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Tag: responsible travel

A Responsible Solo Female Travel Guide to Peru

Are you thinking of visiting Peru as a solo female traveler? Read this guide to learn where to go, what to know, and how to visit responsibly.

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I talk a lot about this idea of "meeting a new ver I talk a lot about this idea of "meeting a new version of yourself" 

Yesterday on a podcast I was asked what travel does for me. My favorite answer has always been that travel allows me to meet new versions of myself that I frankly don't get to when I'm in my comfort zone. 

What does travel do for you? 

📸 One of many cold dip challenges I pushed myself to try in Norway. Who knew... I'd actually kind of love it?? Your limbs really feel electric after! I was amazed! New version of myself unlocked :) 

Follow @racheloffduty for more adventures on the road from Norway! #OffDutyinNorway 

___

#mynorwaystories #norway #fjordnorway #mindsetofgreatness #takingrisks #travelbetter #coldplunge #dreamchasersnorway #bestofnorway #sheisnotlost #travelbetter #girlsdreamtravel #wearetravelgirls #travelcontentcreator #womenintravel #workandtravel #girlsborntotravel #travelreels #mindsetmatters #visitnorway #racheloffduty
Days 4-6 of Norway! After Bergen we drove 9 hours Days 4-6 of Norway! After Bergen we drove 9 hours up to Ålesund 🚗

If you were to pull this drive up on Google, Bergen and Ålesund don't look too far. But it took 9 hours because we had 4 ferries to catch along the way. 

Why so many ferries? This drive tracing the western coast of Norway takes you through the country's most abundant FJORD region! So... we had a lot of water to cross 😅 check out my Stories to see what I mean.

Ålesund is famous for its Art Nouveau architecture (which you can see here) that is COMPLETELY different from the Scandinavian architecture you'd see in a city like Oslo, or the fisherman wharf you'd find in Bergen. 

Why? The city almost entirely burned down in 1904, except for a few fishermen's homes (including our airbnb, a miracle building spared from the fire that I'll share in a separate post). 10,000 people were homeless overnight. But other countries - including the French – came to rebuild in record time, giving it the signature Art Nouveau architecture you'll still see today. 

Ålesund is also a gateway town to some of Norway's most famous fjords, which is where we went next... and it might look familiar to some HBO fans... stay tuned for that 👀

To the fjords! #OffDutyinNorway #OffDutyRetirementRoadTrip
Reflections from the road for #mentalhealthawarene Reflections from the road for #mentalhealthawareness 🫶🏽 How do you see me? ​​​​​

I often think about how despite all that we endure as humans it's still so easy for us to forget the journeys of others. A surface level interaction leads with focusing on an exchange - what I do for you, what you do for me. And we stay there, floating on the surface, when we could connect so much deeper than that. 

Mental Health Awareness Month reminds me of my own journey and as I write this caption I think about how I often remain on the surface, expecting too much from others too quickly, when we are all beautifully flawed. Going on 12 years recovered from an eating disorder myself, my tendency to expect perfection still looms large over myself and how I see others whenever I allow it to creep back in. 

Don't get me wrong. I freaking love my imperfect self. I'm her biggest champion. But grace and perspective are a muscle you learn and re-learn how to flex at your own pace when you've endured the ebbs and flows of mental health. 

The next time you interact with someone, I hope you take a moment - even the smallest nanosecond - to really, truly see them :) #MoreThanEnough 

📍 📸 Somewhere random & beautiful along the 9-hour road trip between Bergen and Ålesund. The next stop on our 10-day road trip around southern Norway :)
"If you could go anywhere in the world to start th "If you could go anywhere in the world to start this new chapter of your life, where would you go?"

This is what I asked my parents in 2020, and what brought us here to Norway 3 years later to ring in their retirement 🎉

What a dream, I can't tell you all how special it felt. To be able to say okay, I'll take you there. We're going. This is not wishful thinking. It's real 🙏🏽

Being in Bergen - the second city of our 10 day road trip that I planned myself - I told you guys in Stories a few days ago that after dinner one day we saw a bunch of people at the wharf drinking pilsners and enjoying the slowly setting sun, and we spontaneously joined them. It was here that I saw my parents get a bit teary eyed. With the 9 pm sun setting behind them I saw exactly what I'd hoped for - my parents feeling all the appreciation and love in the way I best know to express it. Through shared experiences like this. We all had a moment right then, I think, but my dad would never admit it haha 😂

Is it a dream of yours to take your parents on a trip like this?  Where do you think you'd take them? What apprehensions - or questions - do you have about doing something like this?

#OffDutyinNorway #OffDutyRetirementRoadTrip
When finding the bathroom or pumping gas is a wild When finding the bathroom or pumping gas is a wild adventure 🫶🏽😅

Earlier this week, Jacob and I sped to the gas station with only minutes to spare before catching a ferry here in Norway. What we forgot was that we actually had no idea how to pump gas here and we shouldn't have assumed we would 😅 we were struggling and stressing and laughing as we raced to the ferry dock with my parents jusssst in time and only a minute to spare.

I love being reminded that we don't know everything there is to know. The 'way things are done' is never THE way. It's just your way. And it's not right or wrong. Just yours. Isn't that a humbling thing? #OffDutyinNorway

Follow @racheloffduty for more travel + scenes from traveling around Norway ✈️

___ 

#mynorwaystories #norway #dreamchasersnorway #bestofnorway #sheisnotlost #travelbetter #girlsdreamtravel #wearetravelgirls #travelcontentcreator #womenintravel #girlsborntotravel #2023travel #travelreels #mindsetmatters #visitnorway #visitoslo #bucketlist #fjordnorway #lofoten #travelawesome #allaboutadventures #bucketlistadventures #racheloffduty
Arriving in Norway was a whirlwind and not in the Arriving in Norway was a whirlwind and not in the best way 🥲 For all the preparation ahead of time I still couldn't get ahead of my work. I left projects unfinished and so many loose ends untied. I must have lost it more than once just thinking about all the things. And on top of that, we missed our connection in Paris and subsequently, our first entire day with my parents in Norway 🥲

There's no easy way to shut off, is there? But one thing I do know is I've been looking forward to bringing my parents to Norway for over a year now, and that day finally came. And the most important thing now? To be present. To really feel it and savor it and enjoy this time 🙏🏽 tomorrow's projects will be waiting and the world will not end. 

So this was Day 1 // Oslo! 

Highlights included taking a floating sauna out for a frigid cold dip in the oslofjord (honestly, I think I'm addicted!), seeing female guards at the Royal Palace, and being welcomed with a warm, sunny spring day

Have you been to Oslo? Also, how do you relax and "shut off"? #OffDutyinNorway #OffDutyRetirementRoadTrip
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