I’m Mariah, a solo traveler, adventure enthusiast, and authentic human. I’d like to start out by stating (in no particular order) my core values for this blog, because my aim here is to be 100% transparent and connect with you on a genuine level.

Core Values:
1. Honesty, Authenticity & Transparency
2. Total Balance
3. Community & Open Communication
4. Self-Growth
5. Empowering women to seek their inherent strength

I am specifically designing this blog to give you tools and information you need in order to travel wherever you want, whenever you want. Travel has radically changed my life for the better and it’s my personal mission to empower women around the world to travel solo and experience the same incredible benefits that I have. The Adventure Enthusiast combines tips & tricks, tools and information with personal experience to provide everything you need to travel alone with confidence.

So, I’d like to dedicate this post to introducing myself and opening up the lines of communication so I can get to know you as well!

I was born & raised in Oregon, USA where my family and I frequently enjoyed the outdoors through camping and hiking. Those memorable experiences greatly nurtured my love for nature which would grow and develop into my love for travel. By age 23, I was “free”. I’d just earned my pastry degree and held a well-paying job in that industry. I’d just moved in with my first-ever girlfriend, and at the time I thought life going great. Not long after graduation I started experiencing intense anxiety. I couldn’t nail down the source was and it started to effect my daily life, work and budding relationship. Months later, my girlfriend broke up with me, and a couple weeks later, I was fired from my job at a high-end restaurant. My life was spiraling and my head was spinning. I started having frequent panic attacks, I was lonely, I was living paycheck-to-paycheck. I was downright miserable.
That was when I realized I needed to make a major life change to avoid continuing down this awful path I was on.
So, I decided to move to Hawai’i.
Fast forward 4 months and I’m on an airplane to Maui, on my way to start a “new” life. Little did I know that was the best decision I could have ever made for myself. I spent exactly one year on the Valley Isle where I learned countless life lessons and made unforgettable memories with some truly incredible people.
One night, I found myself flying solo at a Mexican restaurant in rainy upcountry Maui when I started to feel restless in life again. I was stagnating and the anxiety monster was beginning to resurface. After two substantial passionfruit margaritas, I made another revolutionary decision. I booked a flight to Belize, right there on the spot. It would be my first solo international trip and I would be headed to a country I knew nothing about. I won’t lie, I was anxious, but this anxiety turned out to be an enormously helpful tool in finding my courage for the trip. This was the feeling I’d been missing; the promise of adventure was strong and I was ecstatic to do something so radical.
Let me just note here, no one in my family travels. For generations my family has stayed within a 500-mile radius. And this whole time I was planning my trip and living on Maui I had family members who were both very supportive and of questionable supportiveness calling my poor mother asking her what the heck I was doing, and sometimes even doubting my ability to go to a foreign country alone. But I brushed all that off and focused on myself, my goals and what I wanted to get out of the trip.
So off I went, I explored and I adventured. I met many kind and wonderful people and had a wonderfully balanced trip complete with its shares of ups and downs. From these experiences I uncovered my true passion: Travel. I’ve also discovered how strong and independent I am, and that I really can do anything I set my mind to.

This brings us to now. I know what my passion is, but I keep asking myself, “What else is there? What can I do to create value in my life and in the lives of others who share my passion?”. These questions are what led me to start a blog. This blog is for people like me, people who don’t know where to start but know that they need a new perspective or change. Let’s face it, travel can be overwhelming, especially if you’re a lone female in a “big and scary” world. Yes, the world is a big place, but with every trip you take it gets just a little bit smaller. You build your network and make connections; and the more you travel, honestly, the less scary the world is. As humans we naturally fear the unknown. It’s all about perspective. Travel promotes understanding and a sense of community throughout the world which is currently being diminished by an excess of political divide. This is why I feel everyone should travel, so we may authentically connect with one another from a mindset of love and understanding, rather than promoting animosity from a mindset of intolerance.
For this post’s finale, I’ll leave you with these golden nuggets of truth I’ve learned from traveling:

1. Dream big now, worry about the details later.
2. Your success is directly related to your mindset.

Keeping an open mind is the biggest key to travel success. So, here’s to the start of a grand new chapter in our lives!

If you have any questions or topics you wish to see covered, feel free to drop me a line anytime

in my personal inbox at:

hayniemariah@gmail.com

Wishing you insightful expeditions with love,
Mariah