When it comes to travel blogging, Brenna Holeman is somewhat of an alum. Traveling through all of the continents (but Antarctica), since April 2006, Holeman has managed to turn her hobby into a vocation, documenting and writing the many (many!) countries she’s visited so far.
Through her blog—aptly named “This Battered Suitcase”—Holeman shares her thoughts, memories, and opinions, about her whereabouts. A mix of advice, opinion pieces, and stories, her blog has become a sort of library, full of resources for fellow travelers.
View this post on Instagram
I had no idea that this would be my last international trip for the foreseeable future. Back in January I fulfilled a big travel dream of mine: to visit Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park on the Arizona/Utah border. There was snow on the ground in places; tourists were few and far between. As my dad and I drove into the valley, thick fog covered everything, the great sandstone formations we had travelled from Scottsdale to see lost in the mist. And while the next day the valley would be sunny and warm, perfect for exploring the towering buttes that we had driven six hours to witness, that first evening the fog still blanketed the landscape. As we relaxed in our hotel room I kept checking the window every few minutes, hopeful that the fog would lift. When I finally started to see the first glimpses of the famous rock formations, I grabbed my camera and waited. And while the fog only dispersed for a few minutes before it once again swept over the valley, the view left both of us spellbound. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life. Perhaps the fog made it that much more magical, that much more appreciated. ✨ I love travelling. I have spent the past 14 years of my life focusing all of my time, energy, and money on seeing as much of the world as I can. And right now, travelling as a tourist isn’t safe. While I’m excited to take some small road trips around Manitoba, I have no desire to travel internationally until I don’t have to worry about bringing COVID-19 back to my home community, and I don’t have to worry about bringing COVID-19 to a community abroad. I love travelling, and I’m lucky enough to make my living from it. But I can’t in good conscience put anyone at risk, whether they’re a loved one or a stranger. I would give anything to have that feeling I had in Monument Valley again, and one day, I will. One day, the fog will lift. But for now, I’m staying in my home province, exploring what I can in my own beautiful backyard. 🇨🇦🌾 How do you feel about travelling as a tourist right now?
A post shared by Brenna Holeman (@thisbatteredsuitcase) on Jul 9, 2020 at 9:59am PDT
“This is not like most other travel blogs,” she notes, “my posts are not in any way chronological and I prefer writing about getting dumped on a beach in Thailand than writing about the best places to stay in Brazil.”
But what do travel bloggers do in the age of Coronavirus, when traveling is either prohibited or unsafe? Holeman’s recent Instagram post might shed some light. “I love traveling,” she writes. “I have spent the past 14 years of my life focusing all of my time, energy, and money on seeing as much of the world as I can. And right now, traveling as a tourist isn’t safe. While I’m excited to take some small road trips around Manitoba, I have no desire to travel internationally until I don’t have to worry about bringing COVID-19 back to my home community, and I don’t have to worry about bringing COVID-19 to a community abroad.”
We await for her safe return to the travel community.
View this post on Instagram
My first flights of 2019 are booked! ✈️ In a few weeks I’ll be heading back to Arizona; I’m looking forward to lime trees in the backyard, driving the Apache Trail, and hopefully making it back to the Grand Canyon. Beyond that, this year I’m hoping to take two big trips with a few smaller trips in between. I’d love to head back to Europe to say hi to friends in England and Italy before exploring the Balkans on my own for a couple of weeks; I’m hoping to travel to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania, if not more. In the autumn, I’ll hopefully get back to the African continent to revisit South Africa as well as see Mozambique and eSwatini for the first time (with my pal Helen from the amazing @rockmyadventure). In between, I’d love to explore more of my home province of Manitoba and take trips to New York, Memphis, and San Francisco, too. And let’s throw Suriname and Guyana in there, because this is my dream list and why the hell not, right? Will any of this happen? Who knows. Right now I’m just excited and thankful for the trip to Arizona. But even after all these years, there’s no bigger rush for me than researching and planning a trip, than spinning that globe and imagining where I might travel one day, than dreaming of seeing the world. Where are you hoping to travel to in 2019? 🌍🧳✈️ 📷 by my dad last year at Seven Magic Mountains outside Las Vegas, Nevada.
A post shared by Brenna Holeman (@thisbatteredsuitcase) on Jan 16, 2019 at 9:39am PST
View this post on Instagram
What's a journey that has changed your life? One of the biggest, for me, was deciding to go to Europe solo for a summer when I was newly 22. It had been something I dreamed about for years and years, and every extra cent I could spare went toward that "Europe fund". In the end, I backpacked for three months around a dozen or so countries, and I fell in love with travelling solo: with the feeling of independence, with the feeling of exploring a new place, and with the feeling of learning something new every single day. That summer I ate food I'd never eaten before, saw things I never knew existed, and even fell in love with someone for the first time. I remember feeling awake, alive, like I had finally found what I loved to do more than anything. Jump ahead twelve years, and I've now been to almost 100 countries, many of them on my own. I still travel solo whenever I can; this year will see me head back to Africa to explore South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, with moments with friends and moments alone. Every journey I take is, in some way, very special to me, but I wonder if anything will ever mean as much as the first time I stepped out on my own at 22. I credit that journey with changing my entire life. And so I ask again: what's a journey that has changed your life, travel or otherwise? Please note that I am working with #TheJourneyPodcast this month, as they're promoting a podcast that discusses exactly this, journeys that have changed people's lives. Make sure to check out my stories for a link to that podcast! #sponsored Photo taken in the beautiful Cinque Terre of Italy in 2016, on one of my solo trips to Italy. #cinqueterre #riomaggiore #suitcasetravels #exploremore #stayandwander #mytinyatlas #athomeintheworld #dispatchfrom #widenyourworld #igitalia #igitaly #ig_italia #5terre
A post shared by Brenna Holeman (@thisbatteredsuitcase) on Apr 20, 2018 at 11:28am PDT
