My public online persona has always been focused on yoga and wellness. However, there is a whole other side to my life that I have not yet shown to the public eye. This side is my travel adventures.

Since I have been back in England during the winter months, it really has been a struggle. The sunshine makes all the difference, so with our long darker nights, cold days and lack of sunshine, it did affect me. Yoga and mindfulness is my safety blanket.

I do try to act mindfully in everything I do and stay upbeat and positive. However, I am an outdoorsy nature and sunshine worshipper, so being cooped up inside for the prolonged winter did make me feel quite trapped. I chose to focus on building my projects, which has been great. On the flip side, sometimes when we don't see the exact results we are striving for, when we put so much energy and effort into the things we do, we have those days where it can take its toll. We are only human after all!

So if I have completed my yoga and exercises, and the creative juices are still not flowing, in order to remain grateful and to stay positive, I sometimes take a break from what I am working on to look at my travel memories. It truly makes me feel good and inspired!

I also listen to piano music to help keep me calm and lower any feelings of anxiety that try to creep in.

Prior to returning to England, I have been travelling the world for the last four years now and have had many diverse experiences in many different countries.

Recently I have had a lot of reflection (perhaps because of the Mercury Retrograde), and nostalgia. While looking back at old photos it brought back so many happy and interesting memories.

I am finally ready to share these private travel snaps with you, exclusively on the Steemit platform.

I will post my photos and reflections from a different place that I travelled to.

Not many people hear about my travel stories, only my close friends and family, or perhaps the occasional stranger I meet out and about who shares theirs too.

It's not that I was hiding my travel life, it is perhaps just because I am so passionate about yoga and wellness that this took over my online voice.

What I love about Steemit, and being relatively new on the platform, is the ability to simply be ME!

Whether that is talking all things yoga and wellness, talking about my travel memories, or just discussing literally ANYTHING with you guys!

So here goes, in no particular order, just however I feel on the day...

Thailand - Part 1

In total I have spent 4 months traveling in Thailand. The first time I went I lived on Koh Tao for diving and yoga. The second time, I flew to Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand for more yoga.

While I was at the airport in Bangkok waiting for my connecting flight to Chiang Mai, I saw a Facebook post from a girl I had met in Rishikesh, India. She was also on her way to Chiang Mai, so I cancelled my rough plans to hang out with her for the week!

She had left her job as a project manager in the corporate world in America to pursue her dreams of teaching yoga and giving Thai massage. She is a very outgoing and courageous person, which is one of the characteristics I love about her. She also had big bouncy brunette hair when I first met her and had decided to cut it all off in to a mohawk! I guess you only live once!

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Pai!

I had never riden a scooter before and always used to get a ride on the back of them! But my friend had this bucket list idea of riding a scooter from Chiang Mai to Pai around 762 turns on a mountain! I couldn't just sit on the back of her scooter as some of the turns in the mountain were going to be quite steep. So I decided that I was going to go with her and learn to ride a scooter the day before we left.

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Scooter!

So I went to a scooter shop and told them I would like to hire one for a few days. It was all fine and I chose a pink one. After he handed me the keys, I told him I didn't know how to ride it, so he took me on a scooter lesson around Chiang Mai until I felt comfortable enough to ride on my own. I actually picked it up quite quickly, and so off I went!

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The road trip!

We set off to the mountains, and on our way we met other people who were also doing the same trip! So we formed a little safety group. It took about 4 hours to get there, but we did stop along the way for photos.

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I was there in dry season so we didn't see any waterfalls!!

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Pai

When we finally got there, it was so beautiful in the mountains! We found a quirky tree house and a beautiful little cafe that had all vegan smoothie bowls and fresh juices! Exactly what I needed :)

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Elephants

Unfortunately, in the mountains there were elephant keepers who used the elephants to give rides. I am so against this and it was so sad to see the poor elephant chained up :(

My friend and I stayed with the elephant for a while, hoping our friendly and compassionate strokes and soft talking would make the elephant feel loved even for a short while.

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