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I’m Kate
For more than a decade and a half, I’ve helped people create a life by design through my lifestyle and travel blog.
I’m a mom of 3, a full-time romance author, and I’ve been to more than 40 countries and nearly all the states.
I’m happy you’re here.
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Latest Blog Posts
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What a Real Weekend in NYC Actually Costs in 2026 — Not the Glossy Version, the Actual Receipts
Every travel blog will tell you how to “do NYC on a budget.” This isn’t that. This is a real accounting of what two adults actually spend on a 48-hour weekend in New York City in 2026 — the hotel sticker shock, the restaurant math, the hidden costs that never make it into the Instagram post.
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The Timeshare Presentation Trap: How a ‘Free Weekend’ Turns Into a $30,000 Mistake You Can’t Undo
Every year, millions of people sit through a 90-minute timeshare presentation for a free hotel stay — and tens of thousands walk out owning something they’ll spend years trying to escape. Here’s exactly how the $10 billion industry turns smart, skeptical adults into buyers, and what timeshare exit lawyers see after the damage is done.
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They Took a Year Off to Travel the World. When They Came Back, Their Careers, Relationships, and Bank Accounts Were Never the Same.
The sabbatical travel year looks like the ultimate act of freedom on Instagram. The part that doesn’t get posted: what happens when you try to reenter normal life with a one-year gap on your resume, a depleted savings account, and a fundamentally changed sense of what you actually want.
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The Airbnb Cleaning Fee Scam Has Gotten Worse — Here’s Exactly How Hosts Are Hiding the Real Price of Your Stay
Airbnb’s cleaning fee went from an occasional line item to a systematic price-hiding tool, and the policy changes that were supposed to fix it mostly didn’t. Here’s how hosts are using cleaning fees to manipulate search results — and what you can do about it.
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I Asked International Tourists What Shocked Them Most About America — Their Answers Made Me Genuinely Uncomfortable
International visitors to America often arrive with one set of expectations and leave with a completely different set of impressions. The things that genuinely shock them aren’t what most Americans expect to hear — and some of it is hard to argue with.
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Every State Has a Tourist Attraction That Half the Country Thinks Shouldn’t Exist — Here Are the Most Controversial Ones
Some tourist attractions draw crowds and complaints in equal measure — places where the debate about whether they should exist is almost as well-known as the attraction itself. These are the ones that people actually fight about.
