Love Lust or Bust Turns 3 Today!

I can’t believe it, but Love Lust or Bust turns 3 today! Woohoo, Happy Birthday to us and a huge thank you to all of you travel lovers who have supported us from the beginning!

I started this blog for several reasons. First, I absolutely love to travel; to explore new cultures, to taste delicious foods I’ve never tried before, to dance to music that moves me in a new way, to push myself to be more adventurous, more courageous, even when I’m terrified, and to meet people with different beliefs, different morals and values, and different ways of worshipping The Creator. And I love sharing my experiences with other people. When I was a child, no one ever told me that I could go to other countries, so I barely allowed myself to dream that I would one day have these amazing adventures. I love inspiring people to follow their dreams, especially when it is to take a dream trip to someplace like Paris or Morocco or South Africa.

I needed to change. Travel does that to you. It makes you learn and grow and rethink things you were absolutely sure must be true, only to find out that perhaps you were wrong. Travel makes you less judgmental, more compassionate, and more grateful for the life you have. I learned how to respect my elders, to be more loving, and to value my body and sexuality as sacred and precious and beautiful.

And, I know what it’s like to meet someone almost 4,000 miles across a vast ocean and to have very little money, but a whole lotta’ love, and to long to be together. Luckily, I was able to overcome the distance and to eventually (okay, very quickly) get married to my long distance boyfriend. And after traveling together and living in several countries, we began our lives in America. But the process of applying for first a visa, then a green card for my husband was a long and difficult journey. It was stressful, but in the end, we survived and stayed married for quite a few years.

Although we’re divorced now, we are friendly, and recently I got to see his family members once again on my last trip to Europe!

I’m single now and have been for a really long time, and things are different now. Most single people are open to dating online, and many millennials are seeking careers as digital nomads, so the dating game has changed enormously. I know what it’s like to meet someone while you’re on a vacation who is amazing and sexy and beautiful and so wonderful it’s hard to believe you’re not dreaming. But when the person lives in another state, country or continent, it can feel overwhelming, and almost impossible. It takes time and money and a damn lot of patience to maintain a long distance love. But, it can be done.

I’ve met so many people who have beautiful love stories about soul mates they met while traveling. I wanted to share my, and their stories with you, because not only do I care and want you to stay safe while meeting people from online for the first time, I want to give you hope; ope that you can have a relationship with someone who lives far away, and the tips and advice on how to do it.

I considered creating a blog on budget travel. That’s my forte. Give me a penny and if there’s a flight out there for that crazy deal, I’ll find it! (If you don’t believe me, click here to see how I’ve managed to find one penny, and other dirt cheap flights). But there are plenty of fantastic websites and blogs with tips on travel hacking and backpacking.

But what I really love writing about is romance; castle hotels, secret waterfalls, amazing first date ideas, and where to find decadent dishes at fairytale restaurants. I love checking out the most magical, romantic places to visit around the world, places I read about or saw in Classic films that I watched as a child, like “Casablanca”, “The African Queen”, and “Around the World in 80 Days”.

I sometimes fall asleep at 3:00 am with my laptop on my chest, writing about the caves in Jamaica that I lived in, or the Bedouin gypsy camp at the base of Mt. Sinai in the desert in Egypt, or the “juju” (voodoo) market I shopped at in Nigeria, only to wake up at 5 the next morning, excited to begin working again. I absolutely love what I do. I didn’t start this website to get rich (although I do feel like I now have a life I could never possibly have dreamed of), or to become famous like so many Instagram models are. I built this site because I had to. There simply was nothing else in this world I would be happier doing. And I cannot believe I still feel this way three years later. If anything, I’m even more passionate about being a travel blogger today than I was back then.

I thank you for continuing to follow me and my journey around the world. There are millions of travel blogs and vlogs and websites in cyberspace, so to have even one person read one blog post is incredibly flattering. I love you all and wish you abundance and a life filled with unexpected blessings and love and happy travels!