About the time I was coming around to the idea of starting a family, it was all gone. Suddenly I had to accept a new reality once again; that I wasn’t going to become a mom this time. I’ve spent the past two months riding the emotional rollercoaster of losing one reality and having another back. I was finally healing from my broken foot and could adventure again, I could enjoy that glass of wine, and plan that next trip. The idea of waking up tomorrow and suddenly switching the mindset and reality AGAIN is scary.

2021 was the year of getting back to travel. For me, I spent the majority of the year exploring my new home state of Colorado. From the Rocky Mountains, to Red Rocks, to the western slope, this state has SO much to offer. But the year was so much more than travel. From publishing my first book, to becoming an official business with Pivoting Productions LLC. the travel show has expanded to so much more than I ever could have imagined! Let’s take a look at this year’s biggest moments.

As someone who’s immunocompromised, I (like many of you) was terrified at the idea of going on a cruise ship after these past 18 months. And then I began to learn about the MANY protocols Celebrity Cruises has put in place to ensure passenger health and safety. So if you too are hesitant about hopping back onto a cruise ship, ease you mind and read on.

Way back in 2019 I received an email asking me to be a speaker at the Outdoor Media Summit in Estes Park, Colorado. After Covid, we changed the session to “Press Trips - Where Do We Go From Here” and I was paired up with Deborah Park from Turner PR to talk from both the side of the content creator as well as the DMO perspective on the future of press trips.

I decided to test my Mobile Warming Cooling Shirt out on one of my early morning trail runs. I figured it’s cold enough in the morning and then if I was warm once the Colorado sun came out, so be it. This shirt blew my mind and was perfect for BOTH the initial cold temperatures AND the warmer ones. The drirelease® technology prevented me from sweating and actually kept me cooler than my typical cotton tank tops.

There’s not much better after a day of adventures than taking a long luxurious shower. The Moen Magnetix shower is an extra way to treat myself after being in the great outdoors. I never have to worry about how muddy I get because this shower takes care of it all! I may have got the Moen shower for Millie, but now it’s really become for me!

As the world slowly reopens, the question on everyone’s mind becomes: how do we stay safe while traveling during a pandemic? I had my first experience flying a few weeks ago after I moved to Denver, Colorado and put together some helpful tips for staying safe while flying.

As we face these crazy quarantine times, we’re all wondering…what does the future of travel look like? I spoke to 5 U.S. Destination Tourism Boards to find out how their cities are coping through this unprecedented time, what steps they’re taking to promote and reopen their cities, and how they see destination marketing changing.

As we begin to look into traveling post-coronavirus quarantine, road trips are going to be where it’s at. Every travel expert and trend shows that traveling will begin locally and then move into state-wide and eventually country-wide travel. Road trips are the best way to maintain social distancing while getting some much needed post-quarantine exploring in! Here are 10 great road trip destinations in California!

Last week I was inspired by rock climber, April Davidson’s “life story” posts on Instagram. I am a big believer that life’s twists and turns make us who we are and what we do with the ups and downs can inspire others through our own journey’s. So this week, I created my own “life story” series! If you missed it over on social media here it is!

suddenly I started getting flooded with negative comments on one video in particular, and it boosted my subscribers, views, and overall engagement! Who knew haters could be so good for business?!?

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a love/hate relationship with Los Angeles. It’s a weird place to live and while great for the entertainment industry, I’m constantly waiting for them to realize I’m not cool enough for the party and kick me out. It’s basically a constant case of middle school insecurity.

It’s definitely been a lot of trial and error with different types of adventures. I’ve learned she LOVES to camp but doesn’t do as well in hotels with the hallway noise. She enjoys riding in a bike basket but HATES the water. We’re still sorting these out but she’s a trooper and seems to love anything as long as she can be with me.

Three years ago I had just begun my show when I decided to attend my first conference; the Women in Travel Summit. This conference is all about women of all different backgrounds who share a love of travel. There were bloggers, vloggers, and travel lovers of all kinds. I fell in love. It was amazing to be surrounded by so many like-minded and motivated women!

Gone are the days of male-dominated exploration and adventures. In fact, female travel—specifically solo female travel—has never been more popular than it is now. If you had any doubt about the growing trend, just take a look at your favorites social media platforms.

Every year for my level of holiday excitement, there is an equal level of confusion and slight panic when it comes to buying presents. After so many years I just plain run out of ideas! So this year I thought about some of my favorite, and most used gifts over the past few years and put together a list of 10 great gift ideas for the traveler in your life.

I used to tell people I'm not a vlogger. Hell, I made multiple videos titled "I'm Not a Vlogger, I'm a Travel Host". But here's the deal, nowadays, they're the same thing. I wanted the show to be all about the location and me just a talking head but I couldn't figure out why people weren't watching. So I stopped, took a break and did a lot of research about consumers and social media. Here's my big takeaway: people don't want to just join for the destination, they want to be a part of the journey.

Moments like these are sometimes hard to find. Those beautiful perfect moments where you are so present and grateful to be right there, right then, that before you know it tears are brimming at your eyelids. And it's even more incredible when those moments come unexpectedly. Sometimes I find myself expecting those awestruck times to come staring at a sunrise or a mountain, and those do occur, but when it's an ordinary day and you're suddenly so paralyzed with gratitude, it's beautiful.

I've been creating and hosting Monica Goes for over two years now and I have a confession...YouTube scares me. This entire social media, blogging, and vlogging world scares me! I feel a bit old and late to the game. When I started, I had to google "how to use twitter". All I ever wanted to do was host and inspire people to go on adventures! SEO's, MCN's, CPM's...all I knew was I wanted to be a CEO of my own brand, the rest of those three letter terms are gibberish to me. It's been one serious learning curve!

National parks were not super on my radar yet. My dad and I planned a long road trip for the move to California and THAT’S where I started to get it. We stopped in Moab and took pictures at Arches National Park, we took back roads to drive through part of Rocky Mountain National Park, we stopped at the Grand Canyon to take in all of the wonder and man did it spark something in me!