Tips to Balance Travel and Real Life

Lately there have been a lot of questions on social media wondering how it is that I balance travel and real life. I’d be lying if I told you that it was roses and rainbows 100% of the time. I can say, however, that it is 100% worth the reward. I was never really much of a traveler until last year when I set out on my first solo trip to Bali, Indonesia. I fell in love with the idea of completely letting go and diving into such a welcoming, yet completely unknown, territory. There’s this thing with travel that’s contagious. Once the bug bites you, you can’t help but act on it.

When I first set out I knew that I was ready to put aside my hectic NYC life to learn more about life across the globe, and myself as a person outside of the chaotic lifestyle I was leading. I wanted to put aside my ego and restless mentality to see life through the eyes of a different kind of people. And there  was nothing to stop me.

Upon coming back home barely two weeks passed before I decided to pack my bags and head right back to Asia. I traveled the continent for over 2 months gaining more life experience than anything I’d ever seen otherwise. The ride wasn’t always smooth though. About 45 days in I found myself playing tug-of-war with my very own mind. I was battling the impulsive free-spirit that lives inside me and the more structured self screaming for a home. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s hard to feel rooted when you’re consistently packing up and moving to leave all the things you’ve discovered behind. No one place becomes familiar and at one point everything and everyone becomes a big blur. That’s when I decided to return to my first home, Miami, to get back into a groove.

I’ve since charged my batteries and have been spending equal time between Miami and New York. The New York energy is inescapable and so addicting. As glamorous as it may seem, I admit that traveling often is not easy. I’ve struggled many times finding that reset button, but along the way have gathered some really wonderful tips that make the process much more feasible and enjoyable that I wanted to share with you.

This is a must. I get so much work done on airplanes, mainly because there’s not much else to do and I’m usually not seated next to anyone uber interesting. I’ve been contemplating getting a monthly internet pass because of how much I fly, but either way there are 30-minute or in-flight passes to surf the web. Getting connected in the sky helps me maintain the travel and life balance for no wasted time or missed deadlines.

I may have mentioned once or twice that baths are my jam. I mess with all kinds of bath salts and gels and make it an evening ritual at least once a week. There’s nothing better than laying in a hot bath steaming with the sweet scent of lavender aromatherapy after a long day. This is the ultimate destress tool and you can do it anywhere in the world!

My to-do list comes with me everywhere I go. I used to write it all out on tiny little hotel room notepads, but since then I’ve gotten a bit more sophisticated and now bring my Bamboo Spark with me. Bamboo Spark is a special kind of notepad that syncs all of the notes you write on paper digitally. Everything you write travels to the cloud on your iPhone, iPad, etc. It’s amazing because it takes my to-do list with me everywhere I go and I can just search up a keyword on my phone to find a certain note. No more lost post-it notes or mini pieces of paper these days!

Everywhere I go I try to keep a really consistent routine, so being somewhere new doesn’t throw me off too much. I wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go for a walk/run. Of course there are days when a vacation is a vacation and I don’t push myself to get out of bed at a certain time to start the day, but during the week I like to keep it consistent. I think it’s important for the mind, body, and soul to stick with a general morning plan to maintain some sense of normalcy no matter where you are. <3