Hi! I’m Jenifer, the voice behind The Evolista. I’m a California native who’s turned a lifelong love of adventure into a blog about reinvention and travel.
From a very early age, I was curious about the world. At eleven, I hopped on my first solo flight across the country for an ice-skating camp my mom discovered in the back of Los Angeles Magazine. That little camp stretched into a whole summer in Cape Cod, and it set the tone for everything that came after.
By seventeen, I was off to Europe with a student group—no one I knew, just me, a suitcase, and a graduation gift my mom somehow tracked down in another tiny ad. 😂 Terrifying? A little. Life-changing? Absolutely.
Travel kept nudging me forward. In college, it led me all the way to Mexico where—in a bar packed with strangers dancing on tables—I met the man who would become my husband.
A few months later, instead of stepping into a “real job,” I stepped onto a plane with a Eurail pass and a backpack. For a while, it was trains and hostels and friendships formed in compartments with strangers. But eventually, Paris pulled me in and I stayed. Living abroad for those months cracked something open in me—I knew I’d want to do it again someday.
Eventually, I came back to Los Angeles. Life shifted into new chapters: a career, a home, and two amazing boys who remain the sweetest part of my story. Motherhood became its own kind of adventure—the most grounding, most joyful, most exhausting trip I’ve ever taken.
We still made room for travel: family vacations to Hawaii and Mexico, road trips, and the occasional big adventure like hiking The Wave in Arizona. But tucked in between school schedules and baseball games, I missed the unpredictability of overseas travel. That feeling of stepping off a plane into the unknown.
A Blog Named The Evolista
The Evolista was born out of that restless curiosity. I started writing to share itineraries, travel hacks, and adventures.
The name The Evolista came from two little words: evolve and ista. An enthusiast of change. A believer in reinvention.
Because the truth is, we don’t just evolve once. We evolve again and again. School to career. Young to grown. Rooted to restless. And sometimes, you don’t even see the change coming until it’s already shaped you into someone new.
That’s what The Evolista is about—embracing every twist in the road, even the ones you didn’t plan for.
When the world shut down in 2020, travel stopped cold. Borders closed. Plans evaporated. And I did what so many of us did—I improvised. I packed up, got off the grid, and took an extended road trip across the U.S. in an SUV. Wide-open skies. Empty highways. A kind of freedom I hadn’t known I needed.
That trip eventually inspired a new adventure: Converting a Sprinter Van into the coziest little home on wheels. It was supposed to carry me into the next chapter. But instead, we sold it to an amazing family before we ever hit the road. Because after two years of waiting, I was done standing still.
I moved to Portugal to finally reclaim that dream of living abroad. But the reality? I knew pretty quickly it wasn’t my forever place. And when my neighbor’s construction project turned into a full-blown symphony of jackhammers, I didn’t just move apartments—I moved out of having a base altogether.
No roots, no ties. Just the freedom to evolve—again.
So I did. Eight months as a digital nomad followed, chasing moments, not addresses. And then, like life always does, everything shifted again. I had to return to the U.S., and for a while, put my travel dreams on hold.
But evolution doesn’t stop just because you’re paused. I picked it back up, solo this time. Central Asia reminded me that reinvention isn’t about starting over—it’s about continuing, no matter how messy the middle looks.
Now, I’m 41 countries deep into my 50-country world travel challenge. This blog is where I share the stories, itineraries, and lessons from the road—the practical and the magical.
Because travel, like life, isn’t about staying still. It’s about evolving.
My Craziest Travel Experience
It’s a tie between getting bitten by a panda in China and standing in the path of a tornado in Cuba. In both cases, I was spectacularly, undeniably in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The panda bite? Everyone laughs when I tell it—because, really, who gets bitten by a panda? I swear it wasn’t my fault.
The tornado? That came with power outages, food poisoning, and a short-lived vow to never travel alone again. Of course, I conveniently forget that vow whenever somewhere new calls my name.
After Cuba, I wrote a packing list for Cuba that includes power banks, sickness meds, and all the little things I wish I had—so other travelers might be smarter (or luckier) than I was.
No matter the delays, disasters, or downright weird moments, every single trip is 100% worth it. Travel tests us, stretches us, and throws us into situations we never imagined—but it also leaves us with stories and experiences that stay with us forever.
Adventure Travel
My kind of travel is about chasing those jaw-dropping, “can’t-believe-I’m-here” moments you’ve only seen in photos—mixed with active adventures, connecting with locals, discovering hidden corners, learning something new, and saying yes to the kinds of crazy, unforgettable experiences that make the best stories.
Sure, I love a weekend in Paris as much as anyone, but what really lights me up are things like:
- The mind-blowing Pyramids of Giza
- Hot Air Ballooning in Turkey
- Island Hopping in Croatia
- Helicopter kayaking in Alaska
- Kayaking and Stand Up Paddleboarding in Oregon
- Hiking the to find the Sedona Vortex
I’m not an “all-inclusive resort” traveler, nor a budget traveler. I love boutique hotels in adventurous places like Bend, Istanbul, Dubrovnik, and Lisbon.
And if there’s a unique, once-in-a-lifetime sleepover? I’m all in. Think: a bubble hotel under Wadi Rum’s desert stars, a cave hotel in Cappadocia, a chic Italian farm stay at a masseria in Puglia, glamping beneath Big Sur’s redwoods, or camping under Sahara dunes. Those are the moments I live for.
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