About Megan

quick recap of my life thus far 

Travel for me is a lifestyle, not an escape from reality. After graduating from the University of Georgia, (Go Dawgs!) I realized that I didn't really know anything about the world simply by reading about it. I felt an impossible to ignore urge to leave, and taught English abroad in Japan for about 18 months. The original plan was to stay in Tokyo for one year, and then come back home to start graduate school, because that was the conventional, appropriate thing to do. Before leaving the states, I had no idea what to expect in Asia; my imagination went wild and I halfway expected to land in an animae film with robots and the most futuristic technology I'd ever seen. Imagine my surprise when my English conversation school still used fax machines from the 1980's and the women still wore shoulder pads in their business skirt blouse outfits. Yes, they have virtual reality exhibitions now, but WiFi is still painfully hard to get in public. By living there I was able to slowly dissolve any assumptions I had about the culture and became integrated into Japanese life and thinking. I stayed an extra six months and when I was finally ready to leave, the Earthquake of 2011 struck Fukushima, initiating an even quicker departure from the country. 

But I wasn't ready to quit traveling! I'd learned so much about myself and about people in those months in Japan that I knew that there was more to explore and more to see that would transform my world even farther. I accepted another English teaching job, this time in Seoul, South Korea. A very different culture from Japan, Korea was an unexpected treasure, and I fell in love with the people and country. I cried buckets when I left. 

My third and current life has resulted in a move to New York City, where I accepted a job to be cabin crew with a certain major domestic airline in the states in 2015. In my three years of flying I've been to Prague, Paris, Amsterdam, London, Tel Aviv, Reyjkavik, Brussels, Copenhagen, Shannon, Madrid, Malaga, Moscow, Dublin, Rome, Milan, Venice, Nice, Sardinia, Barcelona, Lima, Cusco, Edinburgh, and pretty much everywhere domestically. Every new city I visit I feel the same thrill of newness, of discovery, and of optimism for what adventure will be had there. There's always something more to learn about the world, something more to see and do and someone new to meet, something interesting to eat and drink, something more to experience and record.  

Magazines 

I had a beautiful opportunity to write for Cosmopolitan magazine in the Spring of 2016, which you can read here ; Why It's Hard for Flight Attendants to Date . In it I shed some insight into the dating lives and struggles of flight attendants. I mean, it is really hard out there y'all. I was overwhelmed with the positive reception to this piece, as it resonated with many of my coworkers. Since it was for Cosmo, this is for a strictly 20 something female audience, so I only told their stories. However, I'm itching to write another one for a strictly gay male audience in the near future. It might be even more entertaining... 

What's the point of all this?

Travel changes you, it's true. It's a constant process of growth, discovery, frustration, enlightenment, disillusionment, joy, wonder, confusion, realignment, and appreciation. You learn things about yourself that you wouldn't have found otherwise living in the comfort zone of home. And once you've been somewhere as beautiful as Iceland or somewhere as different as Japan, you will annoy your friends by talking incessantly about it and convince them to come back with you, insisting that they've actually never had "real sushi" before. 

I don’t just want to travel and take pictures as an outsider, I want to really absorb the energy, philosophy, and people of a different place. I am always striving to become better, more appreciative of the world, more engaged in culture and become comfortable in any new place I travel to. It’s not always just about the destination, sometimes its about internal growth, or bonding with friends. I don’t want to write a tourist itinerary, but travel writing that explores what it means to be alive in a very mobile, globalized, yet increasingly divisive society that is on the edge of something. It’s not all about vacation, although I take a ton of those; it’s about finding connections when you least expect it, finding hope when it seems hopeless, learning to become stronger and learning that you can overcome internal insecurities, learning that wherever you grew up doesn’t necessarily mean you belong there, learning that your fantasy of another place might be totally off base but you still appreciate being there. It’s disrupting conceptions, reinstating assumptions, breaking down barriers, creating new unexpected ones.

Hope you enjoy, hope you can comment your thoughts and share your own experiences too! I am available for collaborations and am able to travel freely, if you are interested : IG is the best way to reach me @kissesfromtheclouds.

xoxox Happy Flying!