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“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

I’m Cindy, an empty-nester single mom, writer, editor, and English professor passionate about travel and culture.  My story is here and my biggest move began in the video below. Traveling and living abroad are transformative.

If you’re looking for a new adventure or a new life, check out posts by city listed on the Travel menu above. Or GO HERE for a map view of most of my travel posts. 

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Like a lot of single moms, my children were–still are–my life.  I called us the 3 Musketeers–still do.  Then there’s that girl I was before I became a wife and mom. She loved travel. Still does.  She vowed when the kids left the nest she’d fly away, too. She did. And landed in Morocco…for two years…then the Caribbean…   I’m back in Nashville, now a global destination, too,  forever changed. My gypsy soul keeps a bag packed and an eye on the horizon for the next adventure. My memoir based on living/teaching in Marrakesh is coming soon!This travel/lifestyle blog is dedicated to mothers wanting to survive — even thrive — when the nest empties.  Here I share my journey of trying to give my children roots, then wings as I rediscovered my own. 

While I give no professional advice or make guarantees of results… while I have bad days and sometimes forget everything I’ve learned, I offer ways I have found to…

— experience more of what this gorgeous globe offers and meet more people who inhabit it

— let go of fear and hold onto faith, love, freedom, gratitude, and simplicity

— feed my soul with beauty breaks, adventure, relationship

— work to live rather than live to work (come alive because burnt out, drained people aren’t much use or fun)

— relax, rejuvenate, reinvent my life to fulfill my destiny

— make a move (toward a new place or perspective)

— experience joy in the journey 

The more I traveled the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends. — Shirley MacLaine

I’ll share places I’ve discovered and lessons I’ve learned to encourage others considering…

— solo travel

— girl getaways

— trips with grown children

— educational tours

— living and working abroad

— finding treasures, foreign and familiar, in your own backyard

I didn’t know when I decided to move to Marrakech in 2014 that this city would be named Trip Advisor’s #1 Travelers’ Choice Destination of 2015.  I moved to Morocco sight unseen but knew I’d find in this mysterious place adventure and beauty, history and diversity. There I worked — hard — but could also play in morning snow in the Atlas Mountains and return to Marrakesh to see a poolside sunset. I volunteered with village girls through NGOs, taught and learned from locals, and hopped riads, busses, and planes to the coast or Europe just a couple of hours away.  My two years there were magical but to be nearer to family I moved again…this time to the Dominican Republic. A Mermaid in Marrakesh, I spent weekends and vacations escaping to the coast.  In Santo Domingo the sea was two miles away and the rainforest called.

My treks thus far have been across the US (including New York City, Boston, Chicago, Charleston, Savannah, New Orleans, and cities in Hawaii, Florida, and California) , Morocco, The DR, Costa Rica, The Bahamas, Ecuador, Ireland, Scotland, England, France, Austria, Germany, Monaco, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, The Netherlands, Belgium, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Czech Republic, Vatican City, and Liechtenstein.  If I can answer questions about these destinations, please contact me at cindylmccain1@gmail.com.  Likewise, I would love to hear your expat stories, travel tips and comments.

The expat life wasn’t all pools and palm trees, but I wouldn’t take anything for those three years and all my travels. With every journey I did what Henry David Thoreau and I tell students and my own kids to do: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you’ve imagined.”

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you’ll stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. See Podcast and YouTube Tab, too. Contact me with the form at the bottom of this page. I’d love to hear from you! Happy Travels!