• TRAVEL

    How Solo Travel Changed My Life – Mandi’s Story

    Growing up, my hero was Samantha Brown as she trekked across Europe meeting new friends and showing the world how accessible travel could be to a small town kid like myself. I loved how she was usually alone, but would meet new people who she would inevitably befriend. They’d invite her out to dinner or show her the area in the only way locals could. This way of traveling was both terrifying and thrilling to me.  I first traveled out of the U.S. in 2004 at the age of 18 on a school trip to Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It completely changed how I moved forward in my life. In…

  • TRAVEL

    The Start of Something New – Briar’s Story

    This is, as you guessed it, the start of something new. In 2019, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, an autoimmune disease that effects the digestive track. This brought on a slew of doctors, questions, medication, and pain. I had to quickly adjust to what a new lifestyle would be at the end of my 20s, a time when I thought I was just getting the hang of things. Having to learn all new ways to adjust to the world alongside this diagnosis (and right before COVID-19 hit) was definitely a challenge. It has since been almost five years, and in those five years came many things with that diagnosis;…