Full Passport, Fuller Heart: Life on the Road

Travel has had a hold on me for as long as I can remember. As a little kid, I'd plead to go along on my parents' work trips, and I was perfectly happy coloring in a hotel lobby if it meant waking up somewhere new. Italy was my first big trip, when I was ten. I'm Italian and Scandinavian, and standing in the places my grandmother used to talk about rewired my brain.

When I was fifteen, I took off alone through Southeast Asia. I wandered night markets in Bangkok, watched the sun come up at Angkor Wat, visited pagodas in Myanmar, and understood almost nothing of what people around me were saying. I came home hooked, and I haven't skipped a year since. In high school I funded it by waiting tables, and after that through work trades, service trips, and anything else that got me onto a plane. College brought semesters in Florence and Barcelona, building classrooms in Cambodia, planting trees in Costa Rica, and internships that sent me to places most tourists never see.

After that came a gap year and twelve new countries: safaris in Kenya and Tanzania, lemurs in Madagascar, island hopping in the Seychelles, a hot-air balloon ride over Cappadocia, the Bolivian salt flats, the Amazon Rainforest, and plenty more. Once I became a yoga teacher, Southeast Asia pulled me back. I spent a good stretch of time in Bali, teaching yoga and going deeper in my own studies. I practiced in open-air shalas surrounded by rice terraces, learned from local teachers, and slowed down in a way that changed how I teach and how I live. Indonesia still feels like a second home.

What I love most about travel is that it fills up every part of me. I get to immerse myself in new cultures, lend a hand where it's needed, and chase adventure, whether that means scuba diving, hiking volcanoes, surfing, or ziplining through the jungle. Above all, I love exploring our beautiful planet and being reminded how big, diverse, and generous it is. Italy will always have a special place in my heart because of my roots, but I'm just as in love with Indonesia and Southeast Asia, and with the color, music, and warmth of South and Central America. Honestly, I can't think of a place I don't enjoy exploring. And I'm nowhere near done.

Where I've Been (So Far)

Europe: Italy (including Sardinia, Sicily, Ischia, and more, ), Vatican City, France, Monaco, Switzerland, Spain (including Mallorca and Ibiza), Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, Germany, Ukraine, Norway, Finland, Portugal, Hungary, Austria, Croatia Africa & the Indian Ocean: Morocco, Kenya, Tanzania, Zanzibar, South Africa, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles Asia: Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Singapore, Turkey, Laos The Americas & Caribbean: USA, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Belize, Guatemala, Grand Cayman, Aruba, Brazil, Bolivia