Travel Evolved: Finding My Way Back

It’s been more than three and a half years since my last post, marking the longest break in the history of this blog. That’s not to say that I haven’t thought about writing, but life has changed so drastically since my first blog post in December of 2017, pulling me in directions I never expected– including away from the writing I loved so much.

I started this blog to document my travels as a single mother and solo traveler, and to document my huge, life-changing move from the U.S. to Mexico with my young son. With its help, I started to build a small reputation from my stories, and my career as a blogger and writer slowly took off. Doors opened, including opportunities to contribute to major travel websites, be a guest on podcasts and in news stories, be interviewed and featured in articles, and be seen as a “go-to” person for traveling, moving, and living abroad as a single mother. Things were going great, but as life started to transition from “the fun new adventure abroad” into “real life abroad,” things started to change…and so did this blog. 

My idea of setting up a home base and traveling the world didn’t exactly pan out as I thought. Challenges such as worldwide pandemics, financial struggles as a self-employed single mother, and adding a high-energy dog to the family made moving around a tad more challenging than I had initially envisioned.

When life got hectic, we slowed down big time to enjoy the family life and the city we lived in.

But life went on. We eventually became permanent, full-time residents. We continued to get out and travel whenever we could, explored the local attractions and restaurants, and fully embraced the opportunity to be learning another culture and language. Although my blog wasn’t being updated, I occasionally documented our adventures and experiences on TikTok and Instagram and even started a YouTube channel with my son's encouragement. I continued to write for external travel sites, contributing my writing skills and experience whenever I could.

Eventually, everything slowed down as I spent more time growing and working in my virtual marketing business. My new content on Instagram and TikTok came to a halt as I struggled with the repercussions of “promoting” moving to a country where locals now had to deal with overdevelopment, rising rents, and the slow loss of culture due to gentrification. I struggled to keep up with my YouTube videos, and eventually they stopped being published.

So, in late 2024, after months (maybe even years) of producing no content whatsoever, I decided to call it quits. I deleted my Travel Unapologetically Facebook page, turned off the auto-renewal on my domain, unpublished my YouTube channel, rejected incoming freelancing projects, and focused entirely on growing my marketing business. It kinda felt like I was deleting an entire part of my identity for a minute.

And this, my friends, brings me to where we are today.

Stopping to snap a photo during our "scouting trip" to Guadalajara, where we now call home.

Although we are still living abroad in Mexico, we no longer live in the paradise they call Puerto Vallarta, but instead in the busy capital of the state, Guadalajara. My once “adorable little boy” is now 12 years old and in middle school, and while he’s still handsome as ever, getting him to join me on trips and adventures requires a sincere interest on both our parts (unless I want to deal with a cranky and complaining preteen). Our interests are completely different: I love the beach, the water, and anything where I can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the sounds of nature. He, on the other hand, prefers history, museums, park visits, aquariums…and food. Lots of food.

There were many times that I wondered if I’d made a mistake by moving away from my blog. I loved traveling. I loved writing. I loved connecting with strangers via social media. Others loved my travel stories, and, before giving up my domain, I was continuously receiving questions and comments from strangers who had visited my blog, asking questions about traveling and moving abroad as a single mom. 

Travel looks and feels a little different now with a preteen, but it is still just as meaningful!

To this day, I look at the low, stagnant numbers on my social media profiles, and think to myself, “Wow…this really could have been something big if I hadn’t given up...” I had the audience. I had the stories. I had the supporters. I was building a real “unapologetic” brand. So why in the world did I throw in the towel just because life got hard?

Well, the universe must have heard, because it started answering. The unwavering itch to pick back up reading and to write my own content returned. Where my mind had previously gone blank trying to find the words to write and find my passion again in this "new" life of mine, all I kept hearing was a small voice telling me, “Don't give up…just redirect.” 

Life getting “hard” wasn’t my sign to throw in the towel, but instead a sign to redirect my writing from being a traveling single mother of a young child, to being an entrepreneurial woman living abroad and experiencing life’s adventures with a growing son. It wasn’t time to give up writing about my travels; it was time to unapologetically evolve and shift how I traveled with my son and how I wrote about those experiences.

So consider this a "rebirth" of Travel Unapologetically. An evolution. It’ll still be the same real-life, unapologetic, inspiration, and motivation for women, but also diving into navigating life changes and challenges on the way, such as growing children, changing friendships, rejection and redirection, mental health…you know, the real stuff that women deal with every day as they make their way through the real world.

If you’re new here, welcome. If you’re tuned back in after that 3.5-year “redirect,” thank you for your continued support. No matter who you are, I’m glad to have you.