One of the things travel has taught me is that similar patterns, quirks, and charms lurk in the recesses of the biggest cities just as they do in the teeniest towns — if you care and take the time to see them.
Author: Valerie Conners
I am a writer, digital content producer and editor who has chosen to pursue location independence, intent on living a life I love -- a life extraordinary. I'm happiest when traipsing through a new locale, lounging on Thai island beaches and bargaining for bangles in Indian markets.
The Fair Came to Town … Under My Window
I had my first sneaking suspicion that all would not go well with the annual, five-day Frigiliana Fair when a three-story inflatable Sponge Bob slide — complete with wild eyes, enormous gaping teeth, and a quivering Patrick Star by his side — sprung to attention in the plaza beneath my balcony.
The Place Chooses You
After 3-plus years of location independent living, I’ve honed a relatively fool-proof strategy for finding short-term leases. When it works out well, it’s stupendous, and when it fails, it does so in spectacular fashion. This, friends, is a tale of the latter. Ayaz and I booked our 6-week stint in Malaga, Spain sometime over the…
St. Kitts Island Adventure
When a press trip invite arrives in your inbox touting a “Summer Camp for Adults” experience on St. Kitts, it’s kind of a no-brainer. If you can, you go. Measuring just 98 square miles, St. Kitts is a small island that packs a whole lot of natural beauty inside its shores. Here’s how to see it…
Vieques, Take Me Away
Though this M.O. isn’t exactly intentional, by virtue of being one (curlier?) half of a duo of digital nomads, Ayaz and I are almost always each other’s only travel partners when we’re on the road. Rarely do we travel apart — unless we’re visiting our families or I’m on a press trip — and it’s…
RE:DREAM — Reimagining the American Dream
For a few days earlier this year, a film crew followed Ayaz Nanji and I around Miami, to create a short documentary about our location indy lifestyle for the RE:DREAM project, a national initiative sponsored by PBS to examine how people are reimagining the American Dream. They’ve done a beautiful job examining why three years…
I’m Not a Sea Cow; I’m a Manatee! (A Crystal River Road Trip)
High on my travel bucket list, somewhere between “explore Nepal” and “eat my face off in China” lay this little gem: See a manatee. That’s right. “See” one, not “swim” with one. That’s because even though manatees are gigantic, slow-moving, and apparently cruising through Florida waterways on a regular basis, I have yet to spy even…
That Time I Was the Least Cool Kid at Art Basel’s Least Cool Party
It was a dark and stormy night. No really, it was raining cat and dogs in Miami, and there is no way in hell anything could have dragged me out of my cosy, candlelit apartment other than something epic, like a Springsteen concert or … an invite to a really hip Art Basel Party in a…
New York City Day Trips: Storm King, Bear Mountain, Omega Institute
My favorite oasis outside the city is, hands down, the Hudson Valley. Nearly anywhere you choose to travel in the region is beautiful: lush, green (at least in summer), filled with artsy, quirky towns, and bee-you-ti-ful nature walks and vistas along the Hudson River.
Cheyenne Frontier Days: The Daddy of ‘Em All
My dream was coming true – I would attend Cheyenne Frontier Days 2015! As if watching the heart-pounding, adrenaline-pumping competitions wasn’t enough, I got to climb in a bull chute and wander the arena pre-rodeo, and later stand in the chutes mere feet from some verrrry pissed off bulls during the actual rodeo (behind some very fine-looking cowboys in chaps, I might add).
Day Trips From Paris: Whooping It Up in Chartres, Fontainebleau
When you think “whooping it up,” I’m sure French cathedrals and chalets are among the first things to spring to mind, no? No? At any rate, with a week to while away in the City of Lights, Ayaz and I decided to make multiple day trips outside the city center. Paris is, of course, a…
Goodbye, Stranger: A Paris Lovesong
Frank Sinatra and New York. Elvis and Las Vegas. Supertramp and Paris. Wait, what? Every city deserves a theme, at least when you’re traveling…