While we’re on our road trip to Yellowstone this week, I thought it was the perfect time for a series I’ve been wanting to do for a long time!  I get asked a lot of questions, by people in my personal life and by followers of Land of Marvels, about how I’ve managed to work full time and travel as much as I do.  And while I do share a lot on Land of Marvels, sometimes some of the back story is left out.  So all this week, I’m answering some of the topics that I get asked a lot and topics from behind the scenes in my life of how you might be able to travel frequently as well.   All week, I’m sharing some of my tips and tricks to how I travel so much and some behind the scenes info as well!  

One thing that I think is a big misconception about my life and all those other bloggers out there that just share part of their lives online is that everything is amazing all the time, that our houses are always beautiful and our travel always perfect and our relationships immaculate.  Well guess what?  They’re not any of those above.

Part of traveling a lot means there is a lot more time than not spent working long hours at my computer to make the money I need to live the life I want.  It often means sacrificing things that aren’t as important as my love for travel.  It means working crazy hard for my firm in Hawaii, often on super crazy short deadlines.  It means hustling in my own business and making my clients happy and doing everything for a project myself, even when I’m figuring it out along the way.  It means teaching my students in a few classes a term and being available to them, even when I don’t really have the time to do it.  It means taking the good with the bad in my daily life to be able to live the life I really want.

And even when we travel, that doesn’t mean that every trip is perfect.  In fact, I try really hard here on Land of Marvels to be honest about our negative experiences too, even when people think I’m crazy for not liking Santorini or being critical of nice hotels.

The lesson is this: life isn’t perfect, and neither is travel.  But that’s the beauty of both too.  Without the less than amazing experiences, we wouldn’t have the feeling of true happiness and joy when the amazing ones come along.  In short, just know that my life is far from perfect and so are my travels but that doesn’t make them any less amazing.  We must always learn to take the good with the bad and do the best we can in any circumstance that arises.  Being able to do that, will ensure that while your life may not always be perfect but in the end, it’s still a beautiful life.