Traveller of the Month: Riana from Teaspoon of Adventure (It’s Me!)

Welcome back to Traveller of the Month! Long time blog readers might remember my Traveller of the Month series where I would feature a different travel blogger each month to share their travel stories, wisdom and advice. I started this series back in April 2020, as a way to inspire a little wanderlust while the world was shut down, and stopped it at the end of 2021, reasoning that I could go back to sharing my own travel tales instead.

But you know what? I missed the series! It was fun for me to get to know fellow travel bloggers and I’d like to think it was fun for readers to meet them too. Plus, while I am back to travel, I’m certainly not travelling as much as when I lived abroad in Prague. So I’m bringing back Traveller of the Month!

To kick the series off after a 15-month hiatus, I thought I’d put myself in the hot seat as a good way to re-introduce the series and myself. So your first 2023 Traveller of the Month is me!

Introduce yourself! What’s your travel story?

Hello! My name is Riana and I’m the travel writer behind Teaspoon of Adventure. I was born in Vancouver, grew up in Toronto, and then moved back to Vancouver for university in 2010 and now call it home. I was lucky enough to go on a few trips as a kid – resorts in the Dominican, family holidays to Disney, and six weeks in the Philippines and Korea – but didn’t properly pick up the travel bug until my first solo trip to Europe in 2012.

From there, I looked for ways to incorporate travel in my life as often as possible: studying abroad in Amsterdam, interning in Eswatini, working in Tokyo and even winning a trip to Australia. After graduation, I continued to travel the world solo, with friends, with family and eventually with my partner, Colin.

Our biggest travel adventure was packing up our dog and our lives in Vancouver to move to Prague for almost a year (covid cut things short) to explore Europe. Since then, we’ve been globetrotting whenever we can and planning our next big long term trip.

You can learn more about me and my travels here!

When did you start your travel blog and what sort of stories do you share?

I started my travel blog way back in 2012 from my dorm room at university. I was itching for adventure and wanted to nurture my love of writing. I blogged on and off during my school years and then began taking it more seriously in 2018. I now publish a post (almost) every Tuesday sharing stories, tips and tricks from my latest travels.

I don’t exactly have a niche but think my posts are helpful for people who want to plan intentional trips where they can see and do memorable things without breaking the bank, quitting their job or having to hike all day long.

What do you do when you’re not travelling or writing about travel?

Outside of this blog I’m a freelance content and copywriter which means I get to work from home in my pajamas writing about cool things for cool clients. While there are a lot of challenges to freelancing, it truly is my dream job!

What advice do you have for new travellers? Aspiring travel bloggers?

My best piece of advice for new travellers is to remember that you can’t see and do it all in one trip. I often find that people who are new to travelling try to cram in as much as possible. And I totally understand why! It can be overwhelming when you realize how many amazing things there are to see and do, knowing you only have your annual two week vacation to do them all in.

While slow travel is usually preferable, I know it’s not a luxury everyone has. So even if you have to (or want to!) travel fast, give yourself permission to skip a few things and plan a few moments of rest. It is impossible to see and do everything, so don’t try to.

My advice for aspiring travel bloggers would be to write for your audience. This does not mean you need to only obey keyword research and give up all of your passion and creativity in order to serve the SEO gods. But it does mean you need to write with a reader in mind. After all, that is the point of SEO!

What destination would you go back to over and over again? What destination would you never go back to?

While there are a few cities I would love to go back to, my favourite would probably have to be London. I’ve revisited London about ten times now and enjoy it every single time. I would also love to go back to Prague, since we left in such a hurry in 2020 as the world was locking down.

I don’t have much interest in returning to Venice. I enjoyed my time well enough, but it seems like one of those places that you maybe only need to visit once.

If you could live abroad, where would you live?

I did a whole post covering places I would love to live abroad. But right now, on the cusp of our trip, New Zealand is sounding like a great option. I could definitely see us settling in Wellington or Auckland for a few years. We’ve also talked about doing something similar in Australia – working for half a year and then spending the second half of the year in a camper van driving around the country.

How do you cope with travel burnout or bad days on the road?

I also wrote a post about this (it’s almost like I planned these questions!): How to handle a bad travel day. I think it boils down to taking a break. Bad days happen, whether on the road or at home. It’s totally okay to cancel that tour you signed up for, order pizza, and watch Netflix in bed.

Where would you recommend someone go on their first trip out of your home country?

For someone’s first international trip, I would recommend going somewhere that has some similarities to home, just to ease yourself into travel. For someone like me (an English-speaking Canadian), Amsterdam makes a really good first trip location. English is spoken widely, there’s a distinct fairytale look and feel to the city, and you can arrive on a direct flight from Canada.

If you could go on a worldwide trip, visiting just one city on each continent, which cities would you pick?

I’ve answered this question before but I think my answers change depending on my mood. For now I will say:

• Mexico City, Mexico: I’ve never been to Mexico City but have heard amazing things about the culture and food.
• Medellin, Colombia: Medellin, the city of eternal spring, has been on my travel bucket list forever and I can’t wait to visit one day.
• Serengeti, Tanzania: I would love to go on a safari in Eastern Africa and it looks like the Serengeti in Tanzania would be one of the best places to spot animals. Another bucket list trip!
• Bologna, Italy: I’ve been to Italy a few times but never to Bologna. I can’t wait to visit this region and enjoy some of Italy’s best food!
• Kyoto, Japan: I’ve been to Tokyo before but I am totally craving a trip back to Japan to explore more of the country. I love the unique Japanese food and culture, so Kyoto and Osaka are high on my list.
• Uluru, Australia: I’ve been to Australia’s Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne but would love to explore more of the red centre. Seeing Uluru would be incredible.
• And Antarctica! Since it’s its own continent, I’ll take the whole thing. Going to Antarctica is definitely on my bucket list!

If you had to plan a family trip, where are you going and what are you doing?

We’re actually planning a family trip down to Sedona, Arizona this fall with my dad, stepmom, sister and brother. I’m not a huge hiker but I do love a viewpoint, so I’m looking forward to finding some great ones in Arizona. But my ultimate family trip would probably be a safari in Eastern Africa or renting out a villa for everyone in Tuscany, Italy. Definitely dreams of mine to do both of those trips with my parents and siblings!

Top 5 favourite travel eats

I can’t promise that these are my absolute top five but they’re definitely up there:

1. Chocolate napoletana pastries in Madrid
2. Khao Soi chicken curry from Chiang Mai
3. Fresh sushi in Tokyo
4. More fresh seafood in Canada’s Maritime provinces
5. Pizza in Naples

Check out 24 more delicious meals around the world!

What destination totally surprised you? What destination totally let you down?

I was really surprised by my recent trip to Bath. I thought it might be a bit overrated, touristy and a place you could just visit on a quick day trip. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that Bath really is charming and there’s so much to see, do and eat!

I remember feeling pretty let down by Geneva, Switzerland. It was my first (and so far only) taste of Switzerland and I was expecting the beautiful mountains and Swiss villages from my imagination. Instead I just got am expensive, boring city with a nice lake in the middle.

What is still on your travel bucket list?

Pretty much everywhere I haven’t been is on my bucket list! But if I had to narrow it down, top of my list would be exploring India, cruising around Antarctica, seeing Machu Picchu, going on safari in Eastern Africa, and living abroad again.

What destination is calling your name in 2024?

I definitely think 2024 is the year we get back to Asia! We last visited Southeast Asia for three weeks at the beginning of 2019. I’d love to revisit Japan or Korea and explore more, or save a bit of money and head back to Southeast Asia. I think I’ll probably wait to see what flight deal pops up first. Wherever we end up in Asia, I know the food will be amazing!

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Thanks for tuning into my relaunch of Traveller of the Month! I hope you enjoyed getting to know me a bit more. Stay tuned as I feature a new world traveller next month!