Life is a journey

Whale Watching in Iceland is definitely once in a lifetime experience. Sailing in the middle of an ocean, surrounded by wild nature and driven by waves: it is unforgettable, even when it rains!

Exploring Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula Kamchatka, Russia On the remote Russian peninsula of Kamchatka, indigenous Even people watch over large herds of reindeer as their ancestors have for centuries. We caught up with them after traveling by snowmobile. Blowing winter snow stung my face like 1000 tiny frozen needles. Riding snowmobiles through a whiteout in 60 mph winds, with a wind chill temperature of -39F, we were attempting to escape the top of a featureless alpine plateau. The weather just keeps getting worse. I was seriously starting to worry if we’d make it out of here… It’s March, and we’re deep in the heart of Kamchatka, a 900-mile long Russian peninsula attached to Siberia that juts out into the Pacific Ocean. Most people only know it from the game of RISK. It’s about the size of California, with only 400,000 residents. Kamchatka is a wilderness lover’s playground, composed of thick boreal forests, geothermically active vo...

Crystal Ice Caves in Iceland Vatnajokull Glacier, Iceland In the winter months, Iceland’s incredible ice caves can be explored. Walking through a brilliant cathedral of frozen crystal blue waves. Superman would feel right at home! When the Man of Steel wants to get away from the hustle & bustle of Metropolis, he flies to his “Fortress of Solitude” hidden in the Arctic. A magnificent crystal castle built using Krypton alien technology. What if I told you Superman’s crystal ice caves are real? Deep under Iceland’s massive Vatnajökull glacier , beautiful caves of ice are formed by rivers of melt-water. Too dangerous to visit in the spring & summer due to a threat of collapse, cold winter temperatures strengthen the ice and make exploration possible. A fellow photographer convinced me to go during my Iceland road trip. Traveling to the Glacier Massive Walls of Ice Photographing Iceland’s Ice Caves Iceland’s incredible glac...

Reading Time: 6 minutes Editor’s Note: The copy for this post was written by Kristen Brotemarkle  who traveled to a Hedo resort  at a nude beach in Jamaica on behalf of TravelBreak. This post was edited and produced by Stephanie Be. This story is as told in Kristen’s voice. Thank you for reppin’ team TravelBreak!   As a yoga teacher and self-dubbed “free spirit” who has done everything from travel the world solo to move to Hawaii with a carry on luggage, I figured going to Hedo – or Hedonism II – a resort in Jamaica known for it’s focus on pleasure – wasn’t going to be anything new. Surprisingly, I first found myself wildly uncomfortable — out of my element in many ways, and with hesitation. How was I going to “dive in” to this experience? I promised myself to fully immerse into the Hedonism culture — ultimately, I learned that there is a bigger purpose to nude beaches than tanning your tatas (which I’m still totally a fan of). The liber...

Reading Time: 3 minutes Whether it’s Father’s Day, a birthday or a graduation, the best gift you can give the ones you love (including yourself) is travel. Travel. Do travel. Give travel. And rather than giving you a generic (yet oh, so true) list of all of the reasons travel is the best gift you can give, I’m going to tell you about how I practice what I preach. In December 2014, you helped me win a trip for two to Bali with Singapore Airlines. It was my first night (ever) in New York City. I was attending Travel Massive , and I had the highest engagement on Twitter because of you. I was so excited! I always wanted to go to Bali, and it was my first time winning anything as a blogger. It was the perfect start to my week in the Big Apple. I was not traveling full time at the moment, and was in the process of making some decisions in regards to my career. I wanted to make my dreams into goals: see the world, develop myself professionally, grow personally. Howev...

Reading Time: 6 minutes Ten years ago, you’d plan your next vacation by browsing through tour books. You’d purchase a map at a gas station or follow highway signs for a spontaneous road trip. If you don’t know which places to visit in Washington State, your answer might come in the form of Instagram.  Now, the atlas serves little purpose for wandering.  Tour books and maps? That’s pre-Google. Today, mobile apps  and social media are the root of our travel inspiration and planning. Easily, it’s a travelgasmic instagram account or listicle that nudges us for a border-cross. Can a “pin,” a post, or a hand-held social “share” influence where we book our next trip? I’m convinced. I recently took to learning more about Instagram apps to boost my own travel photos  and stumbled upon so many outdoor things to do in Washington State that I was intrigued to learn more. Named after the U.S. President, the Evergreen State is hom...