May Update: From Mexicans to Mormons

May Recap:

• I made the tough decision to take a consulting job here in the States verses traveling back to Colombia for the month of May. Financially, it was a great decision but it forced me to put my salsa dancing dreams on hold for the time being.
• Good news is, the job gave me the opportunity to pop my Arizona cherry and also travel deeper into two of my favorite cities, San Francisco, CA and Park City, UT.
• I pretended to be a food critic as I traveled around Tucson, Arizona testing and rating all the best Mexican Restaurants in Tucson.
• In San Francisco, I experienced the wild and wonderful chaos of the 100th annual Bay to Breakers festival.
• In Park City did a lot of mountain biking and hiking, which reminded me to get my ass back in the gym!
• The toughest aspect of coming back and traveling within the US was making the transition from dark-haired Latinas to redheaded Mormons. It was a challenge I met head on, but never-the-less, there were some reverse culture shock symptoms at first.

Current Mission Update: The Great American Road Trip*

• Although I’d love to actually be “road tripping” around the US this summer, flying gives me the opportunity to experience many national treasures within a limited time frame. Plus, I’ve been cashing in on some Southwest frequent flyer miles and rewards points from Hotels.com, so it’s a lot cheaper than investing in a automobile or motorcycle at this point.
• The goal now is to incorporate these American adventures with networking and new business opportunities. I’d like to leverage all my travel by connecting with more travel-related people and organizations here in the States. I’m hoping the knowledge gained from the TBEX Conference in Vancouver will help in making these contacts.

My Favorite Articles this Month:

• The Bay to Breakers Experience
• The Best of Tucson, Arizona
• My Favorite Mexican Restaurants in Tucson
• My Colombian Family Vacation
• 6 Must See Colombian Movies

T2T Around the Web:

• Tourist 2 Townie names Top 20 South America Travel Blogs by The South American Tourist
• Stephanie from Little Colombia Observationist just published an interview I did for her Expats in Colombia feature from when I was still living in Medellin, Colombia.

Site of the Month:

• OpenSiteExplorer.org – This month’s site is for those techie wannabes (like me) who try to understand and optimize web analytics to improve your travel blog or website. Like any analytics tool, I’m not sure how accurate it is but it does gives you an idea of link popularity and backlink analysis to help develop your site’s page and domain authority. This is pretty relevant because it seems as though many travel blog advertisers are looking to PA and DA to determine ad rates and without these advertisers who’s going to pay for all the lap dances tourist attractions in Vancouver?

What’s to come in June:

• I can’t wait to experience the beautiful Pacific Northwest over the next weeks as I visit Seattle, Vancouver and Portland for the first time.
• From there, I’m heading to Chicago and Indiana to meet my new nephew!
• And then… well that’s where I need your help. I have about 3 weeks between visiting with family in Chicago and a wedding back in Park City. Where should I go? I’d love to experience Denver, Boston or Austin but it all depends on cost of living, work and travel opportunities and summer events and festivals…

I setup a poll on the T2T Facebook Page and I’d love your input.

Upcoming Posts:

• Out of Shape in Park City, UT
• Non-mormon Adventures in Salt Lake City
• Near Disaster at Arches National Park
• Mountain Biking in Moab
• And… I promise at least 1 new video this month.

Gareth

My name is Gareth Leonard, a Marketing Director turned World Traveler with a passion for slow, meaningful travel. I have been traveling the world full-time for the past 9+ years and document it all on Instagram and YouTube. Come join me!