“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” – Bill Bryson
Hey! I’m Ashley. I’m a wine drinker, bookworm, and travel enthusiast. Since college I’ve au paired in Paris, backpacked the world solo for a year, lived in Colorado and Uganda, and walked the Camino de Santiago. Read more on my About Me page.
Latest blog posts
What Living as an Expat in Berlin is Really Like
Hey guys! Welcome back to American Expats, a series that shows you what it's like to live as an expat in cities around the world. Our latest interview is with Natalye,...
17 Super-Fun Ways to Spend a Rainy Day in Paris
In Paris, a rainy day is nothing unusual, especially in fall or winter. Yes, a rainy day can be a bummer if you have a picnic planned. But honestly, Paris can be lovely in the...
10 Ways That Living Abroad Permanently Changed Me
In the past ten years, I've lived abroad in three countries: Argentina, France, and most, recently, Uganda. As a result, I've learned that moving to another country will change...
Popular posts
What Living as an Expat in Berlin is Really Like
Hey guys! Welcome back to American Expats, a series that shows you what it's like to live as an expat in cities around the world. Our latest interview is with Natalye,...
What Living as an Expat in Hamburg is Really Like
Hey guys! Welcome to American Expats, a series that shows you what expat life is like in cities around the world. Next up we have our first Germany-based...
20 Essential Tips for Your First Oktoberfest
I was surprised by how much I loved Oktoberfest. I don't know if it was the liters of golden lager or all of the handsome German men in lederhosen, but Oktoberfest was an...
Expat series
What Living as an Expat in Berlin is Really Like
Hey guys! Welcome back to American Expats, a series that shows you what it's like to live as an expat in cities around the world. Our latest interview is with Natalye,...
What Living as an Expat in Scotland Is Really Like
For this month's American Expats series, we're talking to Camila, a Canadian travel writer living in Scotland. (P.S. I may need to change the name of this series.) Here, she...
What Living as an Expat in Kyrgyzstan is Really Like
Today, our American Expats series takes us to Kyrgyzstan where we meet Brittany, an English teacher living in Kyrgyzstan with her husband and daughter. We talked about living in...
Camino de Santiago
How Much Does it Cost to Walk the Camino de Santiago? A Detailed Budget Breakdown
I've written a lot of posts about the Camino: what to pack, what surprised me most, the life lessons I learned. But the question that I’m asked time and time again is: How much...
The Ultimate Camino de Santiago Packing List
When planning out my Camino de Santiago packing list, I researched dozens of packing lists. I wanted to get it right - after all, the Camino takes around 36 days and crosses...
The 9 Life Lessons I Learned on the Camino de Santiago
Sunrise in the Pyrenees, Day 2 Yeats once wrote, “It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield." After...
The Ultimate Au Pair Packing List: What You Need (And What You Don’t)
Figuring out what belongs on your au pair packing list can be daunting. You want to make sure you have everything you'll need, but you don't want to overpack either. The key to...
A Day in the Life of an American Au Pair in Australia
Today we're hearing from Phoebe, an American travel blogger (and fellow Midwesterner!) who au paired in Sydney, Australia last year. Hearing about her experience in Australia...
True Au Pair Stories: I Married My Divorced Host Dad
So today we we're hearing from Agnieszka, a young Polish woman whom I interviewed several weeks ago. Agnieszka ended up falling in love and marrying her divorced host dad so I...
Musings
10 Ways That Living Abroad Permanently Changed Me
In the past ten years, I've lived abroad in three countries: Argentina, France, and most, recently, Uganda. As a result, I've learned that moving to another country will change you, in ways big and small. From what you to eat to how you see the world… and possibly...
Do Readers Grow Up to Be Travelers?
Since I was a child, I've been entranced by two things: books and faraway places. Though I didn't leave the country until I was 15, I explored as much as possible without going anywhere. I read stacks of books. I took my red wagon to the library. I called an empty...
Career Advice for Lost Twenty-somethings
Me at my college graduation in 2012 In my twenties, I've felt so much pressure (both internal and external) to find the right career. I think most of us have. Since graduating from college, I've worked in sales and marketing. I've freelanced and blogged and au paired....