"To awaken alone in a strange town is one of the pleasant sensations in the world. You are surrounded by adventure." ~Freya Stark

When we first started We Are Sole Sisters as a travel blog in 2011, the goal was simple: to experience, document and share our adventures all over the globe. In more 6 years of travel blogging, I had grown to embrace this lifestyle and profession.

But it had also become a job.

“so, here you are
too foreign for home
too foreign for here.
never enough for both.”
—Ijeoma Umebinyuo, “diaspora blues“

“I want to learn how to make Tarte au Citron. It’s my mother-in-law’s favorite.”

It was a cold winter day in Versailles and I had just summoned the courage to ask a Cordon Bleu trained chef Patricia Boussaroque, who gives culinary workshops in her atelier, to take me in as her “stagiaire”, an apprentice. When asked why, I gave my reason. Unexpectedly, she said I could assist her for a class that weekend.

I've had a pretty exciting childhood. I remember spending a lot of time outdoors, at the nearby playground as well as climbing trees. I often ran with the neighborhood boys and never thought I was any different from them. I always asked to join cops and robbers even though I was often rejected. I would also join races to see who could run the fastest. I often won.

I first met my husband in 2013, the year I decided to be alone.

I met a woman at a cheese and wine party in Paris last night. She told me she was turning 35 in a few days. I asked her how she felt about that. She said she felt horrible.

"What have I accomplished so far?"

I've been to some parts of the world that I've found so magnificent and jaw dropping- but I would never want to live there. I've also been to places where I have considered staying forever, only to pack up and leave again.