Short Story
Hi! I’m Lauren, the author of the Inspired Luxury Traveler blog. Ever since I was little I’ve been passionate about travel, which has resulted in an obsession over finding the absolute best destinations, places to stay and experiences – to make the most of every vacation I go on. My goal is to help you find and enjoy the best travel experiences the world has to offer along with me.
Long Story
My blog writing and travel dreams both started early in my life back before I had a computer. Because my family weren’t huge traveler, I focused my energy on checking travel books out of our local library and rewriting what I learned in little journals. My family traveled to Outer Banks once a year which became a very special place to me, and I was lucky enough to get to travel to other East Coast beaches and to Florida and Disney World often while growing up with various groups of friends.
Every day of every vacation without fail I would wake up early in the morning to make sure I got the most out of the day, and I would always take score of how many days we had left. Once the vacation came to the end, my mini depression would set in. To supplement my travels I decorated my room with a beachy theme.
Through my teens I was taken to other destinations like Vegas, the best lake in VA, Fort Lauderdale and even internationally to Grand Cayman for my best friend’s sister’s wedding. I also of course played a major role in planning our Beach Week, which was a week in high school where a lot of the school would head down to Myrtle Beach for a week of independent fun (which turned out to be a little too much fun lol). Instead of souvenirs during my travels, I brought back amazing memories captured with thousands and thousands of photographs and stronger friendships.
As soon as I turned 18, aka the minimum age to check in to certain hotels in the US, I was making weekend trips here and there to various East Coast beaches. But college was when my serious travels really began.
Since I didn’t have a lot of experience internationally, cruises were a way for me to learn the ropes of traveling out of the country without too much risk. I ended up going on cruises almost every Spring Break of college, and I was completely obsessed. I know, some people will think I’m crazy, but as someone who gets bored easily and somehow doesn’t get boat sickness, I still love cruises to this day.
Some of my favorite memories were exploring a small private Bahamian island alone and admiring the vibrant colors of the ocean and plants under the cloudless sky, heading up to the top deck to watch the ship pulling up to tropical islands at sunrise, and swimming with tons of tropical fish just off the shore in the bluest ocean I’ve ever seen – still to this day at Turks and Caicos.
There was a time I strongly considered doing the Disney college program, but I decided against it after finding out you couldn’t choose your job. The pain of working outside all day in the Florida sun as a redhead just wouldn’t be worth it.
I graduated from college with two degrees – one in Business and one in Events & Tourism, both of which contributed greatly to what I do today. For my capstone project I created a mountain biking video to promote the school’s local Tourism office.
I completed my required internship at a local luxury resort and golf course. I think this internship was meant to be something more business-oriented, but I got off easy and was able to complete the internship as a cart girl on the luxury golf course. I loved this job – meeting local some famous people who golfed here, bringing in big tips and relaxing at the perfectly manicured course all day. I still think I will go back to being a cart girl some day.
I put my Business degree to good use after graduation when I got my first job as a meeting planner and office manager, eventually moving onto be an executive assistant and marketing strategist.
At this time in my early to mid 20’s, planning and going on trips with friends was my main source of relaxation and where all my money was going. I planned annual ski trips and beach trips, spending way too much time picking out the “perfect place” and making sure we got the best deal – since that’s all we could afford. I traveled to places like Vegas, the Bahamas, California and Nashville and I fell in love with them all.
Within a few years of working in a “wearing many hats” type of role, I was more than ready to work for myself. Thanks to my dad being a freelancer his whole career and my entrepreneurial spirit, I was confident in my ability to work for myself, on my own schedule. I started Inspired Assistance in 2018, which is my freelance business, and I’ve been location independent ever since! It’s allowed me to fully make use of my creativity while working on a schedule that works for me individually, which I love. I would never go back and I encourage anyone interested in working for themselves to put in the hard work and try it.
As a full time remote worker, I was able to travel much more often which resulted in me saying yes to every trip I was invited on, and planning lots of trips on my own.
One of my favorites was a semi-impromptu trip to Honolulu. After a few adventurous days of hiking with a group of close friends and new friends, all of whom are nurses, I decided to stay a few extra days on my own since I had never been to Hawaii and it’s quite the journey from DC.
As weird as it will sound to anyone living outside the US to hear this, I really didn’t understand what a hostel is before this trip. I did know that staying in a hostel is the cheapest way to travel and being someone low on funds, this was the best option. I booked the Beach Waikiki Hostel and headed over with my suitcase after my friends took off for the airport.
All I can say is that within 24-hours I was completely hooked on hostel travel – I had the time of my life! I had always thought staying in hostels would mean I’d have to give up certain habits like my skincare routine, which keep my autoimmune skin reactions at bay and my much needed alone time, which ended up not being true.
While yes it is more difficult to hold onto your every day habits, and having alone time is harder to find, both just take a little bit of extra effort – like being creative about when you use the bathrooms, and using a sleep mask and sound cancelling headphones. And in exchange you get a bunch of new friends who have the same interests as you, the feeling of never really being alone or lonely, and much cheaper and more convenient travel.
I loved it there so much that I extended my trip one more time before heading home, and as soon as I got home I started to plan my trip to Southeast Asia. After months of planning I set off on my two month solo adventure in Bali.
The first day I arrived at my hostel outside the Bali airport I noticed a fun group of people in the common areas and after not too long we all ended up being travel buddies for the first half of my trip. That was such a great time and I’ll never forget it!
Overall Bali was absolutely amazing. I learned a ton about the world, different cultures and about myself, and I managed to maintain my freelance work while I traveled while also starting a few blogs, including my first travel blog Inspired Backpacker.
I was the embarrassingly the person staying at hostels lugging around a huge suitcase. During a big leg of my Bali trip the guys in the group I was traveling around with had to carry my suitcase for me quite often. By the end of the trip my suitcase was trashed but I managed to keep track of everything I came with, and yes I did use everything I brought (mainly tons of sunscreen, because I’m allergic to most brands, and other skincare products I couldn’t buy abroad).
I wouldn’t change my Bali trip for the world and I never want the magic of it to fade. I recommend everyone go on a solo trip at least once in their life, even if its somewhere close to home! Once the two months was up I was ready to go home to heal and catch up on some much needed sleep. Originally my plan was to go back home for a month or so, rest and rejuvenate and then head to South America, but my plans changed!
Throughout my trip abroad I stayed in touch with a guy named Greg I had met in Dewey Beach the spring before, and once I got back we were inseparable. We got married four years later. 🫶🏼
My solo trips turned into couple trips. Greg and I explored cities, countless cocktail bars, swam in lots of oceans and cenotes, traveled to all-inclusives in Cancun a few too many times, visited the beautiful & lively Pacific Beach in Cali, climbed the mountains of Sedona and even saw the screensaver famous Soana island. Between my love of the beach, Greg’s love of the mountains and both of our love for city travel, we’re always going cool places that push us out of our comfort zones.
One of our favorite places between all our travels is Folly Beach, which is where Greg proposed to me during “the prettiest sunrise of the year” (quote taken from the Folly Beach IG). After we got married in 2023, we headed to our amazing honeymoon in the Greek Islands. I loved it there even more than I thought I would, and we got our first real experience of luxury travel at our private pool suites in Mykonos and Santorini, both with amazing views and at hotels with 4-star service. We’re planning on going back for our 5-year anniversary, unless we find a better place. 😉
After our honeymoon we decided to take one more big adventure before settling down. We put all but a car-full of our stuff into two storage units and took our car to travel and work remote around the U.S. for a year. We spent the year staying in very carefully selected Airbnbs, seeing cities we’ve never explored and finding a few spots we could see ourselves living permanently. I’m so proud of us for putting the work in to make this adventure a reality, as it definitely wasn’t easy or simple. A few of our favorite stops on our year of remote work were St Pete Beach, Asheville, New Orleans and Montreal. We also traveled to Lake Tahoe, Chicago and to the National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC for a few weddings during our travels, which were all fabulous and so memorable.
We ended the year with one last two-week trip to Ibiza and Barcelona which fostered a huge love of Spain and Spanish culture for me. I’m hoping to pass some of the customs and cultural traditions we found there onto our family.
Originally when I started traveling so often in my 20’s, my goal was definitely to stretch my travel budget as thin as possible so I could travel for as long as possible. I was really good at this. Between sneaking airplane bottles into bars, eating out minimally, staying in hostels and countless other little tricks I had to save money, I managed to spend the same amount we spent on our honeymoon over 5+ years of solo travel.
The older I get, the more I enjoy those incredible travel experiences that stick with you long after you’ve arrived back home which you can’t really get when you’re trying to save every dollar possible. While traveling minimally is fulfilling in its own way, I’ve found that when I save up and splurge, I’m more likely to have experiences that are life changing in terms of what I take away, and for me that’s worth every penny! That’s not to say I don’t enjoy a trip on a backpacker’s budget, but that’s become a whole different type of trip physically and mentally, which may or may not require a vacation from the vacation afterwards.
Now that I’m in my 30’s, I’m fortunate enough to easily be able to afford these types of luxury travel experiences that I’m so passionate about. All the hard work has been beyond worth it and I would do it all again every single time.
I started the Inspired Luxury Traveler Blog for people who travel to experience the best the world has to offer – from villas and resorts, to VIP experiences, adventure vacations and so much more. I’m obsessive over researching to find the best possible experiences, and I wanted to share everything I find with an audience that would appreciate it. I’m a firm believer in NOT waiting to travel until you have more money than you know what to do with. Get out there and see the world while you have the energy to do it and see what it can teach you.
I’d love to chat travel with you anytime. If you’d like to reach out, head to my contact page!
