A Road Trip through Southern Africa with Intrepid Travel

May 24, 2017 in Recap, Photography, News

I'm thrilled to finally share stories from my recent travels to Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa. It was a whirlwind adventure, packed with lots of laughter and locals, plenty of campfire cookouts, and exhilarating searches for Africa's wildlife all stars, the "Big Five." I absolutely loved traveling with tour company, Intrepid.

Read my story paired with all the photos I love to capture so much over on Intrepid's adventure blog, The Journal. And of course, additional photos and portraits are always up on the galleries right here on my site.

I hope you enjoy! Stay tuned for more of my stories and adventures from this wild ride around the world.

xoxo,
Allison

Inspiration Talk on My Visit to Antarctica

February 18, 2015 in Recap, Photography, Inspiration

I was recently asked to give an Inspiration Talk on my experience in Antarctica. Of course, I'm always super happy to talk about all things Antarctica, so I jumped on this right away. Though it’s quite a bit less compelling without my exuberant voiceover and edge-of-your-seat storytelling, I thought I would share the slides from my presentation regardless. Hope you're into it!

Photos & Stories, Now on Exposure

January 22, 2015 in Photography, Recap

I really love Exposure. It's a photography blogging platform specifically designed for photographers to share their images and their stories in deeply engaging ways. Every story I post shines so bright on Exposure. The photo formats are gorgeous. The design is top notch. I always spend a great deal of time crafting my photo narratives there, in ways I really can't do anywhere else. I like to keep my writing short and let my photos really take over.

Antarctica was a photo adventure for me, so I couldn't be happier with the outcome of my Exposure story on Antarctica. The feedback has been incredible! Thank you to everyone whose supported me so far and to anyone else in the future who throws a thumbs up my way. It means so much! Check it out.

Antarctica: A Most Legendary Adventure

January 19, 2015 in Photography, Recap

I'm so excited to share the full recap of my trip to Antarctica with you! I genuinely hope that the love I have for this place shines through in all of my posts and hopefully inspires travel in you!

A Brief Introduction

It never occurred to me that you could visit Antarctica. The Antarctic in my head was filled with science and research stations and relics of explorers past. On my long list of places to travel, Antarctica didn’t even make the cut. But, in 2013, I met a family while in Peru who regaled me with tales of the great white continent siting Antarctica as the best place they’d ever been. The idea had stuck with me ever since. Why was it so great?

In July 2014, I was laying in bed at night thinking about life and travel and suddenly, without warning, Antarctica popped into the forefront of my mind. I had to go. I had to take pictures of the ice. I had to see for myself. I was booked and paid-in-full a few weeks later. Friends often asked why I didn’t just go to Iceland or Alaska, or some place easier to get to. I didn’t have a good answer. Only that for whatever unwritten reason, it had to be Antarctica.

When in Antarctica, You Jump in the Water

January 06, 2015 in Travel Tips, Recap

I wasn’t quite sure I was up for the polar plunge in the icy -1C Antarctic waters before my journey. But in the moment, on a sunny day in Paradise Bay, there was no getting out of it. I jumped! It was cold, and it was amazing.

Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego & New Friends

December 07, 2014 in Recap

Over the last few days, I've been enjoying lovely weather and the company of new friends in Ushuaia. The gang at Freestyle (the travel agency I booked with) got together on Friday night for drinks at the Irish pub in town. I met a whole group of people traveling on two Quark ships in the coming days. We shared a lot of laughs and stories over pizza and beer and I got to know a few hilarious people, some on my ship some on other ships, bonding over our upcoming adventure.

One of the young couples I met (Noelle and Stephen) at the pub is from Santa Cruz, right in my backyard! We spent the next day hiking Tierra del Fuego National Park, taking pictures and exploring nature. It was such a blast! We also met a world traveler from Canada (Sarah) who became fast friends with our group -- also on our ship. After about four hours adventuring in the park, we went to a quick briefing about our ship and then parted ways for the night.

Pan del Indio (Indian bread) tree fungus that can be found all over Tierra del Fuego. This one fell from a tree and soaked up the sea

Pink flowers along the coast at Tierra del Fuego National Park

Mossy coastline on a lovely, misty afternoon. Nature's colors really shine in Tierra del Fuego.

More incredible colors. The lichen at Tierra del Fuego sparkles against the gray skies.

For dinner, I met up with one of the photographers (Ira) I've been chatting with since I started planning this whole thing. He happened to be Ushuaia at the same time as me and it was great to finally meet in person and hear his stories.

I don't know what the wifi will be like, so this may be it. And if I do get a wifi, I'll only post once or twice and maybe a pic a day on Instagram (aquinnm).

It's been fun, Ushuaia! But now, it's time to get real. It's embarkation day. It's time for Antarctica...

The setting sky of Ushuaia, take around 10pm. The days are long this far south.

Views of a very leaning Ushuaia, the southern most city in the world and port of call for Antarctica