Each month, I’ll be writing a retrospects post that recounts the destinations I visited during that month and all of the best and worst moments. Featured food, lodging, wildlife shots, and travel or outdoor products may also be included, along with goals for the next month. Watch this space for upcoming travel plans, too!

Most of March was spent working from home in Sacramento, and ended with a week-long Caribbean cruise contract. It felt like a pretty uneventful month until I realized that the launching of my blog would mean embarking on more adventures in the months — and hopefully years — to come!

Destinations Visited

Sacramento, CA — 23 nights
San Francisco, CA — 1 night
Fort Lauderdale, FL — 1 night
Princess Cays, Bahamas — 1 day
St. Maarten — 1 day
St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands — 1 day
Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos — 1 day

The Highs

My biggest high this month was finally launching this blog! My cousin (who has designed the look and layout of this site) helped me out by making it go live on Easter while I was away on my cruise contract with limited wifi! I could not be more excited, yet more nervous, to put myself and my thoughts out there for everyone to see, read, and judge. Hoping you all enjoy my stories, tips, information, and terrible jokes!

I won a cruise! This month is my third month of being an independent contracting travel agent (woo!). Part of the job means listening to online webinars from various companies, sellers, or brands. The webinars oftentimes have prizes or other incentives for agents and this is how I won the cruise. I’ve never won anything before, other than a few dollars here or there on a scratch-off ticket, so I was ecstatic! The cruise is to the Dominican Republic through Fathom, a company that gears its travel toward volunteering and giving back. I’ll be writing more about this as it gets closer to departure!

Not long before heading to Fort Lauderdale, I realized my sister would be visiting a few friends there at the same time! We were able to get together for dinner and I even got to see her prints and books she was showing in her friends gallery in an Art Walk event!

Over the past few years, my boyfriend and I have moved a LOT. Since 2013, we’ve had 5 different zip codes — and that’s not including the few seasonal jobs I’ve had that brought me to temporarily live and work in other states as well! With all the moving, packing, and unpacking we haven’t had the space or the stability to purchase much in the way of furniture. However, we’ve recently been more “settled” than we’ve ever been and I was finally able to buy myself a desk and bookcase set! I’m so excited to start creating a home office!

While on my Caribbean cruise contract, a coworker and I were on an open deck watching the ship sail-away from St. Thomas. Mid-conversation, I scared a nearby elderly woman with my shriek of pure joy as we witnessed a green sea turtle surface in the water! This split second sight had me elated for the rest of the day!

The Lows

On my way to joining the cruise ship for my contract, I had to spend extra money and an extra day of travel to get myself there. This meant spending the night in San Francisco at The San Francisco International Hostel. Though the hostel itself seemed like it was a pretty cool place, my night’s sleep there was the worst. My dorm room was right on the street and our windows had to be open because our heater had made the room hotter than Ryan Gosling’s  abs. A car was being towed for what felt like 4 hours as I unsuccessfully tried falling asleep to loud banging and clanging sounds. Just as it got quiet (at like 3 am) some dude outside thought it was a brilliant idea to bellow “Gooood Morninggggg San Fraaanciscoooo!” repeatedly for the next hour. I had to be awake for an early flight the next day and probably got less than 2 hours sleep that night.

Because of spending a lot of extra unplanned money this month, I wasn’t able to buy a calling card while on my week-long cruise contract (no, the crew doesn’t get free phone calls or wifi). Cue the long-distance relationship blues. Luckily it was only 7 days of limited contact with my boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier than when we’re apart for longer.

Memorable Food

While visiting my sister and her friends in Fort Lauderdale, we were brought to Myung Ga Tofu & BBQ — an awesome Korean restaurant where we gorged ourselves with rice wine and noodles. It was SO delicious.

Being in the Caribbean, I had the pleasure of trying traditional Jerk Chicken, and of course got my hands on more of St. Maarten’s guavaberry rum!

I took a friend’s recommendation in Grand Turk to head to Jack’s Shack, where I enjoyed conch fritters and a blue margarita while watching an intense game of beach volleyball.

Memorable Lodging

Again, most of March was spent at home or sleeping on the cruise ship during my week-long contract. Though, I did spend one night in San Francisco at the San Francisco International Hostel and one night in Fort Lauderdale at the Courtyard Fort Lauderdale Plantation hotel.

Best Wildlife Shot

Having an interview at the Sacramento Zoo meant getting to freely walk around afterwards. It is a really small zoo, especially when compared to my previous experience working at America’s #1 Zoo — the enormous Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. Though no matter what zoo I visit, the flamingo exhibit gets me every time. I just really dig these hues!

Most Popular Instagram Shot

I’m actually quite surprised to find that out of all the Caribbean posts, this was my most liked photo of the month. I’m even more surprised to discover it’s also my most liked photo of all time! I had spent a few days indoors editing photos and working on my blog, and by the end, all I wanted to do was go outside — even if just for a few minutes. So I took my photography gear with me out to a picnic table and staged a picture I intended to use on this site. I added a few polaroid memories from an Arizona road trip and scattered a couple flowers I had picked and this was the resulting image.

Goals Accomplished This Month

I finally launched my blog and started a home office space! Those had been my two biggest goals for this month and I’m incredibly happy that I was able to make them both happen!

I had wanted to get back into reading and so I’ve started a book called The Defining Decade : Why Your Twenties Matter — And How To Make The Most Of Them Now, by Meg Jay. It’s been super insightful and I now have a long list of things I want to figure out asap, questions I want answered, and ideas for my future.

Goals For Next Month

Now that my blog is live, my biggest goal for next month is growth. Now is the time to start promoting, expanding, and hustling with both content creation and social media posts.

Being somewhat new to the Sacramento area, I’m still exploring and discovering new things here. I’d love to check out at least 3 new restaurants or eateries in this area and become further acquainted with this city.

I currently do about 4 different jobs, but all are seasonal and one doesn’t pay (yet?). Because of this, my paychecks are pretty sporadic and so a major goal of mine is to find a more stable job or income for the coming months.

Coming Up…

After arriving home late at night on April 2 from my cruise, I’ll be expecting family to visit on the 4th. My boyfriend and I also live with a roommate (whom we knew from college) who has been on a 2 month vacation back East and will be coming back around mid April, with her new girlfriend in tow. Since her new girlfriend will be moving in with us from across the country, we’ll no doubt be going on a lot of mini road trips and adventures to show her around California! My boyfriend also graduates from park ranger academy at the end of this month so it’s likely there will be a short visit to the Napa Valley area for his graduation then!

Other than exploring more of Cali, April looks like it’ll be slow-going as far as traveling. However, the cruise line could always offer me a contract at the last minute where I may be whisked away to who-knows-where!

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