Travel Snapshot — Staying Put, Still Dreaming Far

Currently, I'm mostly staying put in the Bay Area. Well — sort of. These days, Jordan and I go to Reno, Nevada a lot since his family lives there lol. So this whole winter, I've actually been snowboarding a ton and getting pretty good at it. 🏂

Honestly, my mom would probably be proud. She's the one who first showed me the world of snowboarding, and she even got me a snowboard coach for a week when we met up in Japan all those years ago after my first term of college during winter break lol. So in a way, it feels like something old has come back around in a really nice way. 🥹

The last time I visited another country was Vietnam a few years ago. That was during a period when I was dealing with emotional heartbreak and somehow still going back for more of it — but that's another story. Then last year, I visited Hawaii, which was really beautiful. The mountains there were inspiring, and watching Moana in a beautiful hotel that my friend Thomas paid for was such a special memory. 🌺

The song "I'm Moana" especially stays with me. It reminds me of when I first came to the U.S. for high school — not knowing anyone, not speaking the language, carrying ancestral pressure and pain while dealing with intense loneliness, and trying to learn English as quickly as possible so I could finally feel understood and like I belonged. It's kind of wild that it's almost been as many years living in the States now as I lived in Taiwan. 🌊

But yeah — I definitely want to travel more. I've already been really privileged to visit 20+ countries throughout my life, and I'm grateful for that. But I still want to see more, experience more, and understand more. I love history, cultures, and that feeling of stepping into another part of the world and getting even a small glimpse of how other people have lived. 🌍

That, to me, is one of the most beautiful parts of being alive. ✨