Where are you based?

Upstate New York, with the Adirondack Park as my backyard.

What topics and places do you cover?

I specialize in remote destinations and off-the-beaten-path adventures as a whole, with a focus on outdoor exploits, unique stays, quirky festivals, photography, and authentic cultural and culinary experiences. 

I'm the type to plan an entire trip around an obscure festival, sleep in a treehouse, hike at sunrise, come across a cool swing in nature and do a whole photoshoot around it, conduct an impromptu casual interview with a bartender about the national drink, and go down a rabbit hole for a deep dive on something like the oyster cracker. I love dive bars and cheese.

What outlets do you usually pitch (and write for)?

I contribute words and photos to Travel + Leisure, National Geographic, Food & Wine, Lonely Planet, Afar, Fodors, Matador Network, Thrillist, and more. I also do takeovers and other social media coverage like reels for Travel + Leisure.

Are you in-house or freelance (or both)?

Freelance.

What is your approach to press trips?

I participate in both small-group and individual press trips, though I find that individual press trips are more conducive to producing more stories and angles that I'm truly passionate about because of the flexibility in the program. Additionally, since I'm a photographer and a content creator as well as a writer, I'm often up for sunrise and working my dinner around shooting sunset.

What are your professional pet peeves?

Emails in my inbox addressed to Laura. PR emails about topics I never have written about, like traveling with kids or child-centric products. On press trips, not having ANY downtime to answer emails, shower, decompress, work on other articles that are under deadline, etc. 

In your past professional life, you were …

I have degrees in Theater and Elementary Education, so when I lived in NYC, I pursued acting and eventually taught early childhood as a head teacher, while taking writing classes in the evenings. Fun fact: before changing careers, I spent a summer teaching in Tuscany, Italy.

Where would you like to return to?

I'll go to Italy a million times over, and I'm always down for a trip to Iceland. I'd like to go back to New Zealand, Thailand, Africa in general, Greece, and Sri Lanka. 

What's on your bucket list?

Photographing narwhals. Writing a book.

Where do you travel for fun?

I don't take many actual vacations! Usually a road trip or somewhere beachy that feels like you're truly away from it all. I like to avoid crowds. I recently discovered a newfound appreciation for smaller all-inclusives because I'm the type of traveler that has to be forced to slow down and just relax. 

Your funniest (or most harrowing) travel story is …

Oh, gosh. How does one choose? I like to keep it real, so I'll go ahead and share a short story involving a boat, a bathroom, and a fair amount of embarrassment. Many years ago, I was having some serious stomach issues during a trip to Vietnam. I was on an overnight small-boat cruise in Halong Bay and the morning we were scheduled to depart via tender from the larger boat, I had an urgent visit to the one bathroom on board. Little did I know, the crew had shut the water off as the tenders for departure had started arriving, so I was, very unfortunately, unable to flush. What I was also unaware of was the line of people waiting to use the bathroom after me as a last-second pitstop before getting off the boat. Also unfortunate. I did a different kind of walk of shame that morning; I hopped in the tender and said to my friend, “We've got to go…NOW!”

What advice would you give your younger professional self?

Don't compare yourself to others in the industry too much.

How best should people contact you?

Find me at my TravMedia profile here.