My Story
Hey, I’m Nichole!
And I’m just a girl who loves spending my weekends outdoors, taking as much PTO as I can to explore the world, and sharing those adventures with you!
My Goal…
is simply to inspire others to find their own adventure. Whether it is hiking the tallest mountain in their state, spending a week exploring a country across the world, or finding hidden gems in your backyard, I want to inspire people to get outside and explore!
A little bit about me:
Funny enough, I did not grow up hiking. I mean, I am a millennial, so I grew up in a time before social media took over, and my childhood was running around with friends outside. My parents would also take my sister and me to places in New England in the summer, and we would hike, but I never went out of my way to go to the mountains.
To be honest, I did not have time. I grew up competitively dancing, which essentially means I had no life, haha. I spent 5-7 days a week dancing, so it consumed my life. And I loved it!
At the time, it was my outlet and the thing I gravitated towards when I needed to clear my head. Similar to hiking, dancing requires you to be incredibly present. I have been an anxious overthinker my entire life, and it has been difficult to turn off my brain, but dance was always something I could lose myself in, and the thing that made my brain relax.
I continued dancing throughout high school, and when I reached college, I decided to take a leap of faith and try out to become a professional dancer for the NBA. And I made it! I spent two incredible years doing what I loved for my favorite NBA team and sharing the parquet with players I grew up watching. I was also able to travel internationally to represent the organization. It was a dream come true for me! I mean, how could it get any better?!
BUT I lost myself.
That brings us to how I got into hiking:
After I graduated from college and stopped dancing, I was in a very dark place. I always struggled with my mental health growing up, and it all came to a head after I graduated. I spent an entire summer pretty much doing nothing. I would lie in bed all day because I was exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally. I had no motivation to do anything.
And if I am being honest, it got pretty bad.
But one day I woke up and thought, my life is never going to change unless I begin to change it. I felt this renewed energy and immediately went to Google to search what to do when you are sad, which told me to go outside for a walk. I was like, well, I will take this a step further and go for a hike!
And that hike changed my life. That hike was the first time in SO long that I felt free from everything, including my own thoughts, because I was forced to be present to focus on my steps. I suddenly felt like I could hear everything: a crunch of a leaf, a song from a bird, and a whisper from the wind that I normally would never hear because my internal thoughts were so loud.
When I reached the summit, I came out of that meditative state and saw more clearly than I had in years. I saw two clear paths forward: one doing what I had been doing and not changing, and the other making an effort to change and be happier and healthier.
I picked the second path.
So why did I start this blog?
Hiking and spending time outdoors changed my life. It honestly saved my life, too. Hiking reminded me how strong I am, how I can do anything I put my mind to, how I can accomplish hard things, and how to appreciate the journey and little moments along the way.
Because hiking changed my life in a massive way, I wanted to encourage others to spend time outdoors, whether it was traveling, hiking, or sitting by the ocean.
I also started traveling and actually using my PTO. I quickly found a love for experiencing different cultures. And because I do so much research, I thought, what better way to share what I learned than through a blog! I started creating itineraries and helpful guides for every place I went, hoping it would help make the planning a bit easier for you.
I am so passionate about all of this, and it has been amazing to hear stories of people using my guides to plan their trips or being inspired by my story to spend more time outdoors. That has honestly been the best part of all this.
I will continue sharing helpful guides here on my blog and lots of hiking humor on social media. My goal has and will always be to help others get outdoors in a way that feels right for them, and I am so excited to continue this journey!
