About
Hello! I’m Riana, a travel writer usually based in Vancouver, Canada.
I’ve lived, worked, studied, volunteered or travelled across six continents and almost 50 countries and have been writing about my travels on Teaspoon of Adventure since 2012. My favourite adventures involve my partner (Colin), our daughter (Baby C) and our dog (Ellie).
As the founder of Teaspoon of Adventure, I help everyday travellers discover the world, making the most of their limited time and budget with thoughtful tips and easy to follow itineraries.
Teaspoon of Adventure proves that you don’t have to be an athlete, an adrenaline junkie, a millionaire or a full time nomad in order to have an adventure.
Follow along and get inspired to grab your own teaspoon of adventure!
Read my latest posts here, easily support my work here, and subscribe to my weekly-ish newsletter to stay up to date on everything TOA.
My travel writing and features
I’ve been blogging at Teaspoon of Adventure since 2012 and working as a professional freelance writer since 2016. As an experienced travel writer, I’ve written posts for Tripadvisor, Going, Business Insider and many more publications.
As a travel expert, I’ve been featured in print publications, online publications, on podcasts and even on TV. My press features include The New York Times, Washington Post, CBC News, Expat Cast, Join Us In France, Liberty Leave and House Hunters International.
For more of my press features and published travel writing, please visit my features and interviews page.
I have done sponsored work with many travel and lifestyle brands such as Mixbook, LEVEL8, Discover Cars, EatWith, Iberostar and Allianz. I have also collaborated with tourism boards and hotels, such as Visit Brussels, SWEETS Hotel Amsterdam and Hotel Indigo (IHG) on sponsored stays & review posts.
If you’re interested in collaborating with Teaspoon of Adventure on a project, please check out my Work With Me page for more details and get in touch.
What is Teaspoon of Adventure all about?
Many travel blogs start with something like this: “I quit my job to live out of a backpack, climb up mountains and jump out of airplanes.”
This is not that travel blog.
No one here is quitting their job to live out of a backpack indefinitely. And I can guarantee you that I’m not about to climb up a mountain or jump out of an airplane voluntarily!
This is a travel blog for those who seek adventure…but not too much.
This is the travel blog for you if you crave adventure, but you still have to deal with things like your fear of heights, your limited wallet, your kid’s nap schedule or your job that’s waiting for you on Monday morning.
I believe in finding a way to follow your passions, without winning the lottery, quitting your job or dropping everything. Even if you have no desire to live out of a suitcase forever, you can still live a life with (just a little bit of) adventure.
Why did I start Teaspoon of Adventure?
I started Teaspoon of Adventure in February 2012 from my dorm room at the University of British Columbia.
I was in my second year of school and feeling totally lost and stuck. I had no motivation to get my school work done. I would leave assignments until the last minute and not study for tests, but still stay up all night long.
I was searching for something – some kind of inspiration.
At that point, I had only had a small taste of travel but I knew I wanted more. So I started my blog as a way to vent, to get out my feelings and to map out my next adventures.
I couldn’t leave my dorm room but through my blog, I could go anywhere. I spent nights searching for flight deals, looking at exchange programs in Italy and researching volunteer opportunities abroad.
And then, in the summer of 2012, I came across an insane flight deal to Europe and took off on my first solo trip and first time to Europe. That’s when everything really changed.
Travel became a reality and my eyes were suddenly opened to what my world could be.
How this travel blog has grown since 2012
Since my university dorm room days, this blog has grown and transformed. It started out as a place for me to document my travels and let my parents know that yes, I was still alive.
Now, Teaspoon of Adventure is still a place for me to share my thoughts and keep my parents in the loop. But it’s also a place for me to write about my experiences and show you that you can live out your greatest passions, if you really want it and if you’re willing to get creative.
Life is too short to settle for an existence that is boring, unfulfilling and without adventure.
These days Teaspoon of Adventure is where I share my travels to inspire yours.
Let me show you how you can visit a bucket list city on a budget and with only a few days of vacation. Allow me to craft your itinerary through a country you’ve always wanted to visit. Sit back as I introduce you to my favourite foodie spots or share a tale from my expat time living abroad.
Learn from my mistakes, follow my tips, take advantage of my travel research, copy my itineraries and get inspired to plan a trip of your own!
My story and travel history
I was born in Burnaby, BC way back in 1992 and then moved to Toronto with my parents. I consider Toronto my hometown but Vancouver has always been in my blood.
At heart, I’m a west coast girl and something out west called me back. So after graduating from high school, I returned to Vancouver to study at the University of British Columbia (UBC).
During my time at UBC, I really fell in love with travel (I was in a more casual relationship with travel before that). I found ways to travel to Europe solo, volunteer in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), work in Japan, study abroad in Amsterdam and even win a free trip to Australia, all while studying full time.
After graduation, I was still totally transfixed by travel. But I was also craving a bit of the still life. So I started working at a non-profit in Vancouver and then got a job back at my alma mater, UBC. I suddenly found myself a couple of years into the workforce and totally uninspired.
I was back in the same place I had been in my dorm room at UBC in 2012 when I started this blog. I dreaded going to work every morning. And it was not because my job was awful or my colleagues sucked – the work was actually really easy and the people are amazing (still some of my good friends).
I hated going to work every morning because I was bored. Work wasn’t exciting. I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing.
I suddenly realized that at 24 years old with no mortgage, no kids and very few responsibilities, I didn’t need to be in a soul-sucking job. I was way too young to be spending all of my time at a job that I didn’t care about.
So I quit.
Well, not exactly like that. I actually met with a therapist, did some soul searching and had some big life changes. All of that helped me to make the leap. I gave my notice, headed off to Vietnam for three weeks, and came back to focus becoming a full time freelance writer.
I’ve been freelancing full time since Nov 2016, transitioning into different marketing projects in social media and content writing. The flexibility of working from home, and working for myself, has allowed me to say yes to so many exciting adventures, such as adopting our dog, Ellie, moving to Prague for a year, and travelling internationally with our baby.
In 2017, my partner, Colin, and I bought a condo in Surrey (a suburb of Vancouver) and travelled through North America to San Francisco (twice) and Mexico (twice).
The next year, we fulfilled one of Colin’s bucket list trips by visiting Ireland, his ancestral homeland. I also journeyed back to Europe in the fall of 2018: with Colin to London and Iceland, and with my dad, on his very first trip to Europe, to Amsterdam and Paris.
2019 was a big year for us. We started it off with three weeks in Southeast Asia, Colin’s first trip to Asia.
We then MOVED TO PRAGUE. We rented out our condo, sold most of our stuff (and put the rest in storage), Colin took a leave of absence from his job at the hospital, and the three of us (Ellie included) packed up and moved to Prague sight-unseen.
We spent the next year exploring as much of Europe as we could, from Oktoberfest in Munich and castle-hopping in Sweden to drinking wine in Tuscany and crossing bridges in Budapest. We had visitors, exploring Italy and Austria with our moms, and Spain with my siblings. And we even made it to Morocco!
Sadly, our year in Prague was cut a few months short thanks to the pandemic. After a mad dash back to Prague from where we were on vacation in Croatia, and an even wilder trip back to Canada, we returned to Vancouver mid-March 2020, two and a half months earlier than expected.
2020 was a big year of adjustments with some incredible highs (glamping in the Morocco desert, spending time with my siblings in Seville, getting engaged) and some very big lows (I’m sure you don’t need me to give you any examples). It was obviously a very slow year for travel, but gave me time to pursue my other hobbies such as reading, writing and baking.
2021 was another year of highs and lows: we had deaths in the family, my mom and I caught covid, but Colin and I also got married and went on an amazing honeymoon through the Maritimes.
In 2022, we started to dip our toe back into international travel with a week in Kauai, a long weekend in New York City, and our first trip back to Europe visiting Amsterdam and Belgium.
2023 started with a spontaneous solo trip back to London and in April of that year Colin and I crossed a huge country off of our bucket list: New Zealand! We also got to travel with my parents and siblings on an Arizona road trip.
We started 2024 with a trip through Provence and the French Riviera in France and then got some very good and long-awaited news in late spring: I was pregnant with our daughter! The rest of the year involved lots of appointments and preparing for our baby, a trip back to Toronto and our babymoon on Vancouver Island.
2025 began with welcoming Baby C in January and settling into our parenthood groove over the spring. In June, we packed up our Vancouver apartment, enjoyed a week on the Sunshine Coast, and then moved into my parents’ basement in Toronto for 10 weeks.
In the fall, our little family (me, Colin, Baby C and our dog, Ellie) started the European leg of our Baby Trip. We lived in Orleans, France for six weeks, road tripped through Normandy and across to the UK, lived in London for five weeks, and then finished the year off in Brighton!
Where should you go next?
So you’ve learned more about me and what’s going on here at Teaspoon of Adventure. What’s next?
For my latest adventures, stories and travel tips, head back to the home page.
If you’re looking for specific locations, check out my continent categories: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and Oceania.
Not sure if you want to go local or international? Start with my general travel tips.
If you’re thinking about moving abroad, check out my expat posts. And for a new section of the blog that will continue to grow as we travel more with Baby C, check out my family travel posts.
Want to know all about freelancing? Check out my posts about my freelance writing. Or if you’re interested in working with me, visit my work page.
More of a reader than a writer? Head to the books section for lots of recommendations and reviews!
Interested in buying a home, getting a dog, getting married and other life updates? Check those all out in my Life at Home section.
Still can’t decide? Take a read through some of my favourite and most popular posts:
- Start with my most popular post: My dream road trip across Canada.
- Read all about my first solo trip to Europe (and the reason why this blog exists!).
- Explore my itineraries for London, Paris, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Morocco (& plenty more!). Plus discover a great week in Europe visiting Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.
- Can’t travel right now? Read one of my favourite travel books or watch our episode of House Hunters International (!!!)
- Discover the best and the worst parts of our time in Southeast Asia and travelling Europe for a year.
- Find out what you need to know before you visit New Zealand and how much a trip to New Zealand really costs.
- Follow along on my expat life while living abroad in Prague, living abroad in France, and living abroad in London
- Learn my tips for packing and moving and my favourite way to remember a trip with a photo book.
- Traveling with a partner? Check out these tips so your relationship survives longer than your jet lag.
- Travelling alone? Here’s your solo travel guide. Not sure where to go? Find the perfect solo trip destination.
And when you’re done all that, follow me on social media! I’d love to connect with you on Substack, Twitter (X), Facebook and Pinterest. You can also visit my contact page and get in touch there.
Thanks so much for stopping by!