Love Letters to My Favorite Places

Love Letters to My Favorite Places

In honor of Valentine's Day, I wrote some love letters to my favorite countries.  Each destination holds a piece of my heart and is always on my radar to revisit in the future. Get ready for some major sappy vibes as I pour my heart out for New Zealand, Portugal, and Australia…. 

Dear New Zealand…

The astonishing beauty held on your tiny island to this day still blows my mind. While driving through your roads, there was never a moment I didn’t want to stop for a photo and take in your beauty. Every turn held an immeasurable amount of awe for me, a girl loyal to big cities and bustling crowds, thrown into a landscape where I was the only occupant. You changed my perspective, on life and nature and our place in this world. 

I hope to return to you one day, with endless amounts of time to explore every crevasse, to dive into every pocket of wonder that is hidden in this corner of the world. 

Looking out of Lake Wanaka

Looking out of Lake Wanaka

Dear Portugal…

I heard you were cheap and easy, literally (#sorrynotsorry but ballin on a budget is kinda hard when you want to explore the world). But my mind has done a 180 as your beauty, food, people, and charm bursting from your seams showed me you are rich with culture and full of rustic, unique cities, or should I say HARD AF wanna-be stairmaster workouts.  I still think about your mouth-watering bifana sandwiches and cookie cake, your fresh sparkling vino verde and port wine, and your small, hilly cobblestone towns that literally got my booty in the best shape EVER (not even joking). 

On the edge of the map, you are often overlooked, but those who get to know you will never underestimate the magic inside. I know that I will return to your soon, oh portugal, how you stole my heart in just two weeks. 

walking-tour-porto-portugal-highres.jpg

Dear Australia…

It was only 2 years ago today when I first landed in your beautiful country. I was shocked by the heat and the lack of ozone, but the sun warmed my skin and my soul. Thousands of miles away from my family, friends, and familiarity, I immediately felt right at home. Exploring your beautiful coastlines and basking in the sun, I loved that your “winter” only meant 50 degrees and rain.

There was always an adventure to be had, always a beach to explore, and always an accent that melted my heart. But most importantly, I gained the most beautiful friends in the process. I constantly wonder if I come back will you be as good, without the people who made you so special. 

From Sydney, to Melbourne, to South East Asia and beyond, you gave me the adventure of a lifetime that I will never forget. Something about that summer down unda, will stay with me forever…

Iceland Video!

In May of 2018, I embarked on a 5 week backpacking trip through Europe, the first stop of that trip was to Iceland! Captivated by its beauty, I created a short video to commemorate the experience there with my cousin Kristen.

A dedicated Iceland blog post is coming soon :)

Welcome to (rebranded) Design to Explore!

Welcome to design to explore! This is my first post for this blog and I am oh so excited about it! After traveling, exploring, and designing over the past 4 years, I decided to put all my experiences into words and help people design their perfect exploration.

So I’ll start off by sharing a little bit about myself! My name is Juli and I’m a designer, artist, photographer, dog lover, travel enthusiast, beach bum, and book worm. I have traveled to lots of places around the world and had some pretty remarkable experiences. I am truly grateful for all the adventures in these countries - Canada, Costa Rica, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, Iceland, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ethopia, Gabon, and the good ole US of A!

The name “design to explore” was born from the idea that as a freelance graphic designer, I use my design jobs to make money to go explore the world. But as I thought more about it, “design to explore” has lots of different meanings to me, just like this blog will serve a variety of purposes.

DESIGN TO EXPLORE as in design your exploration: First and foremost, I want this blog to serve as a resource for anyone trying to book a trip and have the adventure of a lifetime. From booking flights, to hotels, I want to help you every step of the way to make trip planning feel less like a chore and more like an adventure of its own.

Lots of times in my trip planning I would look to instagram or pinterest to figure out what I wanted to do. I felt like lots of pages presented the idea that it is more fun to simply wing it with travel plans and I could not function like that! #sorrynotsorry I need organization, lists, calendars, to-do lists, basically I can be a stickler for schedules and don’t feel comfortable leaving my trip to the power of fate. And it took me a while to realize that THAT’S 100% OKAY! Winging it can often lead to opportunities missed and wasted time trying to figure it out on the fly. Having a plan and structure are totally acceptable, and you can create an epic, wanderlusty trip and still have a schedule that doesn’t make you feel like you are in summer camp.

DESIGN TO EXPLORE as in designing beautiful photographs from your trip: The biggest compliment I get from most of my travel companions is that I give them lots of instagrammable photos. This makes me feel great, but I also know that with a few tips and tricks, you can be equally as good with a camera and collect all thos instagrammable photos yourself.

DESIGN TO EXPLORE as in there is beautiful art, design, and culture all over the world that you need to explore and you can do that from the comfort of your home - courtesy of me :) : There is tons of beautiful art, design, and culture all over the world, and I am here to show it to you via this blog and instagram! Travel photography was my inspiration for all of this and being able to showcase the photos I have taken and curated all over the world, and have a platform to present my personal art and design is what brings me joy.


In the end, I just want to share my creativity, my discoveries, my travel know-how and my observations of the world with you