ABOUT

My name is Krista Hamelin, as I mentioned above. I am a twenty-something year old girl from Quebec, Canada who doesn’t speak French. I know right? Isn’t that ridiculous? I grew up in a small town and was one of those kids who had absolutely no idea what they wanted to do when they grew up.

I realized I had a passion for travel at a young age when I went on a road trip with my family to the Canadian Rockies in 5th grade. Being around the mountains just made me feel at home. But I didn’t travel for years after that so I had kinda forgotten all about it.

When I was in high school, my family would go on trips to the Caribbean and stay at resorts. The trips were fun, but being on resorts and sitting on the beach just wasn’t my thing. My favorite part of these trips was going on excursions. Adventures like ziplining, tubing, snorkeling, and all the fun and adventurous things. These trips reminded me that traveling was something I was passionate about.

In 11th grade, I had heard that one of the Biology teachers was planning an international, adventure-filled trip in the summer. So I signed up and didn’t care where we were going. We ended up going to Panama!

On this trip, we explored the San Blas Islands and hopped from island to island snorkeling. We also visited a secluded village, went on epic hikes through the jungle and so much more. It was by far my favorite trip to date. That is where my travel bug really bit me. Adventures and epic views were what my soul craved.

After high school, I started to lose sight of who I was, my dreams, and what I truly wanted in life. There are two quotes that really stand out to me and how I felt. This one by Paulo Coelho, one of my favourite authors.

Why are people sad? That’s simple. They are prisoners of their personal history. Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person. They accumulate experiences, memories, things, other people’s ideas, & that is more than they can possibly cope with. And that is why they forget their dreams.

Paulo Coelho

And this quote by Em Atkinson.

We think the shoulds of society are more important than our own desires. We dim down who we truly are to “fit in” with the masses. We settle for the mundane rat race, chose paycheck over passion & conform to the norm. We’re chasing the American dream. The problem is it’s not our dream, but the larger problem is we’ve lost touch with who we really are & what WE truly want.

Em Atkinson

These two quotes really stand out to me today, because that is exactly what happened. I started to listen to what everyone else was saying and tried to follow the same path everyone else was following. I lost sight of my dreams because of this. In a way, I completely lost myself.

Then in 2019, I was in my darkest place. I had finished college the previous year in a field I didn’t even want to work in, I was struggling for work in the city trying to chase a false dream, and I was broke. And if you know me, you know cities are not my thing. I didn’t even want to leave my bed because of how bad things were for me mentally.

I won’t go too far into detail on all of this but finally one day I woke up and decided to go for an adventure somewhere close to the city. That’s where things started to finally change. I went outdoors more and more and “re-realized” my dreams. I felt happier outside when I was adventuring and more like myself. This is also when I started messing around with a camera and trying to learn photography.

I watched countless videos and took online courses on photography and the art of editing. Photography became a passion of mine. I started to take photos on my adventures and share them with my friends, family, and people all around the world on Instagram.

Since then, I have road-tripped across Canada to hike the Canadian Rockies twice and traveled solo internationally, documenting my adventures through photos along the way. It’s not as much traveling as I would have liked to have done, mostly due to you know… covid. But now that covid is settling down a bit more, the international adventures shall begin again!

In the coming future, my plan is to travel as much as I can. Go on much longer trips. Maybe more slow travel to really experience the beautiful places I go. And to share those experiences and tips I learn along the way.

My main goal with this blog is to inspire you to chase your wanderlust and to live a life that truly makes you happy. To follow your dreams! I’ve lost sight of my dreams and who I was way too many times. I don’t want the same to happen to you.