When I first decided to make a personal blog, I imagined it was a bit narcissistic. To have any kind of social media/online presence based on the idea that people other than your friends want to see what you’re up to on a daily basis seemed a bit far-fetched to me. While I have been to a few more countries, and maybe was a bit more cultured than the average Albanian (person living/and or from Albany, the insignificant capital of New York State), I didn’t consider myself slightly interesting to the masses. I imagined the people I met while traveling: a girl who lived in a cave commune in South America, a Chilean French mercenary addicted to knowledge, the Jersey girl who had the attitude of a Kardashian but dreams bigger than Coco Chanel, or even my best friend who is going to grad school for accounting because she genuinely loves it (?)(Probably the strangest of them all). I found these people so much more interesting than me and imagined if they had a blog, it would be something I would read. The difference between them and me was that they are off doing much more exciting things than writing blogs about their lives. This is when I realized something. While the places I have traveled and planning on traveling are beautiful and inspiring, it is the people I have met that have really shaped the person I am. The beautiful views while breathtaking do not even come close to rivaling the connections I have blessed to make in this life. How cool would it be, I thought, to be able to introduce these people to a common audience? To bring these people’s presence to anyone who is missing their travels, or simply just as interested in the human experience as I am. This is when I came up with the idea of friendsinhighplaces: A blog/social media platform that would allow me to introduce the world to some of these characters. I could not imagine a shortage of material or withering of inspiration. With a 3-month long trip to Portugal on the way filled equally with familiar faces and un-encountered friends, it was the perfect starting point to my project.
friends in fun places 