about me

Hi, I’m Callie and I guess I’m sort of one of those twenty-somethings who has “dropped everything to travel the world.” For now.

Hopefully this blog will inspire you to put your passions first, whatever they may be, and just do whatever you love to do because f*** it, each one of us literally only has one life on this planet and we might as well live it the way we want to.

Or maybe you just get bored sometimes and want to read about some fun travels. That works too!

This “about me” page is just like some information about me, who I am, and what I do. I’m not even really sure what it is (or who I am!). Read this if you want to hear what I would like to call my actual story.

my life

I can remember being about six years old and lying sprawled out on the living room floor, a world atlas to my left and a book called People of the World to my right.

Atlases were my first introduction to geography. As I grew older, I eventually took pride in taking map quizzes online for fun and began scouring the Internet for cheap flights to foreign countries just for the fun of it. But in that simple childhood moment, I enjoyed the simplicity of just examining the winding borders and reading basic facts about each country.

In People of the World, I loved flipping through the pictures of the Bolivian men with their interesting hats and vibrant scarves. Or the beautiful young Indian women with their dark eyes and dark hair, dressed in stunningly vibrant saris accented with gold. There were desert landscapes and deserted islands. There were dark skin tones and light ones. There were people old and young. Snow and sand. Clear skies and cloudy ones. Sprawling cities and rural landscapes. You get the point.

Travel captivated me from a young age. Living overseas for six years as a young girl made it even more difficult for me to imagine living my life in only one place.

That’s why I travel.

It makes my heart feel full and takes me out of my comfort zone.

To me, a life without travel is pretty freaking boring.

So, the question I frequently find myself asking is why not? If travel is what I want to do, I should sure as hell do it. If fishing or sleeping or cooking is what you want to do, you should sure as hell do it. This is the only life I’ve been given and I don’t intend on wasting it and you shouldn’t either!

the blog

The name of my blog, Inconsistent Voyages, is a reference to the fact that, when it comes to traveling, I pretty much just take what I can get.

inconsistent adjective  in·con·sis·tent  \-tənt\
: not always acting or behaving in the same way
: not continuing to happen or develop in the same way

voyage noun voy·age  \ˈvȯi-ij\
: an act or instance of traveling
: a course or period of traveling
: to take a trip : journey

Whether it’s a road trip down the Outer Banks with new friends, 9 days of spring break in Guatemala, or sailing across the Atlantic Ocean on a tall ship, I live for it. Be it a long weekend in New York City or six years of childhood in Costa Rica, I crave that addicting feeling of being somewhere I’ve never been before. Travel is intoxicating and overwhelming. It opens your eyes to completely different ways of life and gives you memories that you’ll never forget.

So, no, I’m not AdventurousKate.com or NomadicMatt.com. I’m just Callie and I travel where I can when I can. I don’t get paid and I don’t have sponsors. Hell, I just created this travel blog on whim one cold, dark, depressing December afternoon.

But I am absolutely obsessed with the world.

the best part about traveling

This past year, I’ve realized that there’s one thing, more than anything, that’s most important to me when I’m on the road. More important than the photos I take, the oceans I swim in, the waterfalls I jump off, the World Heritage Sites I visit, both the beauty and destruction I see, it’s the people I meet along the way who leave the lasting impressions on me.

This includes both the locals and your fellow travelers.

Through one simple conversation with one local store owner, you exchange something. Whether you’re speaking the local language or your own language (or maybe those are the same), you are exchanging words with someone who you never would have met if you hadn’t gotten on that train, or in that crowded bus, or boarded that flight.

Through backpacking specifically, you honestly really do meet the coolest people. Everyone is so insanely different, yet able to come together in some sort of way, usually effortlessly, through their shared passion for and desire to see the world.

There is something truly incredible about how quickly people who have only known each other for a few hours can become friends.

So, to all the friends I’ve made along the way, you’re all amazing. Thanks for being you. Or “Cheers xx” or whatever you say in your country.

essential equipment

my backpack

I’ll be using Kelty Women’s Redwing 40L Backpack for my 4 month trip to Mexico and Central America. I purposefully chose one that I love it so far, but we’ll see how it holds up on the road.

I originally started off with the Eagle Creek Luggage Digi Hauler Backpack for my 3 week trip to Europe. It was a really convenient bag in terms of organization, size, and how easy it was to pack things, but it really lacks the support you get from a backpack with an internal frame. My mom, however, actually loves it for weekend trips and other forms of traveling that don’t require lugging all of your items on your back for long periods of time.

my camera

All of the photos on this site that look “good” are taken by my Canon EOS Rebel SL1 Digital SLR. It’s known for being a teensie tiny little camera– it fits so easily in both my hands and my bag. I bought it with travel in mind. I’ve been using the 18-55mm STM lens than came with it, but just bought myself a 50mm f/1.8 STM lens for Christmas this year. It’s a fixed lens (which means you can’t zoom in and out and instead have to get closer or further from your subject) and it gives you those pretty blurred backgrounds. It’s gonna be a real game changer with my photography.

I absolutely love photography. I love the whole process of taking a photograph. But, let’s face it, I’m too impatient to really take the time to get a grasp on what ISO and shutter speed and all those terms mean. (Go ahead, judge me.) If you’re a traveler and, like me, want to upgrade from a point and shoot or iPhone, I say go for it and buy your first SLR or DSLR or whatever. It is a huge difference that you notice immediately, especially if you put some research (and money) into buying the right lens for you.

my packing cubes

the eBag packing cubes 3 piece set (L,M,S) while backpacking Europe and eventually watched a Youtube video that made me completely rethink the way I had been packing, so I bought the eBag slim packing cubes 3 piece set. For my trip to Mexico and Central America, I’m bringing 3 slim cubes and 1 small cube. If you have trouble overpacking, I highly recommend watching that video and buying yourself some of the slim cubes!

my favorite things

honey, books, the ocean, mountains, fresh air, sea turtles, hammocks, cobblestone streets, watermelon, magic, music, sweaters with sleeves that are too long, tea, the TV show Survivor, peanut butter, waves, rainy days, netflix, falling snow, getting lost, mangos, people who make me laugh, nostalgia, eye-contact smiles, and those really cool, outgoing, super amazing, incredibly funny people who I am pretty sure are not even human beings that light up a room with their hilarious senses of humor and unique outlooks on life– how do those cool people do it?! (BE FRIENDS WITH ME!)

countries visited

United States (1996)
Costa Rica (2000)
Canada (2006)
Turks & Caicos (2014)
Germany (2015)
France (2015)
Spain (2015)
Guatemala (2016)
England (2016)
Portugal (2016)
Bermuda (2016)
Ireland (2016)

more information

If you want to read about my reasons for starting this blog, click here.
If you want to read about the places I want to go and the things I want to do, click here.
If you want to read about UNESCO World Heritage sites, click here.

And so, I must ask you why not?
After all, if you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it…