Viva la Vida Travel with Carmen Schaffer

The real truth.  I got a message late last night from a woman saying this, " I desperately need one of your trips, I'm so fucking lost." This came from a woman who has been tirelessly battling her own personal demons and has gotten to a point of being "fucking lost." I got to thinking about the messages I send while traveling, the perceived notion that travel helps people find themselves, and all of a sudden, I felt a huge amount of guilt for seemingly showing the pretty side of how travel transforms without laying the foundation of HOW it changed me and WHAT in me needed to change. No one ever wants to put the ugly side of their life out for the public to see but the truth is, no matter how pretty the picture, or no matter how inspiring the quote is, there's always a side of the story that few get to hear; the hard part. I think to some degree, we've all been "there". We've gotten so caught up in our lifes choices, both good and ba

It's all about teamwork. Once upon a time our wanderlust was piqued by National Geographic magazines that would roll out monthly editions showcasing magnificent and far away lands, exotic cultures and places one could never imagine visiting. I, myself, would pour my day dreams into those well crafted photos and imagine  that some day I would walk that walk of the traveler. Fast forward to today, when the internet has literally brought the world into our hands. Instagram, blogs, Twitter, you name it,  the world wide web has brought us closer together and has made the world of travel that much more attainable.  Millennial's are blazing the trail in travel; globe trotting and backpacking all over the place. They design their trips based on others experiences and suggestions, they want complete autonomy over their travel experience and for good reason. In this day and age of everyone wanting to be different and stand out amongst the masses, creating a travel experience f

The Salt Flats That Stole My Heart Once upon a time, I saw a social media post on Salar de Uyuni ~ the salt flats of Uyuni, in Bolivia and I knew that this magical place where surrealism and the skies reflections in the salt flats were every day occurrences, I knew I had to go there. Lucky for me, on my trip to Bolivia, Salar de Uyuni was on the itinerary and I was more than stoked to finally see myself there. We hopped an airplane and headed to Uyuni and as we flew into Uyuni, I could see salt flats for as far as the eye could see. After arriving into the town of Uyuni,  we went for lunch at Tika restaurant for a delicious lunch of volcanic rock soup ( I can't recall the name of it but it had a piping hot lava stone in the soup that made the soup bubble and boil) followed by a myriad of other delicious dishes that left us all feeling full and happy.  The salty, dusty town of Uyuni. The town of Uyuni is like an old western town. The dusty roads, expansive desert and