Loading

Read To Travel

Read To Travel Turns 1!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

For the last week I have been showing London and Galway to my boyfriend and having an absolute blast.  While we were making our rounds to different pubs, eating our way through London’s East End, and nearly blowing off the edge of the Cliffs of Moher… something exciting happened! Read To Travel turned 1!  On September 28, 2015 I hit ‘publish’ on this blog’s very first post—a lovely video of seven weeks spent living in western Ireland and backpacking solo (for the first time!) through Eastern Europe.

Taking a look back on this past year, I cannot believe how many amazing things happened.

October

This post on studying abroad was viewed over 600 times in one day, which is very exciting for a blog that had only been live for a week or two.

November

My visa application for New Zealand was accepted!

December

Carrie wrote her first post on living and teaching in rural Thailand, expanding Read To Travel to Asia!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

January

I boarded a one-way flight to Auckland, New Zealand with absolutely no plan.

I wrote this article about solo backpacking for two weeks in Eastern Europe on Sea Salt Secrets.

February

I moved to Waiheke Island and within a few days had a full-time job and house all settled.

March

I had my first sponsored hotel stay at the Beachcomber in Kawakawa Bay.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

April

There She Goes Again published this interview about me.

May

Travelibro published my article on Waiheke Island being the happiest place on Earth.

I rented myself a car, borrowed a sleeping bag, and embarked on a solo road trip around the North Island of New Zealand.

I went to Hawaii, tried poke, made beautiful European friends, and drove a moped for the first time!

This article on living in a small village in County Galway was viewed over 6,000 times.

hawaii-honolulu-1

June

I traveled for the first time to Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, and Chicago, ate so many delicious treats, and by the end only had the rectangular prism of my suitcase left to hold my belongings in.

I moved home to New England for a sunny summer of fun and beer.

July

I became a contributor for ArtMandy and published my first article about when I believe is the right time to travel.

We visited friends in Burlington, Vermont for a spontaneous weekend of swimming holes and Heady Topper.

DCIM102GOPRO

August

We went to Philadelphia for the first time and I fell a little bit more in love with New York.

An incredible four page spread interview came out about me on Clichemag.com (pp. 70-73).

September

I booked another one-way flight to New Zealand, this time to Christchurch where I’ll be meeting up with a bestie to live in a van for a bit.

We spent a lovely, drunken family weekend in Maine.

I returned to London, my love, for the first time in two years with my person and also got to take him to Galway and the Cliffs of Moher.

cliffs-of-moher-cody-1

I’m sitting in Dublin Airport, with a minute (or hours) to finally sit back, breathe, and reflect on this year and how much my life has changed.  I’m so thankful for the wonderful opportunities I have had and the people I have met.  Here’s to making more memories, meeting more kind souls, taking more photographs, and remembering to just open my eyes and live in the moment.  Thanks for following along! More to come.

Tara Higgins

Tara Higgins

Tara loves all things London and wants to spend the rest of her life reading books in beautiful places. She can often be found nestled up in a bookshop, drinking a pint at the pub, or searching for the best pizza slice in town.

5 Comments

  • Arielle

    Wow, what an amazing year you’ve had! Here’s to many more.

    October 3, 2016 at 4:17 AM
  • Samantha | There She Goes Again

    Whooo! Happy Blogiversary! I love this recap of everything!

    October 4, 2016 at 5:38 AM
  • Maddy

    This is amazing! Happy blogiversary! I have loved following your travels and getting to know you via the internet! 😉 Hope to cross paths soon, but until then, I’ll just be over here insanely jealous of the fact that you live in NZ.

    November 3, 2016 at 8:56 PM
    • Tara Higgins
      Tara Higgins

      You’re an angel. Can we please meet up somewhere in the world soon?!

      November 14, 2016 at 5:37 AM

Leave a Reply to Tara Higgins Cancel reply