The Tall Girl Travels story starts in London with a lost bear and in Paris with a girl named Madeline. Until my first international trip in 1998, I traveled through books and media. I’ve had wanderlust since I can remember. It didn’t matter if I fishing in the lake with grandpa, or driving with my dad to his clients at the nearby farm. If I could wave goodbye, I was in.
I’ve always been up for an adventure, but I’ve always had a sense of duty to the expected life trajectory. Working hard and staying at the same job forever was a core value in my family. When I graduated from college, I got a job, bought a house, and was set to be engaged. When the relationship ended, I was left thinking “what am I going to do with my life?” I wish I could say that I packed up all my things, sold everything, and bought a one way ticket. I didn’t. That would take me 15 more years to work up the courage to do..
In those 15 years, I’ve had 5 jobs, made 2 domestic moves, and 3 international moves. My dream to live abroad came to fruition in 2013 when I landed a job in Japan. 5 years after that I’d take a job in Ho Chi Minh City. For three of the four years in HCMC, I wasn’t allowed to leave thanks to closed borders and a pandemic. During that time I had to tackle separating my identity from my work. At first Tall Girl Travels was a way to cultivate a hobby that allowed me to travel when borders were closed.
In 2020 I relaunched Tall Girl Travels with Ruby’s Postcards, an ode to my late grandmother who loved seeing me travel the world and hearing my stories.
In 2021, I released Anytime After 6, a recipe collection that was inspired by our meals during our 110 day lockdown in HCMC.
In 2022, Travel Collections and the Tall Girl Travels’ Collective came together.
In 2023, Tall Girl Travels is a travel company that has a vision to disrupt the travel guide industry by deconstructing the traditional book and blog post and making recommendations easily accessible, convenient, a la carte, and based on personal experiences.
We now offer itinerary planning, travel coaching, and our signature Travel Collections.
