7 Years of Gorgeous Globe and What’s Coming This Year

I’ve had a blog since before I could drive.

Why does anyone blog? For me, the answer is the same today as it was then. I blog to share the world I’m living in in the hopes that someone, somewhere can relate.

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When I was fourteen, we finally got internet on our family computer. I was one of the last of my friend’s to get internet and I was ecstatic to be connected to the online world. This was back when MySpace and LiveJournal and deep song-lyric away messages were practically part of the teenager-starter pack. At that time, I had a lot going on in my life and I loved that writing allowed me to tap into creativity and put things into the world instantly. What was great about the instant gratification of blogging is also what makes it pretty embarrassing to look back on now. 😉

Jump ahead almost nine years later.

At twenty-three, Laurens and I had just moved to Makassar, Indonesia from Paris. I was overwhelmed, to say the least. I wasn’t adjusting well to our new home and I had no real direction at that moment. I was thousands of miles from home. so calling my family was a nightmare with the internet being too weak to Skype. The distance coupled with the culture shock fueled my senses in a way I hadn’t felt before. A phone call wouldn’t do my experiences and new home justice. I needed a creative outlet for all this new energy and a way to connect with my friends and family back home.

That idea for an online outlet became Gorgeous Globe.

Me and my heavy laptop in tow, I nestled into the corner of a coffee shop with a journal of ideas and started typing and typing away. I knew this blog should be a haven to document my travels and my new experiences abroad. I spent days trying to choose the right layout and color. I ended up spending $60 on template subscription and it all started from there. This was my first simple post. 

The more trips we started to embark on around Indonesia and Southeast Asia, the more opportunities I saw to create, share, and improve my writing and photography. We were exploring mind-blowing beautiful places, and I became obsessed with film and digital street photography. Every corner we turned was an inspiration for more travel photos and a story. Absolutely no doubt, it was in Asia that my blog became more than a diary.

It was a home for a new hobby that caught me by storm.

I was thrilled at the reaction I got when I started posting; people who read told me it inspired them to travel; some could relate to the expat ups and downs; others just wanted to keep up with where we were. Some readers emailed me years after living in Indonesia to tell me my post helped them navigate the foreign city themselves. It wasn’t just a diary anymore for me; it was a way to share this world in an honest and helpful way and those posts were a great way to solidify these amazing experiences, forever.

Since I launched Gorgeous Globe, we’ve visited over fifteen countries and have lived in four. In Indonesia, my posts were mostly photography-centric; In Malaysia, it was about restaurant writing and reviews and travel; In Belgium, I branched off with Gorgeous Ghent with more food writing and interviews.

Scroll all the way down for more.

As much as I’ve always loved this blog, there were times when I neglected it and didn’t post nearly enough. There were personal sides of my life that I was hesitant to share because I didn’t think it would be interesting for people to read. I didn’t want to overshare, either. And sometimes living in a new country took so much adjusting and adapting that posting to the blog seemed like less of a priority. But I am proud of the milestones that I have posted about. From the difficulties to the joys of being an expat partner in my twenties.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR GORGEOUS GLOBE?

As we live our new lives in France this year, I have more time than ever to travel, explore, and write. This is the year that I want to get back to what I love most, writing. That means creating travel content that’s helpful, uncovers beauty through photos and videos, and makes people dream of places they may not have considered before. My ultimate hope is that if I put in the right amount of time and effort, Gorgeous Globe could become a thriving travel brand. At the end of the day, I want to focus on telling stories in a captivating way whether it’s through images or words.

I really hope that you all will join me on this adventure this year. I want to bring every single one of you along with me on this expat ride. What started as a way to document my travels has bloomed into a platform that I believe can become even greater now that I have the time and energy to focus on it.

Please let me know in the comments below what kind of content you want to see the most! Food content? Travel tips? Personal blogs? Vlogs? Let me know below! I would love to keep this community thriving and more engaged than ever and in order to do that I want to create content that you all want to see! There are lots of exciting things coming, so please don’t forget to subscribe to stay up to date.

I’m excited for what’s to come…Thanks for reading!