Travel Stories

Corsica, France

About 30 minutes from the highway, sitting on top of a galiant hillside is where we would call home for the next three days. It was the picturesque village of Belgodere. With views across the entire Regino Valley, unmissable as you walk into the square for the first time, and seen best from the castle ruins at it’s highest point, it was the oldest building in the village. Large and completely made of stone, it had been in the owner’s family for 600 years.

Algarve Coast, Portugal

If ever a place was meant for Mermaids, the Algarve Coast would be it. With sparkling clear waters, mystic, palace-like grottoes, and hidden beaches in caves, the magic seemed to bounce right off the waves with the sun. After leaving Faro, we rented a car and road tripped along the mystic cliff sides for three days, stopping to hike and explore various beaches and caves along the way.

Dutch Stories

Koudum, Friesland

The sailing culture of The Netherlands is a special one. Historically, it’s just their thing. World renowned boats and strategically planned waterways- it doesn’t get more Dutch than that. Tiny fisherman villages, the casual aqueduct, locks and bridges, the endless snake of ropes adjusting a ship large enough to resemble the home of pirates to the wind. It’s impressive.

Amsterdam Autumn

As the leaves show off with their changing colors and begin to float down slowly to the cobblestone, the remnants of the late summer sun are still shining and keeping our light leather jackets and booties in style. Maybe even t-shirts if we’re really lucky. We remain sitting on terraces, BBQing with friends, or just cycling…to cycle, the sun kissing our pink cheeks in the pockets of sun outside the shade.

American Stories

Portland Summer 2018

This was a particularly special summer for the West family. Mom and dad officially graduated their last of four children from college and sent him off to San Francisco to start his first job in finance (which he’s already kicking butt at, by the way). We also celebrated a fashion school graduate, my super talented sister, and the new job and beginnings for my other sister as she continues exceeding in her career of writing and copyright editing. Most importantly, we were all together for the first time in a year. There is no better feeling. With all four kids now living away and working, three in the heart of San Francisco and one in Amsterdam, it’s getting harder and harder to all be together for long periods of time. This makes the quality time all the more special. As we sit around the morning breakfast table, I realise it’s official- we’re all adults- life is changing. We are changing, as individuals and as a family.

Manzanita, Oregon

No matter how far you travel or what types of places you discover, there are some places in the world that will always remain a significant part of you. Your favourite places. Manzanita will always be one of these places for me. It is where we decorated our bikes to celebrate the 4th of July in the tiny local parade, ran through the dunes playing hide and seek, and played games as a whole family in the rainy weather. It is where dad helped us fly kites and build forts to shelter us from the wind and mom helped us build our delicious s'mores in the crackling fire. It was where grandpa took us crabbing in the boat and rocked in his big chair, snoring and grandma helped us collect seashells and sand dollars at low tide. It was where old photo albums never got old to look at and we'd have to walk to the video store for movies to watch on a fuzzy screen. It was where cousins, aunts and uncles gathered. It was our spot.

Southern Alps, New Zealand

As we flew threw the alps, at the same level as the brother’s peaks, the clouds nestled into between them, we couldn’t help but reflect on how perfectly, amazing nature is. We wondered if humans were ever even meant to be here, to change it’s natural orders in the way we have, to bring forth such shifts in factors such as climate.

Milford Sound, New Zealand

Cozy in the front of the boat with coffee and camera in hand, I was glued to the landscape in front of me- the soft hues of blue outlining the cliffsides like watercolor, the sparkling glimmer on the water, the rainbows bouncing off of waterfalls, and the tiny specks of hazy brown as the sea lions sun bathed on the rocks. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more picturesque, I hear a loud breath.

Mt. Cook, New Zealand

Just one year ago Cas was busy healing 26 broken bones and battered internal organs after a horrific motorcycle accident. It’s hard to imagine those days, now, full of movie trilogies, pill containers, and plaid pajamas. Just sitting up was a struggle, let alone walking or going anywhere but the bed or couch. But these last few weeks in New Zealand he's conquered some of the most beautiful hikes we've ever done.

Bay of Islands, New Zealand

While the free, government campgrounds we’d been using were far more scarce on the north island than the south, so were the showers for campers. This meant our time on the island was both, more grimy and criminal (sneaking showers in the public beach showers). You could even say it was romantic in a cave man and woman, kind of way. Mostly because we found the perfect alternatives to showers, hidden in the Bay of Island’s fairy tale forests.

Favorite STOries

Hawaiian Na’ia

Some moments in life can only be explained as magical. This was one of them. We’d take turns with the goggles to see them, sometimes just closing our eyes and going under water to hear their song. Before we knew it, hours had passed, though we had no conception of time in the moment. I only realised how long it had been later when my back was crisp and bright red from the sunscreen wearing off.

Kara Tepe Refugee Camp

The next two weeks were a blur of emotions that I can feel perfectly but find impossible to put into words. Pulling away on the ferry from Lesvos back to Athens was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. I was completely torn between heartbreak saying goodbye, rage towards the world, and overflowing with so much love towards the incredible people I had met, as if returning home three completely different people. And none of those emotions even came close to fair or understanding the heartbreak and rage I wanted to take away from all those around me.