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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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Americans Keep Making the Same European Train Mistake — and It’s Stranding Them in Cities They Can’t Afford
European rail is one of the great travel experiences — and one of the most reliably misunderstood by Americans. The gap between ‘I have a Eurail pass’ and ‘I have a confirmed seat on the train I want’ is where thousands of people discover the difference too late.
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These Tourist Scams Are So Sophisticated That People Fall for Them Even After Reading About Them
You’ve read the travel forums. You know about the scarf trick, the fake police, the friendship bracelet. And you’re still going to get taken. Here’s the precise psychology behind why awareness alone doesn’t protect you — and what actually does.
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What Flight Attendants Actually Think of Passengers — The Unspoken Judgments, the Things That Make Their Jobs Harder, and What They Wish You’d Stop Doing
Flight attendants are professionally trained to be pleasant to people who are being unpleasant to them. But after decades of crew confessions, anonymous accounts, and people who’ve left the industry talking, a clear picture has emerged of what flight attendants actually think — about the passengers they remember, the behaviors they dread, and the things that would make everyone’s experience better if you’d just stop doing them.
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The Country Where Americans Are Retiring in Record Numbers Right Now — What It Costs, What the Visa Looks Like, and What Nobody Expected
More Americans are applying for retirement visas in Portugal than at any previous point on record — and the ones who’ve made the move are telling a complicated story about what the brochures got right, what they quietly got wrong, and what the cost of living actually looks like when you’re living it.
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Every Major US Theme Park Ranked Honestly — Not by Ride Count, But Whether a Family of Four Walks Out Feeling Like It Was Worth $1,200
The theme park industry has raised prices aggressively for a decade while quietly making the experience more complicated, more expensive per activity, and harder to navigate without buying extra things. Here’s an honest ranking of the major US parks by whether the math actually works for a real family.
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What Actually Happened to All-Inclusive Resorts — Why They Exploded, Why the Quality Cratered, and the Ones That Are Still Worth It
All-inclusive resorts promised the perfect vacation math: one price, no decisions, unlimited food and drink. Then the industry figured out how to cut costs while keeping the price — and millions of travelers started coming home disappointed. Here’s what actually changed, and the resorts that haven’t made that deal.
