MY 2015

Brellowgirl
Jan 16, 2016
10 min read

There is SO much to be thankful for in 2015. I started the year with an incredible opportunity to travel and I left my job to pursue it. I went to the Dominican Republic with my girlfriends, went home to repack and left a few days later to England on what was my first solo international flight. Little did I know that there would be so so many more throughout the year. I touched down in Manchester, almost was refused entry because I didn't have a return ticket and started my trip completely flustered. I stayed in Bebington with Rob and that allowed me to plan short weekend trips to neighboring countries. We went to North Wales, Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid, London and the beautiful Lake District. I mustered up courage to do a few solo trips also. I went to London twice, the first time for a London Fashion Week event on behalf of my blogger best friend Melanie. During that trip I was also able to meet up with some fraternity brothers who were living in London and also some who were studying abroad from the states. I made new friends and spent a full day with them sightseeing. Our day sightseeing ended at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and I found out that Rutgers students were putting on Henry V that night. Of course I got tickets and watched students from my alma mater preform in the amazingly historic venue. My second time to London was to support the well known Holly Chapple and Nick Priestly at their first London floral design conference. It was an absolute treat to work alongside them and meet women business owners/designers from all over the UK, Ireland and even Canada. My next solo trip was for two weeks in the south of England working on two different flower farms. I met two amazing families doing those workaways and I'm so grateful to them for welcoming me into their homes. I explored Upavon, Worth, Wells, Glastonbury and the Cheddar Gorge. I learned how to deal with nettle - thanks Sara and I also learned how to deal with making bouquets under pressure - thanks Lara. My final solo venture was out to Portugal for two weeks to work in a surfers hostel on the beaches of Peniche. I met some great friends who helped me through hard times and a particular local who was kind enough to show me all the hidden spots of the city. We laughed and I got to brush up on my Portuguese. It was a good ending to what I thought would be the end of my travels for a while. Then I went home. My job at Jack welcomed me back and I am so grateful for that. I love my coworkers and I love the work and I threw myself into it full force. A new guy also came into my life and turned everything upside down. All good things though.

Something was missing though. I felt myself falling into the same routine again and it really scared me. I took the opportunity to take a family trip the weekend of my birthday to Cabo, Mexico and realized that what was missing was that feeling I got when I was on a plane off to somewhere new. So I planned a few more trips... I visited my friend Sterling in North Carolina and we went adventuring at the white water center, took a drive to Asheville and went bar hopping in Charlotte. I road tripped to Bar Harbor, Maine with one of my best friends, Kunal, and we hiked trails that scaled mountains with only the help of some iron rungs. We of course had lobster roll and did the most amazing thing - night kayaked in water filled with bioluminescence. Every time the paddle cut into the water the bioluminescence swirled and sparkled. It was absolutely entrancing. It was like an out of body experience. Poor Kunal, most of the time he was paddling and I was laying in the back of the kayak watching the water shimmer and then I'd get distracted by the stars. My god, the stars were so beautiful. I could see the Milky Way! Between the stars in the sky and the stars in the water I was in love. My last trip in the states took me on a spontaneous trip to Chicago with Kirk. When I met Kirk I felt like I had already known him. We got on really well and the summer together was amazing. We had date nights on Wednesdays and then would spend the weekends at his parents' beach house, going to food festivals and vineyard hopping in south Jersey. Then came Chicago. Chicago was a dream. We did all the touristy stuff and paired that with foodie heaven getting deep dish pizza from Lou Manalti's, what I thought were amazing Cubans from Cafécito, having the meal of the year at The Purple Pig and then capping it off with heaps of seafood and a time capsule cocktail at Devon's on our dinner date out. I also spent the summer doing something I love-playing with flowers. I freelanced for my amazing go to, Tracey Reynolds but also took a trip to Virginia to work for Holly Chapple and then to Baltimore to work for Victoria Clausen. I am blessed to be able to say these women are in my flower network of friends. They've inspired me to possibly start my own business one day. I took on two big jobs of my own, my girlfriend Lauren's bridal shower flowers and my dear friend Amy's brothers sangeet flowers. It was a crazy hectic summer that I just inhaled as it came at me. At the end of September my mom, grandmother and aunt finalized a trip to Japan. Two years ago we all went together to Japan and they asked if I wanted to go again. Of course I couldn't turn down the offer and bought my ticket right away. I didn't have a plan, but I knew I didn't have anything to lose. Everyone I loved would still be waiting for me at home if they loved me back so I left my job for a second time and took off. The first two weeks in Japan were a whirlwind. I can't believe my grandma can still get around like she does. After 12 hours of walking I'd have to bite my tongue if I wanted to complain because she was doing the same thing I was. We went to some places we've been to already and some new places. It was much easier getting around Japan this time around now that I was more travel aware. After two weeks my mom and grandma left. My aunt flew to Australia and I took a train to Nozawaonsen to spend some time learning about Japan on my own. In Nozawaonsen I enjoyed a ski village and the comforts of onsen baths on cold nights. I made friends with the guy who sold fruits and vegetables down the hill. I went on short hikes to lakes and around the mountains with new friends from the lodge. I learned that all women have the same parts and shower time in public bathhouses wasn't going to kill me. Leaving that place was difficult. I made good friends in a short amount of time. Anaïs even walked me to the bus stop in the rain to see me off the morning I left. I went straight to New Zealand to meet up with Kunal and his two friends. I saw the most amazing landscapes in this country. It's truly a hidden gem. From the amazing air bnb in Queenstown to the drive to Milford Sound. Everything about New Zealand astounded me. We hiked the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It looked like Mars. We saw the Church of the Good Shepard which seemed so serene with a backdrop of Lake Tekapo and a backsplash of lupin color. We met great people who joined us on hikes and inspired me to keep traveling. I missed a flight, we learned how to properly hitchhike and we did crazy things like abseiling into giant sink holes and clambering up underground waterfalls. Two weeks flew by with my friends and after they left I spent a relaxing week on a cattle farm in Longbush. Because I missed my flight I got to know the Wellington airport quite well as I waited 6 hours for the next train. At my workaway I met two amazing girls who are both so brave. Jamie for traveling completely solo at such a young age-21 and Anna for taking in a job in Nicaragua without any prior experience cooking, yoga-ing or speaking Spanish. Crazy girls. We brushed cattle and talked about our adventures. We laughed so hard while we cooked, worked in the garden and even while stitching together netting. These girls were refreshing. I went straight from my NZ farm to my Aus farm. I didn't even stay a full week on the flower farm in Victoria but I felt like part of the family. I learned so much about Australian flowers and even small things like helping prune back flowers will have a big impact on next years harvest. Poppy and Tilly, Sally's two little girls, were the perfect models for some flower crowns on my last day and Anton, the other workawayer shared his family recipe for Christmas lussebulle. From Greg and Sally's I took a long train to Adelaide and patiently awaited the arrival of my aunt. Her flight was delayed big time and I didn't think she was going to make our train to Alice Springs. She made it with minutes to spare and we were off! A few days in the desert never killed anybody...or has it? We saw Uluru, walked Kings Canyon, hiked Kata Juta and visited water holes. We slept in swags under the stars with snakes and dingoes. We ate meals cooked on campfires and went to the bathroom in holes. We were one with nature. Tia and I headed to Sydney where I think she was much happier to stay. We spent a few days at Govinda Valley - a yoga retreat, and I was super blessed to have the opportunity to work in the kitchen alongside a boy my age named Vijay. We became friends. He taught me how to make vegetarian Indian dishes and how to make the best kichiri-I am forever grateful. Our time at Govinda was short but I made friends there that I will remember for a lifetime. Our Sydney apartment was the first real downtime we both got. We spent Christmas there just the two of us and romped around the city. Kirk joined us a few days later and I saw the blue mountains with him, walked across the harbor bridge and toured the Chinese friendship gardens. I got to spend time with my cousin Janaki who I rarely get to see and we all rang in the New Year with the most spectacular fire work show I've ever seen and yes, it was better than Disney's. Though the year ended, the adventures didn't and Tia, Kirk and I went to Melbourne to drive the Great Ocean Road. Kirk and I did some couple traveling after that which took us hot air ballooning in Mareeba, lots of hiking in the tablelands, swimming under beautiful waterfalls and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. In the rainforest we saw bird eating spiders the size of our faces and huge ostrich sized birds that directly descended from dinosaurs. When we were hiking I got severely dehydrated and Kirk had to take care of me until he could get help. I'm grateful that he was there with me and I'm grateful that he always is looking out for me. After that happened he bought (2) 4 liter jugs of water for us to carry around haha. He cracks me up so hard. When we got back to Sydney we spent the day hand in hand walking the coast from Bondi through the other beaches until the sun set on us. We said our teary goodbyes and I flew to Indonesia en route to Thailand. I spent the night in Bali and left first thing in the morning to catch my flight. I'm sitting in a third class train carriage right now on my way to Hua Hin. It's dirty. It's hot. I'm sweating and so is the girl sitting next to me. Vendors walk up and down through the trains trying to sell food and drinks. The girl who was sitting across from me just layed out a shirt and it sleeping underneath my seat. Their grandma keeps on trying to talk to me even though she knows I don't speak any Thai. I feel so bad. They've all offered me food I must look desperate. Grandma keeps on taking off her shoes and resting her feet on me. This train is an experience. The girl next to me just pulled out a box cutter from her purse so she could cut her waterbottle in half and fill it with ice. She's been throwing all her garbage right out of the train window. I've learned so much about this world in the past year and yet nothing at all. I am so incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity and means to do all that I've done this past year. I've spent the year finding new love and finding myself. I'm slowly conquering my fear of traveling alone (yeah it scares me every time I get on a bus, train or plane by myself). I've become more trusting and open to new experiences. I'm learning how people live and cope on the opposite side of the world. I'm finding out how to make good decisions and most importantly how to take care of myself. I know I didn't have to leave home to learn all this but it has allowed me to learn all I have in a short amount of time. I am so blessed and have already started off the new year doing what I love. I never thought I would be doing what I'm doing right now. I never imagined that I would be in a rickety train carriage in Thailand 5 months ago. I can't believe all that I've seen and experienced. This world is so full of rich treasures. I can't even express how happy I am to be uncovering them. Cheers to the New Year. I have no idea what to expect in 2016 because what I thought I knew for the past year completely blew me away. I'm just going to take it one day at a time and spread the love wherever I go. Can't wait to share my adventures with you! Much love, Cas