They say “travel broadens the mind” — in my case, it also fills it with slightly bizarre stories, one or two questionable decisions, and, occasionally, an alarming number of cat photos.

Hey there, explorer! I’m Pilar, your friendly Europe-obsessed academic and invisibly ill neurodivergent global-trotting oddball.  I’ve been wandering the world since I was a kid, tagging along with my parents, and I spent most of my 20s either traveling, studying, or teaching somewhere in Europe. Since 2008, I’ve been hoarding my travel tales and inspiring photos on Facebook like a dragon with shiny souvenirs. It only took me a mere seventeen years to realize… maybe I should let the rest of the world in on all this fun.

As a card-carrying member of the ADHD community, picking one tidy “travel niche” is as much of a foreign concept to me as finding a Komodo dragon in the Sahara. So I won’t. Instead, I’ll write about whatever my muse demands of me at the moment. One week, I might write about the challenges I face traveling with chronic illnesses or learning differences. Maybe I’ll choose to write about how I bumbled through Oxford University as a clueless American student. The following week, perhaps I’ll divulge how I conquered a fear of heights by climbing every cathedral tower I stumbled upon. Or, possibly, a few months later, I’ll decide to share the equally surreal and thoroughly awful experience of walking around Machu Picchu, alone and with no one around, while being positively certain that my parents had fallen off a mountain and died, all at the tender age of sixteen.

Indeed, my adventures have been and, no doubt, will continue to be… unconventional, but maybe that’s exactly what will make this travel blog stand out from all the rest.

Many thanks for stopping by and may your adventures be ever more enjoyable!