It’s easier to see CHANGE in others than in ourselves. This year a lot happened and I wasn’t self-aware enough to course-correct the darkness I felt. OR perhaps it’s more honest to say that I let myself lean into it due to a bit of depression. Since January, I experienced…
While trying to secure funding for a project that was approved by Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) last year, I was almost raped by a man pretending to be Balochistan Chief Minister Bugti’s coordinator, a secretary to the Chief Minister tried to extort me for sex, a female politician victim-blamed…
VIEW GUILTY DECISION HERE Since 9/11, I’m the foreigner to explore Balochistan, Pakistan the longest, 50+ days across 10 districts in 2021 (+ 20 days in 2024 = 72 days total). Travelling there was the most fun I’ve had in decades and the closest I felt to a proper explorer…
You might think the biggest cultural difference a liberal Californian in Pakistan would experience is around religion but that’s not the case (this is the 3rd Muslim-majority country I’ve lived in, I love them). Where I struggle is around dealing with men. Western women are accustomed to having close relationships…
I was deported & blacklisted from a country once. I had relocated for a chief marketing officer job but ended up striking out on my own, exactly like what I’m doing here in Pakistan. I set up my own company, hired staff, and landed Samsung as my first client. The…
Last week I was talking with a friend about solo travel on our weekly Malaysia travel radio show and his answer was a common one: that as someone in a relationship (married), he doesn’t feel that solo travel is for him. And that makes sense. It could feel hurtful to…
It wasn’t long after my daughter left the nest (and I was deep in empty nest syndrome) that I genuinely – HONESTLY – put thought into a Zombie Apocalypse Plan. Well, for comedic effect, that’s what I called it anyway. It was more like: if the world falls apart, how…
Last week I spent 4 days in a lush Malaysian rainforest, experiencing the first meaningful DIGITAL DETOX of my life. My days were spent between fighting an involuntary reflex to reach for my mobile, heading out on adventures, or enjoying long hours of stillness … and it was great. Mostly.…
It’s not often I feel both PURE JOY & ANGUISH so raw. Today I’m the happiest in years, with my life “uncharacteristically responsible” and re-established in my favourite Asian city, Kuala Lumpur. Wonderful clients and (starting next week!) travel adventures that enrich my days. A new radio gig every Friday…
I moved out of Pakistan months ago but still – even TODAY – I’ve had to ban and block 3 men on social media 😡 If you follow my channel, you know I LOVE Pakistan. Pakistan was my favourite adventure I’ve lived in decades. I have only good things to…
It’s 6pm and yes those are pyjamas – the official uniform of many working from home! That’s also a vodka soda with a splash of some yummy Malaysian berry something or other, not tea. I’ve been packing up my temporary condo ‘cuz tomorrow’s a big day. Well, I suppose today…
Wandering. Adventuring. Exploring. That’s the aspirational way I’d categorise the nomadic lifestyle that I’ve just left behind. On paper (or I guess on Instagram) it looks tempting to live it. Seems like it’s full of mostly highs, which like any life it is not. But that life is addictive and…
SHUT UP & GO BACK HOME 😡 Go back to the U.S. Go back to your loved ones Go back to your homeland where you belong This post isn’t about racism yet I am receiving comments like these daily since deciding to share (confess?) more honestly on social media again.…
I left home the first time at 20 to travel solo and live in Mexico. From there life has been about exploration, discovery, and living in a way that drove my parents crazy and is far from conventional. Well, now my nomadic lifestyle is in true danger. I’m currently living…
The Attack: 6 April 2020 at 3:45am Today’s #lockdown video is not a fun one. I was woken up this morning at 3:45am by a man in my room wearing a hoodie, mask, and gloves and wielding a machete. Screaming HELP at the top of my lungs woke my neighbours…
I’ve started writing this blog post 10 times, 15 maybe. I’ve even finished it. But that was when I didn’t feel much positivity and those posts were DEPRESSING AS HELL. But that’s changed now so I’m going to try again. The reason I never launched the blog posts I wrote…
When she first left the nest, I had no idea what I was going to feel or ultimately go through. I knew that I’d miss my daughter but … nothing prepared me for the almost literal hell that consumed me after she left. I never understood women who had postpartum…
In this VLOG: How to identify if you have Empty Nest Syndrome How to deal with it as a single mom How NOT to behave with your child because of it I first wrote about the challenges of empty nest syndrome for a single mom when I was living in…
I’m not proud of it, necessarily. It is what it is and I can’t change it. But the fact is that the life I lead today began with me living as an illegal immigrant, or at least illegally. Not in one country or two … but three! Most of the…
I don’t want to wake up one day and regret not taking this chance so the security of my parachute aside, I won’t let fear stop me from living life as an adventure. Who says Gypsies didn’t it right when they embraced a culture of constant change and uncertainty? I’m…
I’ve been an expat, an immigrant, a digital nomad, and location independent. The first time I moved abroad was 28 years ago. The year was 1991 and I dropped out of the University of Irvine in California and drove my Jeep Wrangler down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I had a…
I didn’t realise it at the time that I wasn’t really free in India. During the (almost) three years I lived there, I truly thought I was happy. It was a wild time, with a life full of contrasts and amazing opportunities. Yet it was simultaneously the only time when…
Knowing she was leaving didn’t make dealing with Empty Nest Syndrome any easier. It had been just my daughter and I – for the most part – from the time she was one year old. We had lived in Spain, the U.S., and ultimately India, which is where she flew…
While the old adage “what goes around comes around” never rang very true while my daughter was growing up, it’s definitely something I’m experiencing now that she has flown the coop. I first wrote about the challenges of empty nest syndrome for a single mom when I was living in Hong…
That photo with my daughter was taken six years ago and I love it even more today than I did back when she was 13! She is my biggest joy in life and there is honestly no scenario I can imagine where a man or a job or an experience…
First things first, please. Ask yourself…as a teenager were you a parent’s dream-come-true or a total nightmare that cost them hours of sleep and a whole lot of heartache? Well, I was the latter. Not that I’m proud of it but I want to establish my expertise on this topic…
Actually living in a foreign country instead of just visiting it paves the way for a whole slew of fabulous ‘local’ experiences that one wouldn’t normally be able to experience. Like that time I dressed up and performed in traditional Chinese opera makeup and costume! This was a treasured experience…
It seems blissfully fitting that today is now officially the first day of the rest of my life because today is the day that the greatest joy in my life arrived 19 years ago when my daughter was born. While she has been enjoying her very first house party in…
By the time my daughter finished up the final term of her iGCSEs and enjoyed her summer break on the beach in Barcelona in 2011, the cats and I had been settled into life in Bangalore for over four months. The blog I started the first day I moved to…
If you are a regular reader of my blog I’m sure you will be happy to learn that in January – after about 18 months – I finally met a SINGLE smart, handsome Indian power guy (ahhhh the best kind!) who I basically fell head-over-heels coo coo for ‘at first…