Featured Friends: Erin from Curiously Erin

If I could pick my favorite thing about having this blog, it’s meeting new travelers and making friends. When Erin e-mailed me about Featured Friends, I was SO happy! I visited her blog and loved it. Sure, she’s a new Travel Blogger but just by reading her posts and photos, you can tell she’s going to be one of the best!

Erin’s from Australia (hoping we can hang out when I’m there at the end of this year!), was a ski instructor, paramedic and a stewardess on a yacht! Whaaat? So cool right? Keep reading to get to know her!

1. Tell us about yourself!  

Hi! I’m Erin and I come from a small coastal town on the east coast of Australia. Although my family never travelled overseas when I was a child, I have always had the dream to explore the world. Once I finished high school I moved straight to Colorado where I began what would end up being 6 years of snow seasons and no summers. I discovered the best way to fund my travels is to work where I go. Currently, I work as a paramedic/stewardess on a super yacht.

2. What made you start your travel blog, Curiously Erin? 

Something I love to do is read other travel blogs before I visit a destination, or even if I’m trying to get inspiration for my next trip. There are so many wonderful blogs out there with so much personality. I felt that sharing my travels and joining such a supportive community would be so much fun. If I could help just one person to be inspired to take an adventure, or a fellow coffee lover to discover a new café based on my blog, I will feel I have succeeded.

3. Where do you consider home and what’s your favorite thing about it? 

Although I call Australia home, I haven’t lived there permanently for nearly 10 years. Even so, I love going back to visit. The beaches aren’t known as some of the best in the world for no reason. Whether I visit in the summer or winter you will find me down the beach daily. Some of my favourite beaches are in Noosa, Queensland, Newcastle, Australia and anywhere in the south west of Western Australia. Australia has incredible coffee, being a barista is a serious skill. There are specialty coffee shops scattered all over the country. In Melbourne it’s impossible to get a bad cup of coffee. A silly thing I miss when I am away is the Triple J radio station. Not only is the music incredible, the station hosts make you feel like you’re part of a nationwide community.

4. What type of traveler do you consider yourself? I’m definitely a slow traveller. I want to get to know the locals and the areas I visit in depth. My favourite places have been where I Couchsurfed. Doing this you spend time with people who love their town and want to show it off to visitors. You walk around the neighbourhoods, try family owned cafes and get personalised tours. It has always been so much more memorable than the times I saw another tourist attraction.

Another thing I need to do when I travel is to go on as many ‘adventures’ as I can. I’m not an indoor person, so instead of strolling through a museum you will find me scaling a rock face, bungy jumping off a bridge, exploring the underwater world or one of my favourite activities is hiking. I’m dreaming of my first big backpacking trip.

5. You’ve taught skiing in California. How did that come about and how was that? 

Oh, skiing! I love it so much! As a child our family took our holidays to the snow fields. Surprisingly to most people, Australia does have snow! I fell in love with it from a young age and knew that I wanted to take a gap year before university and live in the snow. I found a job online in Colorado as a lift operator and moved across the world to Steamboat Springs, fresh out of high school. Unfortunately I didn’t get it out of my system during that one winter. I went on to spend seven years doing back-to-back winters where I worked my way through the different departments of lift operations, ski rentals, bar and restaurant work to finally a ski instructor. The way I ended up in California was a result of my spontaneous last minute decision to go back overseas one year. As it was so last minute all the jobs were taken except for one at the kids ski school in Squaw Valley. Unknowingly I accepted the job and have been welcomed into an incredible Tahoe family where I wish I could spend all of my days (boo to visa requirements).

6.  You’ve also helped out on a ranch in British Columbia, wow! Tell us more!  I did! I had this dream of going to Canada, learning to ride horses, putting in a day of hard work while seeing a plethora of moose and bear. My dreams came crashing down to reality pretty quickly. I went to Northern British Columbia and participated in both Workaway and HelpX programs. If you haven’t heard of these, they are where you exchange work for food and accommodation.

I spent two weeks each on two separate ranches. While I did help out, it was more in the form of gardening and babysitting. However, I did learn some amazing new skills and experienced a different way of living. One ranch was off the grid living – an adventure in it’s own. I went fishing with a first nations chief and caught 36 salmon!!! From there I learnt to can the salmon for the upcoming winter season. There was a day when I saw 12 bears! My hosts were generous and loved showing me the place they call home. Sadly, I have still never seen the fabled moose or learnt to ride a horse.

7.  Contrary to belief, skiing is huge in California, as you know! Where’s your favorite spots?  Anywhere in Lake Tahoe, California is my number one destination for skiing. Tahoe is located on the Nevada/California boarder. From the lake basin you have access to over 10 different ski resorts. There is so much variety in terrain including bowls, chutes, cliffs, long groomers and tree runs full of powder pockets. Due to the size of this resort there is something to suit all skill levels. Not only is the skiing amazing; it’s also the most stunning place I have ever visited. You start smelling the pines as soon as you drive in and can see the lake from a many of the resorts.

8. What’s your favorite part about traveling? Views, food, people?  One of the reasons I love travelling so much is that I am more likely to try something new, step out of my comfort zone and talk to strangers. I have met some of the greatest people while on the road, whether they’re locals or other travellers. People are friendly, generous and accommodating if you are open to receiving this from strangers.

9. What do you hope to accomplish through Curiously Erin?  I hope to one day have my blog as my full time job. Travelling the world funded by travel writing is an absolute dream. Right now, I’m lucky that my new job is a rotational 10 weeks on, 10 weeks off position. I’m going to take full advantage of this and spend every 10 weeks backpacking and taking crazy adventures around the world. My first rotation I’m planning on hitting Mexico. Look out for me repelling down waterfalls, hiking volcano’s, scuba diving and going hot air ballooning for the first time!

10. Any wise words or fun facts about you that you want to share to readers? 

I like to live by the quote, “If plan A doesn’t work out, then you have 25 more letters.” Live your dreams, make them work for you!

Follow Erin everywhere: 
Blog: http://curiouslyerin.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/curiouslyerin
Twitter: https://twitter.com/curiouslyerin1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erin.morris/
Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/curiouslyerin/

♡♡♡

Thank you Erin for gracing your presence on my blog! The next time you’re in the LA area, please teach me how to ski … or we can just grab some lunch 🙂 We love having you on Fly Away Friday and hope to continue reading your exciting posts! 

Want to read other Featured Friends? Click here. 

Want to be interviewed? Due to overwhelming response on interviews, I now have a section dedicated to bloggers wanting to work with this blog. Click here to find out more.