Leaving NYC and my New Yorker Lifestyle

by Christine Ka’aloa

After several trips to Salvation Army, FedEx, USPS and a shout-out to friends for household give-aways I’m down to my last box. Today I’m saying my goodbyes to life in the Big Apple. How do I feel about finally leaving my city racetrack lifestyle?

Packer’s Remorse: The Art of Moving on and Letting Go

Moving is not a fresh theme to me; but while I am practiced in “The Art of Moving On”, my current move reminds me that I’ve still not mastered “The Art of Letting Go”. When packing for work or travel, my primary goal is whittling my packing list to fit a temporary lifestyle, which will sustain my daily travel needs. This is easy. Packing for a permanent move however, poses a greater challenge. A ratty pair of running shoes, a water-warped stack of old birthday cards, books and gift trinkets – EVERYTHING that’s

Surfing the sky Wi-Fi of Delta & Go Go In-flight

by Christine Ka’aloa

Just a quick note to say- I am on a flight back home to Hawaii, blogging and surfing the internet from airwaves of 50,000 ft (or higher) while testing out Delta’s WIFI service.

Yesterday I had won a contest at The Gadling for a free Go Go in-flight session and today, upon arriving at the Delta gate of my flight, they were passing out free Go Go sessions for my flight as well! What luck! How GRRReat is that?

For the month of December, the Wi-Fi service Go Go In-flight is offering a deal for a month’s unlimited usage for only $24.95 (the normal price will be $50). Not bad if you’ll be traveling a lot this month or even just 3 times on either Air Tran, Air Canada, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta or Virgin. A single flight session costs $12.95 for 3hrs+ and there are lower prices for sessions ranging from 1-3 hours. Alternately, there is also a Mobile Flight Pass if you want to access the internet from your phone.

How’s the service? I like it okay for what it is in surfing sky WiFi. The connection speed is solid- it

GRRRL TRAVELER’s 3-Day Travel Challenge Contest

The GRRRL TRAVELER CHALLENGE #2 CONTEST:
It’s a 3-day contest, so hurry- it will end soon!

As a Producer-Shooter for reality TV- it’s often been my job to produce what I think would be entertaining challenges for a show. So this contest is to see what you think would make a cool GRRRL TRAVELER travel blog or v-log episode. Seeing as my GRRRL TRAVELER Challenge #2 is to live as an expat in a foreign country and my destination country is South Korea–

What do you think would be the coolest, craziest or greatest GRRRL TRAVELER Challenge for me to try while living in South Korea?

List your thoughts– you can list more than one– in the Comments section below or email them to me. I will select the one I like best and in the future, you just never know…

Deadline: Wednesday, Dec 10th, 12P EST.

GRRRLTRAVELER’s Travel Challenge #2: Living as an Expat in a Foreign Country

by Christine Ka’aloa

The gamble we take in following dreams is that we are never certain of the outcome; yet, a staid and sensible path can be just as uncertain.

Finding the GRRR to embark upon bold new adventures, which remove us from trusted and worn paths, can feel both terrifying and exhilarating. Terrifying, because we must call upon our self-belief to guide us through “the unpredictable and unknown”. Exhilarating, as we are released from our own self-created prisons and given freedom to grow towards our passions, experience new challenges or changes within ourselves and to create a lifestyle that is potentially more meaningful and extraordinary.

When our country’s recession created a drag in my career as Shooter-Producer of reality TV shows, I

The Good, the Bad & the Inevitable of a Beginner Solo Traveler

by Christine Ka’aloa

Back from my GRRRL TRAVELER beginner solo trip with lots of cool experiences to share from Thailand and what I’ve learned about being on the solo road! Everything from mastering squat toilets and cold showers while trekking in the mountains, eating bugs, drinking tiger penis soaked whiskey in Laos, smoking with Buddhist monks, practicing circle 8’s with a guesthouse owner’s motorbike so I could rent a scooter, getting lost virtually …everywhere and more. I have the promise of upcoming tips and advice for beginning GRRRL soloists like myself, the leak of a  GRRRL TRAVELER contest and challenge#2, and much much more…

Firstly, a shout out of warm Mahalos to all the friends following my fun updates on Facebook (sorry Twitterverse- you got gyped some…). Special Mahalos to those who super-caring and supportive of my first solo-solo and who went of their way to make

Waiting Until… (counting down to my first solo trip)

by Christine Ka’aloa

I’m currently waiting at the airport for my plane. Still feeling a bit numb. Last night, I got all of 1 hour of incomplete sleep because I was bundled and freezing because my radiator decided that it only wanted to work at 10A and of course, my upcoming trip had some last minute To-Do’s with it .But in that incomplete hour that my subconscious grasped for time, it gave me a dream reminder of two important things I needed for my trip.  Rather than deconstructing lengthy Freudian and Jungian narratives, let me summarize it as this-

Sometimes, the best survival tool for dissolving anticipatory travel fears and worry is to carry humor and re-connect to inspiration. In all my itinerary planning and nerves, I forgot about this. Humor

Planning a Trip Route for my First Solo Adventure

From  Planning an Itinerary as a Beginner Solo Traveler

Planning my trip’s route

Before anything else, I need to plan a Master route.  I’m talking drawing BIG LOOSE circles – not filling them in or number crunching them just yet. The “filling” comes with planning the day itineraries and that will shape the amount of days I have in each city. To do them separately, I find is easier and less overwhelming. So let’s dream…

1. Create a game plan strategy.

My rule- simple: Bangkok is my main launch pad. I must start/end in Bangkok and have 2.5 weeks to work with! But where to go from here? From Bangkok (let’s call it “Point A”), I can head in any direction but I must plot a next destination (or “Point B”). I know, that once I arrive in Thailand, demystify my imaginary fears — “Oh, it’s not so scary afterall…”– and acclimate to my news surroundings, I can always change my direction. For -now-  I must decide on the next destination…north, south, east, west?

Which brings me to…

Planning my Itinerary as a Beginner Female Solo Traveler

*REvised version*
by Christine Ka’aloa

Boo! It’s Halloween and the perfect time to talk about the SCARY of planning my itinerary for my entirely solo trip to Thailand.

My Pre-flight Jitters
I leave for Thailand in a day and my solo fears are now starting to sink in!  I’m filled with all sorts mixed emotions and self-doubts that aim to sabotage my confidence. When friends ask me whether I’m excited about my trip, I feel numb. Frankly, I wish I did not have so much time to think about it, but I do.

Planning  Woes for the Soloist

When I said earlier that my friend, Regina, does not use guidebooks when she travels, I’ll let you in on a little secret… I haven’t really either. I buy them for the “in case” I want to open them. But only until last year when I was

Booking my ticket to Bangkok

*REVISED*
by Christine Ka’aloa



After much research and itinerary planning for my GRRRL Solo Traveler challenge to take place in Central America, thoughtful reconsideration to travel warnings forced me to pull both, Guatemala and Central America from my plans. As a beginner, I’m not ready for them. So I took up a last minute 12-hour search for a replacement. I booked Thailand- a photogenic dream country I’d had mild curiosities about due to friend recommendations. Yay & GRRR! But it wasn’t easy. From choosing my starter country, dealing with budgetary concerns, hurdling my first soloist fears of booking a ticket and then dealing with a less than ideal flight itinerary, I’ve many things to refine in the future.

But a 12 hour search?! Call me crazy…

Hurdling my Fears as a Beginner Female Solo Traveler

by Christine Ka’aloa

From a Dark Dwellings photo series that I shot when I was lost one night working in Ashland, Ohio

There are two crucial saboteurs to my GRRRL TRAVELER challenge of becoming a first time female solo traveler. And these saboteurs- my fears- poke their rebelliously fear-full heads out before I can even book my flight. Unless I find a way to deal with them, my plans are stillborn and I will not clear my challenge hurdle.

Here’s some steps I’ve taken as an attempt to deal with them: