Traveler Spotlight: Mandi K

Friends I am so excited to introduce you to Mandi! We met in a travel group we both and I loved learning more about her in this weeks traveler spotlight, I hope you do too!

What’s your name and tell us a little bit about you.

“Hi! I am Mandi K. I am a 25-year old health and fitness enthusiast and adventure seeker. My entire life I’ve been extremely motivated by my desire to see the world. Literally just thinking about all the breath-taking places waiting to be explored makes me happy and pushes me to be my healthiest, happiest self so I will be able to spend many years exploring this Earth.”

How many countries have you traveled too?

“I’ve visited 22 countries: United States, Costa Rica, Chile, Ireland, Scotland, England, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Prague, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland”

What’s your favorite mode of travel? (Plane train cruise car walking ect.)

“You know, as someone who lives in the United States, I’ve traveled more outside of my own country than have explored inside of it. Right now, I’d have to say my favorite mode of travel is fly. In Europe, my favorite mode of transportation is by train because often the views are stunning! When in a new city, I spend the majority of my time walking; I’ve walked 15 miles before in a single day – Prague is HUGE!”

What’s your dream travel destination?

“My dream destination is Turks and Caicos—and it’s coming to life in May! The tickets are booked. I’ve wanted to travel here for so long. I was in an airport and overhead this seasoned flight attendant talking about the most beautiful place she has ever been, mind you she has many years of travel under her belt, and she said hands-down Turks and Caicos.”

How has traveling helped you manage a healthy mentality?

“Honestly, experiencing different cultures helps keep me grounded. Travel has made me a very open-minded, worldy person because of my travels. I have so much respect for people of every race, religion, culture, values and beliefs. I take a lot of pride in this because it makes me who I am and I hope to see the world with more open-minded, welcoming humans. Traveling makes me happy and excited leading up to the trip. Then during the travels, it’s a nice break from my normal day-to-day routine. Upon returning home, I always feel so refreshed and am itching to get back into my healthy routine. It’s a nice physical and mental break.”

What are some ways you use travel as a coping mechanism?

“Like I mentioned above, it’s a nice “escape” for real life. It’s the reason I’m able to consistently eat clean and stick to my weekly workout routine because I know that I have a vacation coming up where I am out of routine for anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks so it drives me to living my healthiest life and then I let myself enjoy whatever I’d like. To me, this works. It’s a nice balance. I also really enjoy my day-to-day healthy lifestyle which makes it easier to stick to, but of course, sometimes I would love pizza and pasta. I think the main thing for me is just how powerful even simply thinking about my next trip is; it has the power to make me happy and motivated.”

How do you choose who you travel with? Does it impact your trip?

“I travel with my boyfriend 99% of the time. He is my very best friend and we travel super well together – we both value the same thing, sleep being one of them. We are always in sync and are the perfect travel partners, which makes our relationship even stronger. I am very at peace when I am traveling with him.”

Do you have a favorite destination?

“I think Granada, Spain will always be my favorite destination. I studied abroad there while in college and so it’ll always hold a very special place in my heart. I’ve developed and grown SO MUCH personally and professionally while I was there and therefore have many emotions associated with the city and all the wonderful cafes, ancient architecture and little brick alleys. I’ve only been back to visit once since I’ve studied abroad—being able to take my boyfriend to Granada and experience all it has to offer with him was one of the best weeks of my life.”

When you travel do you make more friends than when you are at home?

“Absolutely. I am EXTREMELY introverted and the biggest homebody. I have to laugh at myself because either I do absolutely nothing except work, gym, and stay at home while in Madison, or I’m on a 3-week excursion through Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is no in-between for me! I have traveled alone while I was studying abroad and was more likely to go out of my way to make friends. For the most part, I love interacting with others and learning about cultures, but I don’t seek to make friends so much while traveling with others.”

How has anxiety or depression affected your travels negatively?

“Oh my gosh, the amount of times I’ve had panic attacks about missing flights/trains/buses/connections—this is definitely a huge downfall for me. I need to be EXTREMELY early for these sorts of things because my anxiety is terrible and if I’m simply ‘on time’ for something, I have no chill. There have been so many times where I’ve missed buses and trains (not due to my own errors) and I get myself more worked up than necessary. And sometimes looking back at these scenarios are the best memories even though they sucked at the time.”

How has anxiety or depression affected your travels positively?

“Because of my anxiety, I like to have very specific things completely planned out and other things are just kind of a free-for-all. Let me explain – modes of transportation like flights, trains, and buses are things I have planned out as well as lodging. These things are like the backbone of the trip, right, so I need these things done. That being said, being on a schedule kind of gives me anxiety (as explained above) so when it comes to what we during our days at destinations, we are totally spontaneous and play it by ear. I love this because we’ve explored and discovered so many cool streets or local treasurers that we wouldn’t have had we had a schedule of everything we were going to do.”

Do you feel that traveling is a coping mechanism for a lot of people? Does your family or friends use traveling as an escape from reality the same way you do? Or do you feel that they travel for other reasons?

“My immediate family doesn’t really travel – not sure how I ended up with all the desire to travel! I am from a very small town with a bunch of close-minded people who really never leave the town; I am just so different. My opinion is that people travel to escape reality for the most part and to spend relaxation time with their loved ones.

The truth is in the United States, a full-time job is 40 hours a week, which is not ideal; nobody can be truly happy when nearly ½ of each day is consumed by working a job and commuting to and from it – it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time to do things that set your soul on fire. Some people are lucky enough to have careers that they genuinely love, but the reality is most people don’t. I don’t love or hate my job, it is just tolerable. Hopefully I’ll find my way!”

What’s one thing you cannot travel without.

“Hmm, I would Fre Skincare, my skincare routine. It prevents me from breaking out due to environmental hazards and just different water; my skin is sensitive to different water. If I’m in the sun I have protection always and it keeps my skin healthy and hydrated. A reusable water bottle is a must have as well!”

What’s your number one travel tip for our fellow travelers out there?

“My number one travel tip is to walk everywhere. Not only do you save money, but you find the cutest place and the most stunning views of whole-in-the-wall dive bars and local treasurers that you would not have seen had you not walked everywhere. My best memories are simply walking around, not in a hurry to get anywhere, just taking in the place I am in. In addition, I rarely workout while traveling so getting tens of thousands of steps a day is so great.”

If you’d like to get in contact with Mandi Check out these links!

Website: https://www.fitbymandi.com/

Blog: https://www.fitbymandi.com/blog

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCGaNBzQLBIVoKv8DRoU6fQ?view_as=subscriber

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fitbymandi/?ref=profile_intro_card

Fre Skincare: freskincare.com/fitmandi

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