Traveller of the Month: Meredith from Away With Meredith
Welcome to Traveller of the Month! Each month I’m featuring a fellow world traveller on Teaspoon of Adventure to get inspired by their travel stories and introduce my readers to some excellent travel blogs.
So without further ado, meet August’s Traveller of the Month: Meredith!
And if you missed July’s post, check out my interview with Inga here!
Introduce yourself! What’s your travel story?
My hometown is Hershey, Pennsylvania, though, over the past few years, I’ve been fortunate enough to call many places home. At my core, I still carry my parents’ belief in prioritizing experiences over things. They introduced me to travel at an early age, be it white water rafting down a river in the Appalachian Mountains or trying my first espresso at age 14 in Rome (HATED it, by the way). Wherever we went, traveling was always when I felt most alive. So as you might imagine, I leaped at the opportunity to study abroad in Thailand for my senior year of high school!
During my exchange year, I was placed in the fairly rural town of Nan in Northern Thailand where I attended a local high school, lived with a host family, and learned some Thai. สวัสดีค่ะ! By that point, I was completely hooked. I knew I wanted to discover new cultures and travel the world however I could for the rest of my life.
That’s mostly why I chose to attend university in Paris, France. It’d been a lifelong dream of mine to live in Paris; ten-year-old me would be proud, so I’m totally owning the cliche as an American in Paris! There are moments (often when the days are long and the sun’s reflection winks back at me from the Seine) when I pray nobody pinches me.
It’s been almost five years since I moved to Paris, and I’m happy to state that I’ve taken full advantage of the suspiciously cheap EasyJet flights that have taken me all over Europe. As a solo female traveler, Away With Meredith features travel guides, travel tips, and travel photography from my adventures.
When did you start your travel blog and what sort of stories do you share there?
I started Away With Meredith in the fall of 2022 with the hope of inspiring women to visit beautiful places and rekindle their sense of wonder. I find myself happiest when I’m easily amazed, so my posts often hit on simple pleasures like a great cup of coffee (I’ve been converted since my first experience in Rome) or a dazzling sunset. I hope to continue to build a community where I can help women plan their next epic adventure.
What do you do when you’re not travelling or writing about travel?
By trade, I’m a graphic designer and photographer. I spend far too much time coding minute styling changes on my blog that frankly have nothing to do with its content… either that or I’m out taking photos of my beautiful city. Five years in Paris and I’m still discovering and capturing hidden gems.
If you had to sum up your travel ethos in one word or phrase, what would it be?
Beauty, as in visiting beautiful destinations, as a form of luxury.
What is still on your travel bucket list? What have you recently checked off?
I recently checked off a bucket list biggie on my first trip to Venice. I went during Carnival when the streets were packed with festival-goers who hid their faces behind ornate masks and dressed in extravagant feathered costumes. What an experience! As for future adventures, I’m hoping to visit Cappadocia, Turkey soon to see the hot air balloons. Also high on my list are Hawaii, Egypt, and India.
Top 5 favourite travel moments
(in no particular order)
- Secretly swimming in waterfalls in the middle of nowhere, Thailand, on a day I was supposed to be making my way home to my host family. Oops.
- Pasta carbonara in Venice. Truly life-changing.
- For this one I need to set the scene: I was 18 and riding on the back of my Thai friend’s motorcycle. We were zooming up the local mountain after school to sit and admire the view from above. My school uniform was pasted to my body from the wind as we zipped around corners, my arms out like I was flying. Pure freedom.
- Being with friends, dangling my feet along the Seine, and watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle long into a warm, summer night.
- Seeing bioluminescent plankton for the first time in Thailand!
Travelling has made me…
Kinder. I’m a straightforward person that’ll “tell it how it is.” Not in a rude way hopefully, but I have no problem giving my opinion and I think I can sometimes come off a bit blunt. But by experiencing other cultures, I’ve learned that there are many different ways to communicate (with degrees of directness) – and my way isn’t always the best. Leading with empathy has opened up so many doors to understanding and friendship I would never have encountered otherwise.
What is your unpopular travelling opinion?
Budget travel is not as fulfilling as travel with a little cushion. Don’t get me wrong, if it’s between go or don’t go, you should still go! I’ve done solo travels that fall in the category of hard-core budget travel and I loved the experience of seeing a new place. But as fun as that was, that’s about all I did. I just saw stuff from the outside.
To me, one of the biggest joys of traveling is visiting sights of historical and cultural significance, as well as trying local cuisine. A free walking tour could only get me so far. It took me three trips to London before I finally coughed up the money to go inside to see Westminster Abbey! It was 100% worth the steep ticket price, and I should’ve done it sooner.
In more recent trips, I’ve made a point of budgeting a little extra to try the trendy restaurant with local foods, visit the overpriced tourist attraction, or stay in an accommodation that makes me feel like I’m on vacation and not crashing on someone’s couch. It’s all about where I find value when I travel, and everyone’s different, but I’m a fan of the occasional splurge.
What’s something you do, pack or eat on every trip?
I always pack granola bars. I’ve been informed that I get rather irritable when I’m hungry, so whether I’m traveling alone or with a group, it’s in everyone’s best interest that I pack food.
What destination are you nervous about visiting?
My desire to visit Australia is at odds with my knowledge that everything can kill you there. Perhaps that’s why I still haven’t been. I mean seriously, snakes, spiders, crocodiles, and sharks all in one place?! That’s just wrong. As much as I want to see Australia’s natural landscapes and spend a night under the stars, right now I’m just too afraid I’d get eaten. I like being at the top of the food chain, thank you very much!
If you could live abroad, where would you live?
I don’t know if this is a cop-out since I technically already live abroad, but if I could live somewhere else abroad I’d choose Morocco! Fun fact: I’m obsessed with the sound of the call to prayer. I first heard the call in the south of Thailand. I’d never heard a more hauntingly beautiful, spine-shivering sound. I heard it again on my travels to Turkey and Morocco, both mesmerizing in their own way.
Still, Morocco wins out for its old medinas built for people (I strongly favor cities built for people rather than cars), winding markets, and the colorful, geometric designs I love that are found in Islamic architecture. Pair that with mild weather and a hot glass of Moroccan mint tea and I’ve got my own little paradise.
Do you have any goals for your travel blog?
One of my biggest goals for Away With Meredith is to develop a series of blog posts teaching travel photography from the ground up. I’ve been taking photos with a “real” camera since I was 16, and I’m a self-declared Photoshop God (just sayin’). But when I was first starting out, my learning was disjointed, absorbing what I could find from random YouTube tutorials. Years later, I discovered I had big gaps in my most basic photo skills!
These days, after years of practice and having completed my BFA studying photography, I believe I have a lot to share about image making and teaching aspiring photographers “how to see.” My goal is to make the series of posts a one-stop-shop for budding travel photographers to learn everything from manual mode on their cameras to visual techniques to create a better image. Each post will build on the next until they too can turn a pizza into a supermodel (Google it, seriously).
What is the best weekend trip you’ve ever been on?
I spent three days in the French countryside with my good friend where we essentially played house. We were house-sitting an incredible old property with a massive country house, a yard, and a garden. Oh, and the house came with an adorable dog for the weekend!
We cooked, feasted like royalty, got up early to watch the sunrise, and stayed up late to gawk at the Milky Way. It was my first introduction to “slow living” and my life hasn’t been the same since. Part of me is still in the countryside picking tomatoes from the garden and sipping coffee on a dew-soaked chair listening to bird songs. Take me back!
Lastly, where can we find you online?
awaywithmeredith.com
https://www.instagram.com/awaywithmeredith
https://www.pinterest.com/awaywithmeredith/
https://twitter.com/awaymeredith
https://www.facebook.com/awaywithmeredith/
Thank you for joining my Traveller of the Month series, Meredith! Head on over to Meredith’s blog to read more of her poetic and inspiring adventures in Paris and beyond. Plus, stay tuned for September’s Traveller of the Month!
Really enjoyed getting to know Meredith and a bunch of things resonated with me including the comments about budget travel, Australia and Morocco. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for checking out the post, Inga!