At 23 years-old, I never thought I would be backing up an Airstream in my parents’ driveway. Yet alone planning a 6 week trip from San Diego, CA to Vancouver, B.C.

I’d be lying if I said I never experienced a drop of anxiety, panic, or shedded some tears–because I proudly did all of them. Of course, it took me years of self-development and improvement to reach a point in my life where I carry enough confidence to look my parents straight in their eyes and tell them I want to solo travel the country in a travel trailer.

I grew up in a small community in the San Diego county for 18 years. While the community was close knit, it lacked diversity and being a mixed-raced African-American female, I struggled with developing an identity and confidence true to myself and seperate from others' opinions. To go a step deeper, I lacked awareness of my actions, behaviors, and emotions. All I knew was how to study and get good grades, and while it helped in terms of furthering my education--as for self-development as a woman--my actions did not help and I was lost.

By August 2018, I was enrolled at UC Berkeley and aside from the education quality and resources, it taught me about life. A small event, but a big turning point for me was in November 2019 when I booked an Uber ride to the airport for Thanksgiving break. I never made it to the airport on time because my Uber driver decided to stop my trip halfway and leave me on the corner of a gas station in a high-crime neighborhood with two suitcases. I fought every urge not to cry or panic, so instead I held my head up and waited calmly for 20 minutes for my next Uber to arrive. Of course, far more people have been and are in worse situations, but for me coming from a small, safe community with only 2 stop lights, it was life-changing.

From that moment forward, I always prioritized developing my confidence as a young woman to be able to stand in uncomfortable situations, because I knew that was not going to be the last.

When COVID-19 hit, I taught myself how to woodwork to the point where I built my own furniture for my apartment. By my senior year of college, I was the only Sociology student taking Mechanical Engineering courses because I love challenging myself (and why not take advantage of Berkeley’s resources). While most students treated me as if I was beneath them, every professor encouraged me through all adversity. After I graduated, my dad allowed me to move back home while he supports me for a couple years until I truly discovered my passion–and I could never be more thankful.

For 5 months I debated getting a trailer, until January 2023, I drove home for 50 minutes on the freeway with my Airstream, having never towed anything in my life. While insanely nervous, I had never been more proud of myself for stepping so far out of my comfort zone.

Every weekend for a month straight I drove my trailer to the school parking lot with my dad to practice backing up. By the end of February 2023, I went on my first trip to a campground roughly 20 minutes away from my house and slowly I booked trips further and further away from home to help build my confidence. 

In September 2023, I drove to Mammoth followed by Lake Tahoe and every RV couple I met encouraged me to continue solo traveling and building my confidence. I spoke to a few different older women how (at the time) Mammoth was the furthest from home I had ever been. Both of the women simply said, “Good for you!”. They proceeded to tell me, respectively, how they wished they traveled more in their youth but expressed how proud they were of me for stepping out of societal norms and my own comfort zone to discover myself. 

I knew thought at 23 years old I could inspire women in their 60s, but it taught me confidence does not have an age restriction or limit. Some may never find it while other may have too much of it where it can cloud their perseption. Finding that middle ground is essential to feel peace within. 

By November 2023, I went on my longest adventure yet, a 3 week trip around California. I started in Santa Cruz where I met the most inspirational woman who unfortunately suffered an abusive childhood, but luckily spent her entire life finding meditative practices for self-improvement. Next, I drove to Fort Bragg where I spent an hour driving on a curvy road in the rain. 

I continued onto Redding for a few days to regroup and then drove East into the Lassen National Forest to camp at Eagle Lake where I was the only camper, had no electricity (when I paid for it), and ran out of propane on a 20℉ night. Luckily I came fully prepared with power stations and other off-grid essentials, but on the day I left the campsite, little did I realize I would be driving on icy roads where gravity pulled my trailer down whichever direction it could. I stayed calm and counteracted gravity by driving slightly more on the other side of the road, so when gravity pulled me I would not go off the road too badly.

Eventually, after almost hitting a deer, I made it to Napa where I spent a few days having a romantic getaway with a man I just met a week prior (we are still together!). I then headed down to the Sierra National Forest where I drove up another curvy road on the edge of a cliff. I finally made it back to San Diego county and relaxed on the beach and processed my last 3 weeks before before heading back home.

While it was my most eventful trip with so many learning experiences, almost every trip I go on I meet someone new or experience something new, which is why I travel like this. The unknown is exciting because opportunities to grow always emerge and you can become a stronger individual with more confidence, knowledge, and self-security.

One time, I was in Paso Robles, CA with my mom and as we sat at some fellow RVer’s campsite drinking Austin Hope wine, talking about life goals, the husband turned and said to me, “Honey, you got this. All you need is confidence.” While no word should ever mean so much from a complete stranger you met 10 minutes prior--that time it did and it truly taught me good people exist in this world and time and time again, this statement proves itself true (as dependent on one’s environment).

On one of my more recent trips, I met a woman born in Australia who was driving from Montreal, Quebec to the Bay Area and we met at a lake roughly 3 hours East from San Jose. She had no teeth, crazy white hair, living out of a tiny car, and had enough energy to keep us both running for days. The camp host and other guests spoke and looked at her as if she was a homeless person on drugs. One morning, I ran into her and had a breathtaking conversation.

To escape Australia’s sexism, she moved from Montreal at 23 years-old and fell in love with nature ever since. She went on to get her Doctorate’s degree from Oxford and even has a Harvard graduate son. She was arguably the smartest person at that campsite, but everyone treated her as if she were less, but she possessed full awareness of it.

For the first time in my life I was told looks are not important, living life honestly and freely is. 

She taught me that sometimes dressing the part or stereotype can be a huge advantage especially as women who are still functioning in a society operating on old beliefs and standards. She learned that challenging people’s way of thinking is pointless because you may always like apples and I may always like oranges, which is the simple reality. 

Besides that, some people will always be close-minded, so all you can do is be open-minded. She told me to analyze the environment I am in and understand how I must move in accordance with how that specific society operates in order to find the reward I want (of course as a Sociology major I was in heaven to have such a deeply-rooted conversation).

Perhaps the most inspirational moment I experienced was when I met a 3-year-old mixed-raced daughter of a couple staying at the campsite across from me in Mammoth. Right when I arrived at my campsite, the husband offered to help back up my trailer. I declined because if I drove myself up there, I better be able to back it up (girl power!). After successfully backing up my trailer (and getting a hole in my tire that I did not discover until later), the couple approached me, telling me how great of a job I did (little did they know). The next morning I saw the family of 3 on the lake in their inflatable raft as I paddleboarded across the lake fishing for trout. Their daughter waved at me any chance she could and I happily waved back.

When I stopped across the lake for lunch I met a young mother and her 2 year-old daughter where I let her stand on my paddleboard as I held it still for her mother to take pictures. After realizing how I touched two very young girls’ lives, I realized I want to inspire young women to step outside of their comfort zones, gain confidence, and learn who they are as individuals by themselves.  

So answer the question, ‘What has Airstreaming by myself taught me?’, it has taught me that as women, we are far more capable of accomplishing your dreams than we think. That being the minority in any group is challenging and comes with their own set of insecurities and anxieties, but the discomfort is worth the overall reward of being able to say ‘I did it’ and truly feel self-validation. That sometimes people will judge, look, and treat you differently, but for the X amount of people who hate it, there is always an X amount of people who love it. So who's opinion really matters? Only yours.

Sometimes, no matter how educated an individual may be, their egos may be too inflated to see the big picture. Sometimes, the most unapproachable person in the room may be the smartest. Sometimes as women, we can be wrapped up in societal pressures and trends instead of discovering an identity true to ourselves to experience genuine happiness.

Most importantly, I learned we are influencing more people than we may think. Maybe you see that person once a week, once a year, only met them once, or have yet to meet them. No matter where they are, you are guiding them.

While I know I have plenty more to learn on my journeys, I am beyond thankful I am sitting in a position to do so, thanks to so many moving parts. I understand not everyone has the same opportunities as those we see online or on social media, but we can all control our internal happiness to some degree. I am not saying life is easy or that I can empathize with everyone–I cannot, but I can control my self-worth and pride by staying true to myself and given the amount of unknowns traveling in a trailer comes with, it has taught me to be honest with myself.

In a few weeks I set off on my biggest adventure yet, a trip from San Diego to Vancouver, B.C. If you would like to read about my journey as I travel the Pacific Northwest, please share all the helpful feedback!