After leaving Facebook and spending the last month pondering how I want to document my upcoming travels, I couldn’t think of a better idea than starting another blog. A travel blog! Storytelling is at the heart of my motivation for sharing any experience, and there’s no other platform that gives me more freedom to story-tell than my very own blog.

The Uptight Traveler was born out of numerous adventures that I’ve over planned, over packed for, over analyzed, and over scheduled. When reflecting on a theme and name for this blog, I couldn’t help but brainstorm words to describe the type of traveler I am. The words I came up with shared a common theme…anxiety.

One might wonder, “How does an anxious traveler find so much joy in traveling?” I was curious about this myself while refining my concept, and came to the conclusion that I approach traveling with a catastrophic mindset. I think of the worst that can happen and then plan for it. This process helps me feel more in control of my experience in an unfamiliar place. There have got to be others out there like me; I have to believe that.

Contrary to the picture I’m painting of myself as a “control freak”, I can be just as spontaneous as the next girl. I’ve just learned to speed up the process in those moments. So, this blog will go one step beyond storytelling and highlight my irrational travel fears, potential pitfalls of unfamiliar places, and strategies for preparation that can help overcome the uneasy aspects of traveling.

Please join me on this journey!