All Posts
Let’s Chat
Follow along on my Journey!
I promise to share fun and infrequent updates
My Latest
Adventures
Well Hello
I’m Kate
For more than a decade and a half, I’ve helped people create a life by design through my lifestyle and travel blog.
I’m a mom of 3, a full-time romance author, and I’ve been to more than 40 countries and nearly all the states.
I’m happy you’re here.
Learn More >>
Shop my Favorites
5.3M
syndicated blog views per month
Latest Blog Posts
-
The Passport Rule That Got 3 Americans Turned Away at the Gate Last Month — And Nobody Warned Them
You saved up for the trip of a lifetime, packed your bags, made it to the airport — and then got denied boarding because of a rule printed in tiny text on a government website nobody reads. These are the real passport and visa mistakes that get Americans turned away, told with stories from travelers who learned the hard way.
-
Flight Attendants Have Their Own Travel Hacks. Here’s What They Actually Do.
Flight attendants spend more time in airports, on planes, and in hotel rooms than almost any other profession. The hacks they’ve developed aren’t found in travel blogs — they’re field-tested over thousands of flights. We got the real ones.
-
The Travel Credit Card Mistake That Quietly Cost These People $4,000
Travel credit card churning sounds like a brilliant hack until you realize what happens when you misunderstand the fine print on sign-up bonuses, category spending, and points expiration. We found the real stories of people who thought they were winning — and what went wrong.
-
Every State Has a Food That Lives There and Nowhere Else. Here’s the Complete, Honest List.
Not chain-restaurant regional menus. Not “we have good barbecue.” The actual, specific foods that originated in a state, that locals fiercely claim, and that you genuinely cannot replicate anywhere else — we found all 50.
-
TSA PreCheck vs. Global Entry vs. CLEAR: We Did the Math So You Don’t Waste $179
Three programs, three price tags, three completely different value propositions — and most travelers are paying for the wrong one. Here’s the definitive breakdown of what each actually gets you in 2026, with specific scenarios for who should get what.
-
The Most Underrated Road Trip in America Has Nothing to Do With Route 66
While everyone is crawling down Route 66 between tourist traps and Instagram spots, the Natchez Trace Parkway quietly offers 444 miles of some of the most beautiful, completely uncommercialized driving in the country. Here’s the route, the stops, and why it’s better.











