Hi! I’m Kristen Rapin and I’m so glad you’ve found your way to my own little space on the internet. Let me start by telling you a little bit about myself and my story.

I was born and raised in northern California and also spent several years living in northern Michigan, so apparently my accent sounds like a combination of midwestern mom and typical valley girl. I’m obsessed with haunted old hotels and try to stay in one every chance I get. I’m always in the mood for dim sum. I love taking long road trips and blasting Alanis Morissette and screaming the lyrics with my head out the window. True to my introverted nature, I always end up wandering to the nearest bookstore or bakery wherever I am.

Okay, enough fun facts, let me get into why I’m here. On October 1st 2022, I hopped on a plane that would take me to the other side of the world, Hanoi Vietnam, where I would begin my new life. I’d never been to Asia, never taken a trip solo, and never even so much as stayed in a hotel by myself before I embarked on this journey. Yet I knew with every fiber of my being that it was exactly what I was meant to do.

Ever since I can remember I’ve had a strong sense of curiosity about life and all there is to know and discover. I’ve always been an observer and my dad tells me even when I was a baby I would point out the car window and say “look, look” as we drove past windmills in the fields. I feel like that describes me pretty well; always noticing, always taking in my surroundings, always wanting to absorb all the beauty I can.

My greatest joy in life has come from exploring a new place with my camera in my hand. I didn’t grow up taking vacations to far flung places, I got my thrills close to home by taking day trips to San Francisco and admiring the old Victorians or finding an old school Italian deli in the city I grew up in. But I had an insatiable desire to immerse myself in new languages, colors, smells, tastes and different ways of living. I just wanted to leap into this big beautiful world of ours and see where I landed.

The journey since I stepped off that plane has been far from easy but it’s the best decision I’ve ever made for myself and has gifted me the most beautiful experiences I could have ever imagined. I feel like it’s only the beginning of so much more to come. Since I’ve been in southeast Asia I’ve had the privilege of traveling to Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand twice. Each trip has opened up my heart and mind more than I can describe. Every time I travel I’m reminded time and time again that this is exactly what I’m meant to do and what makes me feel more alive than anything else in the world. All I need is a new city, my camera in one hand and an ice cream cone in the other and I’m in utter bliss.

I also love writing and I want this blog to be a place where I can write about all the highs and lows of life, love, travel, and anything and everything in between. Thank you so much for reading and I hope that you’ll come along on this journey with me!