Welcoming the HPL Pin Team: Get Your Travel Inspiration on Pinterest

Hello lovely readers! I am very excited to announce today the new HPL Pin Team — a team of women that have wooed me with both their pinning pizzazz and their overall love for a particular topic. Seriously, these ladies blew me away with their applications.

Now, we’ll be building up our Pinterest account at HPL with new and wonderful ideas from women across the world. That means more unique ideas for you, more packing tips, and more Pinterest fun.

So, without further adieu, I give you the wonderful ladies of the HPL Pin Team. Have a look at their blogs and Pinterest accounts, and do be sure to follow along with the boards they’ve been assigned to.

Reasons to See the World

Paige Roy

Pinterest // Twitter
At 20 short years of age I have only been lucky enough to have seen a small, no… a tiny portion of our great big wonderful world. After being to London and Wivenhoe in the beautiful country of the UK you could say I caught a little bit of the wanderlust bug. So I did what anyone else would do — I travelled with my best friend to Paris and Barcelona. The one thing I realized when I was on my personal adventure was that it’s not about seeing the sights; it’s about being there! Waking up in the small town of Wivenhoe and smelling the coastline and looking at the dew on the grass from the morning fog. It’s about losing your best friend at the Eiffle tower for an hour only to give up and have a double scoop of ice cream (I know I’m a bad friend but it is ice cream…) My point is my Pinterest account is here to inspire you (and me) with all my memories and the natural beauty of these places. If you have been bitten by that wanderlust bug, follow us at the HPL Pintrest team and get ready to have a whole lot of inspiration!

Christy Cavano

Pinterest // Twitter
“The traveler sees what she sees, the tourist sees what she has come to see” (G.K. Chesterton). I have found myself to be both. I’ve been travelling my entire life and have gone places to see certain destinations and have gone places to see whatever presents itself. Outside of an abundance of amazing travel within the United States I have been fortunate enough to do some international travel as well with trips to Tahiti, China, Fiji, Peru, Brazil and studying in Australia for six months. While these places are an awesome start, I’ve found I have barely scratched the surface of all of the phenomenal places this world has to offer. I guess it follows advice my professor gave me: “When you start to look into what you do know you realize how much you don’t know.” As I continue my journey to new places I realize how many more places are out there to see. This is why I’m excited that I get to share new possibilities on the Reasons to See the World board. I look forward to sharing all of the beautiful wonders of the world and hopefully encouraging HPL’s followers to venture out of their comfort zone and into their exploratory zone. “If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. Take away all of your envy, jealousy, criticism, selfishness and fear” (Cesare Pavese).

Katrina Daniels

Pinterest // Blog
I grew up in Michigan and began traveling with my family when I was quite young, mostly the family piled into the mini-van style road trips and camping. I have traveled around the US, to the Caribbean, South Africa, India, and Western Europe. I have taken part of two Study Abroad programs during college, traveled with my family and traveled on my own. My fiance currently lives in Europe and I reside in the US so I have plenty of experience traveling on long trips by myself. I am still learning to master the art of efficient packing (I’m getting better every trip) and I’m pretty good at budget traveling, too. The more I travel, the longer my bucket list grows!

Study Abroad

Payton Erickson

Pinterest // Twitter
Hi, my name is Payton Erickson and I am so psyched for the chance to be a part of this team! I’m currently a sophomore at a small university in Northern Minnesota and am counting the minutes until I leave for my Semester at Oxford in March. I’ve been to every state in the continental U.S, however this will be my first time overseas. I have been planning for more than a year and have amassed more than enough knowledge to share! I’m excited to be able to ease the minds of any wary travelers who might learn from the mistakes I will undoubtedly make along the way! As for who I am….I’m an elementary education major and a total book nerd. I love food, and lots of it! I’m a total anglophile and am practically jittery at the the thought of living in the U.K. I’m an over achiever, and an over thinker. I’m so excited to begin this new chapter in my life and am so excited to get to share it with you!

Ali Wheeler

Pinterest // Blog
Ali is a sophomore at Virginia Tech with big plans to study abroad in both Europe and Africa in 2013. She has a deep love for community service, and giving life all she has, as she discovers her purpose through an accident she writes about at The Head Project. She hopes to get as obsessed with HPL’s Pinterest boards as she is with her own and find pins to help make studying abroad even more incredible.

Worldly Eats

Jess Graff

Pinterest // Travel Blog // Art Blog // Website
Jess Graff is an artist, designer, actor, dancer, and, of course, adventurer. From the time she could talk Jess has been ordering unexpected items from the menus of restaurants and requesting nontraditional dishes for holiday dinners. As a two year old she ordered chicken livers off of a menu at one such restaurant, and to the surprise and amusement of the wait staff, ate them all. Through childhood she introduced her unsuspecting classmates to varieties of produce that they had never seen and ate sweets from around the world with gusto. As a teenager and in college, Jess ate her way through as many food cultures as she could find. Today, food continues to be one of her biggest motivations for adventure and travel and has taken her to China, England, France, Spain, Greece, and Italy, as well as many locations in the US.

Aisha Ansano

Pinterest // Travel Blog // Food Blog
I was born and raised in Curaçao, in the Caribbean, moved to North Carolina at age 10, and have also lived in the Netherlands and California. I blame my parents for giving me the travel bug, taking me on my first trip when I was only weeks old. I love to get away whenever and whenever I can, and get antsy when I haven’t been on a plane in a few months. My favorite way to experience a new culture is to sample local dishes of all varieties! I sporadically chronicle my travels at Aisha in Arabic, and I recently began a food blog for college kids trying to eat healthy at Dormfresh.com. I’m really excited to share tasty and interesting food from around the world with the HPL family!

Words to Live By

Ashley Zirkle

Pinterest // Blog // Twitter
‘Ello there! Ashley Zirkle here. I’m a girl who wears many hats (literally and figuratively) – college student, dreamer, writer, dancer, traveler, musician, yogi, semi-professional quote-ist, and dashboard singer. I’ve been blessed with seeing the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Colosseum in Rome, and the Neushwanstein Castle in Germany. My travel style is adventurer so I often fantasize about white water rafting in Costa Rica, learning to Tango in Argentina, sky diving in New Zealand, and sampling the local music pretty much everywhere. My wanderlust daydreams and stash of quotes on hand have me excited to contribute to the HPL Travel Quotes board. I also run Musical Mischief, a music and dance blog… stop by if you fancy hearing some of the tracks on my iPod during my travels.

Kate Bruehler

Pinterest // Blog
Kate Bruehler is an American expat who’s been living and working abroad since 2010. She is about to embark on a RTW adventure with no timeframe or itinerary. Famous words have been a powerful source of travel inspiration and she’s looking forward to sharing her favorite quotes and finding new ones to spark further adventure. You can find Kate’s new blog about a healthy life on the road at jumpkicktravel.com.

Kristin Rondeau

Pinterest
Currently I am a Graduate Student at Arizona State University while working full time at ASU. I hold two B.A.’s in Anthropology and History specializing in Cultures. I love to travel and have been all over the US, spent significant time in Canada, and a few weeks in Europe and Latin America. My next big interest is travel to Eastern Europe, Spain, and Morocco. So far in my travels, Canada and Spain are my favorite! I’m really excited for my Travel Quotes Board because I love quotes as you can tell by visiting my Pinterest page.

Teaching Abroad

Louisa Ferrante

Pinterest // Blog // Twitter // Facebook
Louisa is an anthropology graduate, one half of a cross cultural marriage, mother of a dual language child and director of Go Native Au Pairs Ltd, offering european cultural exchange programmes. It’s fair to say travel, language learning and cultural awareness are very much on her radar. After prolonged travel in Japan, India and Italy working as an English teacher, hospital assistant, live in carer and au pair she created Go Native Au Pairs Ltd with her sister, Daisy, in 2012. Go Native Au Pairs Ltd is one of the few European au pair agencies specialising in placing only native English speaking au pairs in Spain and Italy. Because all their au pairs are native English speakers, Louisa is particularly attuned to providing advice about TEFL activities. Her Pinterest board TEFL without Textbooks is a huge resource for language teachers of all description interested in thinking outside the box.

Ali Sheets

Pinterest // Blog // Tumblr // Twitter // Facebook
Ali Sheets has worked as an ESL teacher for three years, first in Austria and now in Hanoi, Vietnam, where she currently resides. She originally hails from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where her family instilled in her a love for traveling. Some of her more recent memorable travel memories include hiking in the Austrian Alps, SCUBA diving in the Red Sea and exploring Athens, Greece with her family. In the classroom, Ali believes that having fun is an important part of learning. She hopes to share her knowledge of all things teaching abroad, from classroom management and activities to how to find a job and lesson planning, and of course, games! You can follow her travels on her blog, The Foreign Traveler.

Camping

Nienke Krook

Pinterest // Blog // Twitter // Facebook // Instagram // YouTube
Amsterdam born Nienke ['neen-kuh'] Krook ['krow-k'] camped all over Europe with her family as a child. With a granddad who used to write travel guides and books about wilderness survival and lightweight travel, they never left home without some quirky piece of travel gear. Nienke was a born Travel Tester. Her early adopted passion for travel continued into a couple solo backpacking trips to Asia and Oceania and even life as an expat in Sydney. On her blog, Nienke focuses on the many ways of capturing the experiences we have when exploring the world, so that we never have to stop travelling, even when we’re at home.

Brittany Bailey

Pinterest // Instagram // Facebook
I’m a college senior studying anthropology at James Madison University in Virginia. I love doing anything that lets me be outside enjoying nature, especially camping. I’ve been hiking and exploring the outdoors all throughout Virginia and hope to explore the rest of the states and the world after graduation in May. Some of my big plans include hiking the Appalachian Trail sometime in the next couple years.

Bri Leahy

Pinterest // Blog // Twitter
Currently, I’m an aerospace engineer working in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America. When I’m not practicing engineering, I’m out enjoying life w/my husband and two pups. Our adventures tend to revolve around hiking, backpacking, traveling (to backpack , mountaineering, rock climbing, skiing, skijoring, and triathlon’ing. In the past, travel has taken me to Austria, Canada, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, and Poland. Most recently, I’ve been spending a lot of time backpacking in the United States. Hopefully 2013 will find me in Peru to backpack the Inca Trail and in Californian & Nevada, USA to backpack the Tahoe Rim Trail. I’m looking forward to sparking conversations on the ‘Camping’ HPL Pinterest board by sharing backpacking locations, gear ideas, and travel techniques!

Travel Photography

Elizabeth Ewing

Pinterest // Website // Twitter
Beth is a twenty-something graduate with a degree in Communications – Video Broadcasting. She has seen Israel, Egypt (pre-revolution), and recently was the photographer for a Help-Portrait event in Mexico. These days, she finds herself often traveling up and down the US East Coast for freelance video and photography work. You can expect to see pins featuring ways to protect your camera gear, posing with your surroundings, and epic travel images. For random fun stories and creative self portraits, go check out her website, elizabethewing.com.

Lauren Kremer

Pinterest // Blog // Twitter // Facebook
I am an aspiring documentary/travel photographer in my second year of college at the University of Cincinnati. I am currently studying abroad in Florence, Italy, one of my favorite cities in the world for the rich art history and richer gelato. As a hat enthusiast, I love making and wearing them, you can catch me in anything from a beanie to a sombrero. Traveling is my true passion, so far it has taken me to, London, Amsterdam, many cities in Italy, and Uganda, Africa, (a few times). I want to go everywhere from Bali to Berlin. I prefer the beach over the mountains, but give me a mountain in the sea and I’m as happy as can be. I am excited to share Travel photography that inspires me both to travel and to become a better photographer. I am sure the travel bug will bite you or continue to inspire your next trip when you look at my selected pins.

Tiera Kekaula

Pinterest // Blog // Twitter // Instagram
Aloha! My name is Tiera, and live and love in Honolulu, Hawai’i. By day I plan weddings and events; by night I pursue my personal and creative passions, like blogging and playing with my dogs! I fancy myself a connoisseur of podcasts, documentaries, MMA, acai smoothies and poke bowls. I’ve spent my entire life on the same island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and, though I will always call it home, I bust out every chance I get I’ve been fortunate enough to travel the US and Asia as a singer and hula dancer in the past, and plan to continue seeing as much of the world as I can. I’ve spent the last year or so toting around my DSLR, taking snapshots of almost everything in sight and investing time and effort into learning the art and skill of photography. I may not be the most efficient traveller or the most proficient photographer, but I’m working on both. And I can’t wait to share all things travel photography with you — the wonderful ladies of HPL!

Road Tripping

Crystal Wishart

Pinterest // Blog // Twitter
I am a travel blogger who loves loves loves to travel and find new things. My friends come to me when they are going on a trip and don’t want to do any research on where to stay, what to eat and where to go. Finding something to do off the beaten path or a site that would never be in a guide-book is like discovering a treasure! My husband Mark and I are silly travelers, we aren’t afraid to get our hands dirty or do things that only children are thought to enjoy. I encourage you to be young at heart when you are vacation, get lost on a country road, see a giant Paul Bunyon… you will be glad you did!

Holly Massie

Pinterest // Blog
Hi, my name is Holly Massie. I’m an Active Duty Army Wife who loves to travel, learn new things, see new places and is passionate about truth, God, my husband and my family! Originally from Tombstone, AZ I’ve always been fascinated with other cultures, languages, food, history, and things off the beaten path! We’ve traveled quite a bit as a family with hubby’s job – from Coast to Coast, in Europe,and virtually with him as he’s been to the Middle East and Korea. Our kiddos have made great memories in the car, and Hubby and I are even contemplating RV life after retirement. Believe it or not you don’t have to travel far from home or spend a lot to experience a wonderful world! I’m excited to be part of the HPL team and hope to share a few tips, tricks, thoughts and fun stuff we’ve learned about driving, packing, etc. — as well as pinning great road trips ideas and links, ideas for traveling with kiddos (of all ages) and pets, budget ideas, photo op’s, quirky stops worth the time, and ways to make memories along the way whether it just you or a whole crew!! As my daughter’s favorite line from up says: “Adventure is out there!!!” (even just around the bend …)

If you’re on Pinterest, we hope that you follow along. And do leave a link to your Pinterest account in the comments below so we can also follow YOU!