For the longest time, my mantra has been “I want to see the world. Somehow, I’m going to make it happen”.

I'm finally turning that mantra into reality.

Travel has always been important to me. When in college, I had the pleasure of studying abroad twice: Grenoble, France for 6 weeks in the summer of 2005 and Brussels, Belgium for 4 months in the fall of 2006. After college, I moved to the bustling concrete jungle that is Chicago and have been incredibly grateful to call the city my home since September 2007. 

To celebrate my decade-long milestone of living in Chicago, I embarked on my first-ever solo trip to a city I had been considering moving to after college: New York City. I spent 4 amazing days there in May 2017. That trip was so empowering and exhilarating, and ignited my love of independent exploration.

In January 2020, I decided it was finally time to prioritize travel. That month, I booked a flight to Montreal for a long weekend in April 2020 and another flight to Tokyo for a 2 week trip exploring Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka in November 2020. But as fate would have it, the universe had different plans for all of us. 

Later on that year, it occurred to me that many of the trips I’ve taken in the past had an element of hiking woven into it. With hiking being one of the safest things to do in the height of Covid, and with the wonderful guidance of a dear friend who lives in Utah, I decided to elevate it to the centerpiece of my journeys and embrace the great outdoors.

A pivotal moment in my creative journey came in December 2016 when I was gifted the Canon Rebel T6. I’ve always liked to think I had an eye for photography, but, with this new tool, I uncovered a newfound passion for capturing the world's exquisite beauty through the lens. In January 2022, I upgraded to the Canon R6, enabling me to weave an even more captivating visual tapestry of the world around us.

Here, in my corner of the digital universe, I share my travels and the breathtaking places I've been fortunate to visit.

With wanderlust and creativity,
Shelby