say this, but travel is the “it thing”. Everything online is about cool hotels to see, great places to travel, and Instagram is full of “travel-inspo” getting you pumped for your next trip. In fact, Forbes says the following are true:

• Seventy percent of millennials identified travel as their primary reason to work.
• 5% of millennials identified themselves as digital nomads.

Not only are young people saying “I want to travel the world”, but they are saying “I want to travel the world for a living”.

There are even viral articles about how us millennials are traveling too much and wasting money rather than buying houses that we can’t afford. A study showed that travel was more important to millennials than buying a house, a car, or even paying off debt. Many of the travelers I’ve met are in huge debt from college still. The same survey also looked into how millennials choose their location for the next trip and 75% of those surveyed said social media made their decision.

Many people see travel bloggers like myself on Instagram and Facebook traveling the world for a living and they think: I want to travel the world for a living, where do I start?

How I Get to Travel So Much

I’ll start with how I get to travel so much and how I got “lucky” enough to have this job as a travel blogger/influencer.

I started this blog four years ago on a whim, with no background knowledge of what a blog was. Now, I have over 1 million page views each month on my blog. Travel blogging wasn’t new when I started, but it wasn’t as saturated as it is now. Please check out this article which explains how exactly I got started with travel blogging personally.

I didn’t just become successful overnight and my parents/boyfriend aren’t paying for it (as so many people comment to tell me they think is the case!). It’s competitive and you have to work really hard. After I left nursing and moved to India, I was a masseuse for some time and sold candles on the side while my blog grew into a career. After six months, I made it into a list of top 50 bloggers and I felt like “wow this was easier than I thought” but shortly after that, travel blogging became HUGE and there were millions of travel blogs created – I dropped off the list (and eventually got back on it, currently at #7). They say one is created every half-second! Bloggers were offering retreats to come learn how to travel like them, and people were eating it all up – not that it was bad, but things changed. Travel blogging became a lot more saturated and it was a question of how to stand out. I worked my butt off on the blog and social media, learning everything I could about SEO, Pinterest marketing, photography, you name it! Now, four years later, I make a lot more money than I did as a nurse and finally feel at ease. I don’t work in a hospital anymore and can pick up and travel at any time, while earning money online. I know what people want to know and that is how I make money online, so just click that link and you can read the exact streams of income that I have.

Do I travel for free? Sometimes. I could travel for free all the time if I put the effort into pitching airlines, hotels, and tourism boards or took every press trip offered to me. I don’t, though. I don’t like to be constantly traveling. I’m actually a homebody! I take trips I want to take on my own dime and I go places I hadn’t really considered when I’m invited, like Finland where I got to dogsled with Huskeys! As a blogger, I work with brands to promote them on my travels and not only do I then get to travel for free, but I often get paid for it. That is because I have readers, like you, and followers on social media.

So, the short of it is that travel blogging is my job, and that is how I get to travel so much. It wasn’t handed to me and I didn’t have a background in tech. I learned everything from YouTube videos and had my boyfriend help me set up my website. I love my job but with my work all being online and based on the fact that people are obsessed with travel and social media later, I know that blogging might not be forever, so I always keep a backup plan.

If you think that starting a travel blog is something you’d like to do, then go for it. You can start a blog in 10 minutes for as little as $2.95 per month. Here’s a blog post on exactly how to do that, step by step, with screenshots so you can’t mess it up!

Option #1: “I want to travel for free too!”

Well, the way I do it is blogging, and like I linked above you could blog so that you earn money while you travel. That’s one way! You can read this article on how to start a blog (step by step) for $2.95 per month.

Another way is if you are super hot you can be an Instagram celebrity lol, they travel for free everywhere and don’t even have to make websites! Kind of joking on that one, but not really.

I have a blog post with 14 ways you can work abroad and earn money while you travel, and they aren’t all online jobs, so check that out.

In general, you have to hustle pretty hard to travel for free or you have to have a skillset or job you can do while you travel which can offset costs.

Option #2: “I want to travel the world, but accept I have to pay for it.”

This is a more achievable statement.

I know that you see me traveling for free or getting paid, so therefore you want to do that same thing, and you CAN if you start a travel blog but try to keep in mind that it doesn’t come easy and I pinch myself sometimes to see if it’s all real. It really is amazing.

If you want to travel the world but accept the fact that you have to PAY FOR IT then let’s talk about the steps you can take and options to consider

• Save money
• Choose a job/major in college that allows travel
• Study abroad if you are in school
• Consider a new career if you feel stuck (that’s what I did)
• Teach yourself a new skill to earn money on the side and eventually switch to that skill being your new career. Off the top of my head:
  • Photography
  • Graphic design
  • Video
  • Video Editing
  • Coding
  • WordPress Design
  • Cooking
  • Making a product: candles, clothing, crafts
• See if there are options in your current career to travel more
• Look into volunteer projects that offer free housing and food
• Think about becoming your own boss and following a passion of something you are good at, like these possibilities that you could do on the road
  • Become a yoga teacher
  • Become a masseuse
  • Become a fitness/pilates instructor
• Think about moving abroad and starting as an expat somewhere
• Start taking weekend trips
• Start traveling in your own country first
• Use sites like Next Vacay or the Anywhere Tool with Kiwi.com to fly somewhere really really cheap
• It’s important to cut expenses while you start out. Check out these tips from some of the top travel bloggers out there, about how to save money while you travel.

Those are just some ideas off the top of my head, but basically, you should think about what’s holding you back from traveling. Is it your job? How can you fix that? Is it that you have a pet or child? Can you take them with you? Is it lack of money? How can you earn more?

Think about the obstacles in your way and how you can overcome them.

It’s not easy. It looks easy on Instagram, but it’s not easy to give up whatever you are doing and start traveling. So, you can do it two ways: you can start small by doing weekend trips and build on that momentum or you can do it big, quit your job, move abroad, find work in a restaurant. It’s possible. I meet travelers every week here in Goa who are broke and working random jobs to keep traveling.

You have to think about what works for you and if you actually feel the calling to travel or consider if it’s just FOMO because you on Instagram and see others doing it. Travel isn’t always roses, so don’t base it on Instagram!

I hope that you do start traveling and wish you the best of luck! Leave a comment if you are going to start a new journey.

The post Ask Me Anything: I Want to Travel The World, How Do You Travel So Much? appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

I have a series on my blog called Ask Me Anything and I keep track of reader questions that I get over and over and slowly answer them with a full blog post. A common question is about if I’ll stay in India forever and regardless, if I did leave, where I want to live outside India. So, for fun I’m going to list some places I can see myself living one day! I always said I wouldn’t live in Ohio where I’m from, so these are some other options.

Where I want to live or could see myself living in the future other than India

1. Malibu

If I were really rich, I would already have a house here! It looks beautiful (I’ve only driven by here) and Ben has possible work here (if a visa were easier). We could surf and eat the best food ever and go to a dog’s allowed beach for our dogs to run free…. that would be nice! Plus, LAX flies so many direct international routes. This is totally unrealistic for me though.

2. Maui

Again, if I were rich, I would 1000% live in Hawaii (not just Maui, but I’ve only been to Maui and Oahu and liked Maui a lot). I love the food, the people, the views, and would happily live in a small basic house if it meant living here. This is still pretty unrealistic even living in a tiny little house. It’s so expensive.

3. England

If Ben wanted or needed to go to his hometown of Tonbridge, I wouldn’t complain although I don’t think I could live there “forever”. Because it’s England, it’s still unique to me. It’s cute, charming, the food is fun, the people are funny, and it’s very normal in Kent; it reminds me of Ohio. It’s close to London by train and Ben would have friends and family nearby. I think it would never happen though as Ben doesn’t want to move back home. London is also a great hub for the cheapest most direct flights.

4. Mexico

This is the most likely option because it’s close to my family and friends without being in the USA (Ben can’t stay longer than 3 months each year). It’s warm, there are some beautiful beach towns, and it would be affordable. The downside is the crime, and similar issues to India with health, safety, scams, and corruption. We’ve been to the Western coast and liked it but were in a dangerous area initially. This last trip we went to Merida which was so safe and cool. There is so much to explore and so much culture to take in… plus TACOS.

5. Portugal

Portugal is kind of the only place in Europe I can see myself living other than England and I’ve never even been there. It looks beautiful, it’s very cheap right now, and the surf is meant to be awesome. It would be fun and means I could travel around Europe more.

6. Somewhere in Central America

Again, never been but I have thought about places like Costa Rica where it’s jungle, beach, and reminds me of Goa but with different food, vibes, and closer to home. I don’t know about this area, but I like that it is jungle and beach both(what I like about Goa). It seems like living there would be that ‘slow chilled out lifestyle” and I’m down with that! I have no idea about logistics and visas, or if it’s plausible to stay long term but from seeing other travel bloggers base here for years, it looks like it wouldn’t be too hard.

7. Ohio

I said I wasn’t going to put Ohio, then I did…

I truly don’t think I’ll ever live in Ohio because I do mostly want to live by the sea and not have such cold winters but being close to family and friends would be so amazing. I love Ohio, but life is short and I have lived there already 22 years of my life!

So, there we go – 7 places I have thought about living other than India. Would any of these places make your list?

The post Ask Me Anything: What Places You Can See Yourself Living Other Than India? appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Last month when I did a little round up on my four years of blogging, and I put in a reader survey with 10 short questions about what you guys like and don’t like on Hippie in Heels. I hadn’t done a survey before so I was nervous, but in the end it was really cool to see your thoughts and luckily no internet trolls trashed me, haha. I thought it’d be fun to share the results with you guys!

There were over 100 people who answered questions. Thank you all for taking the time to do that! I did a giveaway for five people to get packing cubes and I’ve been in touch with all the winners – I hope to do another giveaway soon.

Reflections from the Reader Survey

1. You favorite types of articles

50% of people like articles about destinations the best then in order: personal posts, blogging posts, then general travel tips like booking tips and packing. A lot of people wrote in that their favorite is the “This is India” series.

That is something I have always gotten as feedback. When I first moved here it was really easy to write them because I saw India as this crazy place. This October marked 5 years since I came to India, so I don’t see India as I once did – making those articles difficult to write. Crazy things are happening but I don’t *see* them. But since a lot of you want these and also marked that you like personal posts, I think I’ll do more of the weekly roundups I used to do of just my “boring” week life and show you what we get up to in Goa.

People also wrote in that they like the hotel reviews – while an equal amount of people said they don’t on another question. So, not sure about that! haha!

2. What you guys have booked or bought after reading it on my blog

It’s a weird feeling to know that if I recommend something, a reader might buy it. Because of that, I really only recommend cool stuff that I actually use. If you could see my inbox for offers from companies who want to send me free things to promote – and how much money I turn down, you’d think I was crazy! But I want to keep the blog as real as I can. For me, it was better to ad the ads you see as you read through than to work with brands that didn’t align in order to make an income. I know the ads are distracting – which some of you mentioned later on.

But, moving on – 25% of you have booked many things from my blog, 25% of you have booked a few things, and the other 50% said you have things bookmarked to book when you travel to the places I wrote about. Awesome sauce!

Brands you like? You guys like Kiwi.com for flights and World Nomads travel insurance a lot which is great! I love them too. A handful of you also did my same Jordan itinerary staying at the Movenpick in Petra and the Kempinski at the Dead Sea. Three people said they never considered Israel until reading about how much I loved it and booked a trip! That is the coolest thing ever. A few of you followed the same path as me in Istanbul, too, taking the walking tour and staying at my cute hotel.

In India, a lot of people have stayed in the same guesthouses I do when I travel here, and in Goa some have mentioned staying at Siolim House and Vivenda Del Polhacos.

For products, a bunch of you have gotten the Panasonic camera that I use! I love this camera and am glad you guys do too. I recently got a new lens which I haven’t written about yet but it’s awesome. You guys also like Ebags luggage and packing cubes – can’t live without packing cubes, haha!

One thing a few girls mentioned is that they don’t buy the clothes I recommend as they don’t have similar body types and it’s online shipping. I get that and buying online is hard; having to deal with the hassle of returns. A lot of my dresses are Free People. If you ever want to try, you can find them at Macy’s, Nordstrom, and other department stores. I want to start showing more clothing like the Encircled multi-wear dress (you guys loved that!) so I’ll keep a lookout for brands like that to share.

3. What you DON’T like as much on the blog…

The question I was scared to ask but had to because I want to make the blog as good as it can be for you guys. So, I gave options of A) Sponsored posts/advertisement posts B) Guest posts C) Hotel reviews. 20% of you said you don’t like the sponsored posts, then 20% said they don’t like guest posts, and 17% skip the hotel reviews.

I won’t get into the guest posts now because I ask about them directly later on and will share those answers. The hotel reviews, I had some people write under what posts they like, that they love the hotel reviews. So, I think I’ll keep doing them and let the people who don’t like them skip over them in case the ones who do want it will read. Mostly, they are there for a resource when you are already thinking of booking just to see pictures and see if the hotel is worth the price.

But, let’s talk about sponsored posts! When I read other blogs, they are usually my least favorite, too. For the most part the brands I work with, I work with over and over like Ebags (who I review products for), and some apps. While some reviews I write for brands don’t get a lot of engagement, other ones have been amazing and so many of you have signed up for like Next Vacay or Service. I want to make sure I only review things that I know you guys are going to love.

For some reviews that I write, I do it because not only will it show you the pro’s and con’s of new websites that are coming up (I’m often not paid for these, like my Kiwi.com review) but for another reason: because that review shows up on google when people search “____ review” and that helps me get traffic to my website, which helps me make this a career. I do 1-2 sponsored posts on my blog per month, sometimes none at all and post new articles 4-5 times a week, so about 20-25 articles a month. I really try to only review relevant websites that will help you guys, and with your feedback, I will be even more careful about this in the future.

The post What You Want on Hippie in Heels: Reflections from the Reader Survey appeared first on Hippie In Heels.

Welcome back to my “Ask Me Anything” series. I try to answer FAQ every once in a while and something I get asked a lot is “Do I ever consider giving up blogging” & “how do I stay motivated?” I am guessing it’s other bloggers asking this question. It’s a good question because it’s hard to stay motivated to blog it an industry that is very saturated and always changing. 

How do you stay motivated to blog?

1. Because I love it.

The first reason I stay motivated to blog is that I really truly love blogging and love this job. I have not ever considered quitting blogging and don’t see myself ever quitting, although I could see maybe the blog turning into more of a website down the line (when I become boring and have no more stories to share!)

I think you would really have to ask yourself “Do I love to run my blog?” If you aren’t sure of that answer, then I can definitely see how you might lose motivation to continue.

First trip abroad, pre-blogging, 2009, literally used to sleep illegally in parks, hitchhike, and couchsurf. For food? 50 cent baguette from supermarkets. I didn’t start my blog until the end of 2013.

2. Because I feel secure as a blogger.

It’s a hard nut to crack into the travel industry and it can seem like an uphill battle that you just never seem to reach the top.I remember having just 7 readers a day when now I have over 10,000 per day. It was a struggle but I feel like I have passed that “omg am I going to make it” thing. I’m not some famous travel blogger like the many that I look up to like The Blonde Abroad or Adventurous Kate, but I feel like I’ve surpassed all the goals I have set for myself, and that’s really what matters to me.

There are an approximate 1.2 million travel blogs. When I started my blog four years ago, I think this number might have been a lot lower. After a year of blogging, my blog became one of the top 50 blogs based on traffic with just 65,000 UMV per month. This is impossible now. Travel is the “cool” thing to do, people love it, and travel blogs are getting read more than ever. So, starting out it can seem like a daunting task to become a “top travel blogger”.

I was lucky in a sense that I started early when I did, but that’s not to say you can’t still become successful. There are new blogs popping up all the time that are amazing and have something unique to say – so they are becoming top blogs.

Because I was a little lucky to start early, and have grown my blog to the point where I feel good where I’m at, that keeps me motivated to just continue without stress. I don’t feel like I have something to prove or like I need to get my name out there.

3. Because I need to make a living.

Money is always going to be a motivation. I left my job as a nurse to do this. I’m going on 30. I need to have a retirement plan and be able to support myself with this as my one and only career. I don’t want to return to nursing, although I would if I needed money. I have a backup plan in place. If I don’t make money, I can’t keep blogging as a full-time job. That’s some motivation, there!

I have said before on this blog, I did start it with the intent to make an income from it. I love doing it, but it’s a job for me.

That means that one motivation for me is money – and I don’t think it’s bad for bloggers to admit that. We work so hard putting our lives online so people can learn from our travel mistakes and it’s only fair that we earn an income from promoting brands we use and love along the way.

4. Connecting with people.

What is life is we don’t connect with people along the way? I love the people I meet online. I know that sounds lame but in this day and age, I think it’s acceptable, right? I’ve made so many friends from blogging like Alex, Mindy, and Silvia. It’s like how you have your childhood friends, your college friends, and your work friends – well, I work on my couch, so my blogger friends have filled that spot.

I met Anna (right) in Kerala when she joined the GoMowgli trip I co-hosted and she ended up staying with me in Goa after and is who I hired to redesign my site last year. 

Trish, a firecracker who I met in Israel is someone I always stay in touch with now!

Fellow blogger Colleen came here to stay and met my dog, Huck, before he passed away. She wrote this amazing blog post about him which is my favorite thing on the internet. Goosebumps.

It’s not just connecting with other bloggers and online entrepreneurs, even more so, it’s connecting with the people who read my blog and that I met on social media. When I go to a new town, people who follow my blog from that town get in touch and offer advice on where to go, offer to meet up, and sometimes offer me a place to crash.

5. Because it’s something I’m proud of.

I don’t want to toot my own horn here, but I am proud of myself for making this blog. I didn’t know what a travel blog was 4 years ago. I didn’t know how to make a website or what marketing and sales were. I have learned so much and it’s been self-taught. There are many resources online to learn about blogging which I’ve read and a lot of what I learned has been from mistakes I’ve made.

I NEVER saw myself as an “entrepreneur” and sometimes don’t even think what I do is real or that people really are going to read what I’m writing. It’s never stopped being a “pinch me” moment. It motivates me to keep writing and keep working hard to see where Hippie in Heels as a brand can go.

6. Because it allows me to see more of the world.

My blog has brought me life opportunities that have been so amazing and unforgettable. I have been to places like Jordan and Israel because of my blog. I have been flown to Bali to be paid to surf every day. It’s literally a dream job and the more I see of the world, the more I want to see.

I’ve always been interested in traveling and had “wanderlust” before it was a word. This blog is my gateway to that and I don’t see myself stopping!

If you’re interested in starting a blog, check out my article from last month on how to start one from scratch. I won’t pretend like the market isn’t saturated, but if you have a unique travel style and a unique voice or are a great story-teller, then you should 100% give it a go!

The post Ask Me Anything: Do You Ever Want to Give Up Blogging? How Do You Stay Motivated? appeared first on Hippie In Heels.