An Adventure Blog
Little Lia in Big Bad Alaska
04 days ago
by Lia Mitchell
in Alaska
How do I keep ending up in these amazing places?
Below me, the sea laps up steel blue sandy shores and seagulls happily call out to the fish migrating through these arctic waters. But in this spot, perched on a sea cliff threatening to give way 60ft to the beach below, I strain to focus on only nature. And not because yellow jackets the size of my head buzz around me (thankfully mosquitoes aka the state bird aren’t out this evening). But because large ships migrating farther than those fish the seagulls greet, part the waves with as much authority as Moses in the Red Sea. And because small airplanes fly overhead, continually popping out from behind each surrounding snow-capped mountain. Perhaps they are returning from a food drop to a small isolated village in the north. Perhaps they More >
Typical Tuesday: Jump off a building in Waikiki in a squirrel suit
02 months ago
by Lia Mitchell
in Hawaii
I work in a bar in Honolulu that is exactly like the show Cheers. Every night I half expect Sam Malone to walk in and everyone go “Heyyy!” Everybody knows your name. This place is family run and been around forever, and its built like a ship pub…the bar even sinks occasionally filling with water ( we are below sea-level next to a marina), people wince if you dont swear when you speak, and as soon as I walk in the door Im suddenly in a good mood.
Most of our clientel are a little older, which while on the bright side only enhances their color and entertainment value, lets just say that most of the pick up lines I hear dont come out the mouths of strapping young sailors. It was a slower Tuesday night, and I was pouring another Jager shot when two young, muscular men came in and sat down in More >
Smiling is a language
03 months ago
by Lia Mitchell
in Brazil
August 8, 2012
I was just leaving Bolivia when I wrote this, which is one of the poorest countries in South America. Street food, sleeping in a tent in the rolling countryside near where Che Guevara died, and trekking through the Amazon had been my reality for the last month. And I had only been traveling alone for a month at this point, after breaking up with Matt…I wrote this in a bus, alone, on 30 hour bus trip to Rio de Janeiro.
I got into Brazil finally and don’t speak Portuguese and the buses are suddenly air conditioned and professional. The drivers even dress like airplane pilots. A taxi cost $10 USD and thats suppose to be a bargain?! Where am I? But at the same time, I dont care. Im so excited for this country…
All I can do is smile.
The people here speak to me in English and I More >
3 months ago
I let the music intoxicate my ears through those big padded head phones.
My eyes closed.
My heart fluttered.
Today is the day. My day. A smile infects my face. Traffic drives by and wonders why this girl in very short khaki shorts is skipping down the busy road on the way to the dive bar at the end of the block. I’m going to work, its beautiful outside, and the sun dances on the water under the bridge upon which I skip.
Each chord played struck something in my heart and it moved, flickered, danced. Like the water below my feet. I smile giddily. I might even giggle to myself. And I felt…intoxicated. In a completely different way than last night after drinking too many vodka tonics. This time its by music. By love. By an excitement towards life.
It reminded me how good it feels to be alive. How many beautiful things Ive seen, and more importantly, memories I’ve felt…am yet to feel.
I played the song again. And again. I only have one other song on my phone and embarrassingly enough it’s Taylor Swift. Sorry Taylor, but my heart isnt experiencing a breakup or wanting the simplicity of girly pop lyrics. I want the good stuff and ironically I have no other choice but to keep clicking “Repeat”. Ohh, the acoustic guitar rift and the buttery voice that serenades my soul.
“Repeat”. Click.
I’ve been terrible at this blogging thing so, inspired by this song and the happiness it instigates within me, Im going to post old entries from my traveling diary. As often as I can. And like the song, each time I relive that traveling memory by writing it out, I will be reminded to keep going. To keep skipping. To laugh and think, Yes, I need to feel that again.
“Repeat.” Click.
Today I applied to work in Alaska for the summer. My fingers are crossed. Literally, Im so excited I super glued them that way…
3 months ago
Bucket List: Northern Lights
Throw in those snow peaked mountains, glaciers, giant bears and moose?!! Where do I sign up 
3 months ago
Life has a funny way of being riddled with coincidences. Today as I was teaching English to an adorable Japanese mom with crystal bow ties glued to her nails ( I never get enough of quirky Japanese fashion) I received a text from lovely Emley from my kinky pod adventures . I tell my student to keep reading aloud about Jane and Johnny so I could discreetly text her back. As I begin to respond, the other part of my brain tuned into my student’s reading so I could correct her pronunciation errors.
“Martha wants cookies with her pizza. Bob wants Cheetos.
Bryce wants..”
Huh?!
I look over at the page to make sure I heard correctly. Yup. There, printed on the page was my other kinky pod friend’s name, clear as day.
Since when is that a name typically used in beginning English Phonics books? Secondly, she had paused to turn the page, and my eyes had latched onto the book as she did so. What does Bryce want on his pizza? If they say gummy bears or Oreos I’ll devote my life to God from here on out, I swear. There’s no rational math statistic to explain a coincidence that crazy. Give me a reason to be an unyielding believer in destiny. Please say gummy bears…
“Bryce wants… extra cheese on his pizza. Billy wants…” And just like that, it had turned into yet another normal coincidence.
I finished my class an hour later, and as I peered down at my phone for new texts from Emley, I had a new email..from Bryce! Although I do keep in touch with my Kinky Pod friends, not this often. Today was just weird.
So I curiously opened the email, and there lay a link to this article. “Thinking of you.”
What the heck?!
Whether or not the stars lined up just right today and none of this is any sort of coincidence, I may never know. But regardless, this article is pretty darn inspiring. Im ready to throw on my backpack and jump on the next plane outta here! If i had any doubts today about living on as a traveling fool, this article put me in my place. Go get em Tiger! it seemed to cheer me on.
So read on, and feel inspired Travel Young , no excuses!
Disconnecting to Reconnect
03 months ago
by Lia Mitchell
in Limbo
I was watching HBO’s Girls tonight, which portrays people my age trying to make it in New York and the trials and tribulations they face blah blah and at first Im like “Ya, mmmhm girl, I hear that,” and then I stop and think “What the heck?!”The star of this show wrote all of this in real life and is carpe-ing the diem aka making tons of money by being a writing protege with HBO. She isnt actually wallowing her life away, wishing she would make it in New York. Shes chasing her dreams, actually making it in New York! Get off the comfy couch Lia and get on the dream chasing! Go out and do something amazing!
Ok, so down!!!
…but what? What even is it that I should be going for?
I’ve traveled. Its awesome. I want to travel more soon. But what is it that I want to be really doing, while Im More >
Where in the world is Carmen San Diego…or Lia Mitch?!
03 months ago
Come out, come out where ever you are….
But Im right here!! Hey! Im over here! In Hawaii! Ive been here for a hot minute now.. Hmm, but there’s been no blog posts, nothing to show for my existence…no reports on crazy adventures?! And yes, there HAVE been more crazy adventures. I just went off the radar for…well, more than minute. But Im back!
Since leaving Colombia in November, I’ve:
* spent time with the ones I love
Road trip with some of the ones I love
* lived up to my goal of surfing way more. I managed to drop in on my first big wave AND hit the reef super hard all in the same day, just luckily not all at once!
* conquered a 10-day homemade-juice detox to feel better about my health after a year of backpacking.. beer every day is a necessity of the lifestyle
* jetsetted to More >
My Love Affair with a “Kinky-Pod”
05 months ago
by Lia Mitchell
in Colombia
As December approaches, so does my departure date to go home to Hawaii for Christmas. My America Latina trip is coming to an end….And as is life, just when you are getting ready to close up one chapter, something amazing happens…
I still remember walking into the Bogota hostel, dropping my bags in the courtyard, throwing on my jeans jacket (brr its cold in Bogota!) and taking a deep breath. “I made it!” I cried out, as Scott sat across from me coolly smoking a cigarette and looking warm in his grey beanie. I slumped down in my chair, all smiles, and said “Well, I havent slept in 36 hours and its Saturday night… lets start drinking?” Obviously, I wanted to start off my first night in Colombia right.
The part of this story that I havent told already, isnt about last minute jet setting to More >
Central America Adventure (pt 2): To Belize and beyond!
06 months ago
by Lia Mitchell
in Guatemala
To be totally honest, I always hope that ziplining will be super-fast, I mean, like life threateningly fast. I should know better by now, but I always imagined that if I was going to do it…it should be in Central America, where I could fly above the rainforest canopy, racing Toucans and stealing bananas off of monkeys. And there I was, in Guatemala, half of this dream coming true before my eyes. I expressed my need for speed to a worker named Felix, “like the cat” he explained to me, and he showed me that I could flip myself upside down to feed my fix…oh ya.
As all of us were giggling with delight through the green dewy canopy, we realized our hour was up and we had reached the end of our ziplining adventure. But have no fear, now we are off to spend a week in the Caribbean on a More >