Meet Brenna Holeman of This Battered Suitcase

Brenna Holeman is an experienced and passionate traveler who has visited over 100 countries in 13 years. Many of her travels have been solo adventures so she started writing about them a lot in order to preserve precious memories. On her blog, This Battered Suitcase, she writes about other things too, but travel is her main topic.

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When this photo was taken, almost exactly two years ago, I was at one of the lowest points in my life. I was at a breaking point, physically and emotionally. I was suffering from severe sciatica, back pain so awful I could barely get out of bed or walk. I felt lost and confused, my time in London coming to an end. I was eating too much and drinking too much. I had fallen into a deep depression, one fraught with panic attacks and long stretches of anxiety.⁣ ⁣ It’s surreal to look back at a photo like this in many ways; it feels like yesterday, and yet it also feels like a lifetime ago. If you’ve read my blog at all this year, I’ve written about the steps I’ve taken in 2019 to turn my life in a different direction. ⁣ ⁣ 2019 has been a fairly quiet year for me in terms of travelling or other big life events. I’ve barely blogged or been online. Instead, I’ve been spending as much time as possible with family and friends. I’ve been spending as much time as possible with my dog Dottie, going for long walks twice a day. I’ve been spending as much time as possible building my freelance career, gardening, reading, playing the piano, going to the gym, eating well, and falling in love with my record collection again. I’ve finally learned how to take care of myself and not put so much pressure on myself.⁣ ⁣ The sciatica is completely gone, and so too are the panic attacks and bouts of anxiety. All that travelling and all those adventures, and it’s right here at home in Winnipeg that I learned how to be happiest. ⁣😌 ⁣ I’m not sure why I’m writing this; maybe I just wanted to say hello, because I haven’t posted in four months. But maybe it’s because I wish I could go back two years and tell myself it will be OK. That things will get better, that life has a funny way of pushing you to the edge to show you how strong you can be. That there will always be ups and downs, but that being kind to yourself and asking for help are not things to be ashamed of. That sometimes, when you’re buried… you’re really being planted, and one day will bloom.⁣ 🌷 ⁣ And so, after nine months offline, I’m ready to start writing again. Thank you, as always, for sticking around. I’ve missed you. ❤

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Her Instagram is filled with gorgeous photos taken on her travels as well as long descriptions that tell real-life stories. Her followers stay with her because they love her honesty and openness, and we assume she will only get more popular in the future.

“Originally from Winnipeg, a city in the Canadian prairies, I have lived in Halifax, Toronto, Copenhagen, Yaroslavl, Edinburgh, Osaka, and London, and I have traveled to over 100 countries. Now my life is devoted to writing: for my blog, for my book, and for my career,” she writes on her website.

Her favorite things include window seats, whiskey, old cars, new books, scuba diving, cheap jewelry, and hot dogs. See some posts from her Instagram page below.

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As we took the ferry from Sorrento to Capri, the once-blue skies started to fade into an inky, ominous grey. Clouds gathered over the island, and the ocean started to churn and swirl. Almost as soon as we set foot on Capri, the rain came. ••• It goes without saying that we all want perfect weather when we travel. We want the sun, the warmth, the big, beautiful skies that look so great in photographs. Unless we’re specifically heading to an extreme location, most of us don’t want wind and rain and white, foggy skies overhead. ••• I’ve naturally had a lot of rainy and cold days on my travels, especially as I love to travel in shoulder season (it’s cheaper and there are far fewer tourists). I’ve been rained out in Thailand, thought I’d freeze from the wind in Poland, and nearly missed seeing Machu Picchu in Peru due to fog. ••• Was it disappointing that it rained the entire day I was on Capri? Of course, it would have been nice to see the island with blue skies, or to see just how turquoise the water gets in the sun. But I’ve learned to accept the rainy days, and to appreciate that I’m there in the first place, regardless of the weather. ••• Our day on Capri may not have been what I had initially hoped, but we still wandered its tiny streets, ate a delicious meal, and warmed up with strong espressos (and a few glasses of wine, too). It may not have been sunny that day in Capri, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a day to remember, a day to laugh with new friends, a day to be so incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to see it in the first place. ••• Has the weather ever affected your travels? ☔️ ••• Thank you to @travelclubadventures for this fantastic adventure, and my apologies for the cheese today… I’ve been reviewing all of my photos from Italy and feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude. Oh and also I really do have lots of photos of cheese so, you know… I had to go for it. 😘🧀 ••• #sponsored #clubadventures #letadventurehappen #ditchthescript #travelunscripted #wheninitaly #capri #loveitaly #myitaly #beautifulitaly

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I turned 35 yesterday. Since I was 22 – the last birthday I celebrated in my hometown of Winnipeg, just before I set off on the first of many solo adventures – I vowed to spend every birthday in a new location. I’ve spent birthdays in Japan, Spain, Belize, Laos, Italy, Scotland, Grenada, and more, and each one has been memorable in its own way. • I’ve been very, very lucky these past 13 years, yes. Birthdays are often a time for reflection, and this year I reflected on just how grateful I am for this career: travel writing and blogging. As a kid, the thought of being a travel writer seemed just as foreign and glamorous as being an astronaut. And while it’s taken years and years (and years) of studying, freelancing, and writing shit on the internet I thought nobody would ever read, here I am at 35, realizing I’m finally where I want to be in my career. • So when I thought about where I wanted to spend 35, two places came to mind. One was Italy, as other than Canada, it always feels like home. Last week I had a pre-birthday celebration with my mum in Rome; we wandered the cobblestoned streets, stopped for wine in the sunshine, and ate my favourite pasta, cacio e pepe. • But for my actual birthday, May 5th? I knew it was time to return to Winnipeg, my hometown. Over the past couple of years, while I was already happy in my career, I knew I needed to work on my personal life. I craved having a great group of friends, a house to call my own, a closer relationship with my family, a garden, and a dog. I wanted to work on both my physical and my mental health. This past year has been all about that, to the point where I can say that, at 35, I feel happier and healthier than I ever have. • So yesterday, for my birthday, I didn’t worry that I wasn’t in an “exotic” location. Being right at home in Winnipeg with the people I love meant more to me than any faraway land. I spent the day with my beloved Dottie (whose birthday is ALSO May 5th, which I didn’t know until after I adopted her… more proof we were meant to be 🐶👯‍♀️) and with my sister Zalie and her boyfriend Ross. We ate sushi and watched a 90s romcom, and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. 😌 Here’s to 35 🥂✨

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“I’m saving the Amalfi Coast for something special.” I used to say that whenever anybody asked if I’d been to the Amalfi Coast, and, because people know how much I love Italy, it seems I was asked a lot. Maybe I’d save it for a romantic trip, or a birthday, or a celebration of some kind, I’d tell people. ••• The truth is I had looked into going to the Amalfi Coast on my own many times, but kept being thwarted by the logistics of doing it alone. I knew that I wanted to drive along the coast in order to soak in as much of the view as possible, but I also knew I didn’t want to drive solo; although I love driving, I selfishly wanted to be the passenger in this case. There’s no way I could trust myself to keep my eyes on the road when those turquoise waters and colourful cliffside towns came into view. 😅 ••• “I’m saving the Amalfi Coast for something special,” I said again and again, but in reality I was dying to see it for myself as soon as possible; everyone I knew who had visited couldn’t stop raving about this gorgeous region of my favourite country. 🇮🇹 And so, as the coast emerged into view along the winding roads from Sorrento – and yes, I was a passenger in the car, not the driver – I couldn’t help but tear up. It was even more beautiful than I could have imagined. It was, for lack of better words, love at first sight. Three weeks later, I’m still overwhelmed with gratitude that I finally got to see it. ••• I think I’m going to stop saving places for “something special.” Life’s too short, or so we’ve been told. I didn’t need to save the Amalfi Coast for a boyfriend, or another year older, or anything else that might have been deemed worthy enough to be called “special”. The Amalfi Coast is special enough on its very own. Seeing something you’ve always wanted to see, making a dream come true? That’s all the “special” you need. ✨ Thank you to @travelclubadventures for making my Amalfi dreams become reality (and for making it so easy and relaxing to be the passenger 😌). #sponsored #clubadventures #ditchthescript #travelunscripted #letadventurehappen #amalficoast #amalfi #prettylittleitaly #myitaly #mytinyatlas #searchwandercollect #stayandwander

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I’ve rewritten this caption a lot in the past few days. This very moment, I’m sitting in my sunny home office in Canada with a cup of coffee (I’m not in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where this photo was taken by my mum a few weeks ago). Perhaps not surprisingly, I feel healthier and happier than I have in years. After years of being in travel blogging, I started to get it in my head that the only way to truly enjoy life and be respected in this industry was to be travelling constantly. To be nomadic. To forever be jetting off from one destination to the next. To call a suitcase home. And here’s the thing: I did all of that. I just did it before I had social media. And after over a decade, that lifestyle made me tired and grumpy as fuck. That lifestyle no longer makes me happy, and I hate that I was still striving for it even though it was bringing me down. Don’t get me wrong – I still plan on travelling a lot – but I no longer look at those bloggers who are constantly on the move with envy (though I do look at them with respect, because I can’t keep up anymore, nor would I want to). It's just that that lifestyle is no longer for me. Maybe you’re dreaming of travelling the world and being nomadic, and that’s amazing. Maybe you’re just really happy to drink a cup of coffee in the sunshine in your hometown, and that’s amazing, too. Maybe, like me, you fall somewhere in between, wanting to balance home life with the occasional holiday. Whatever you’re feeling, don’t let the pressures of social media trick you into believing your happiness isn’t valid, or that you should be doing more, or that because you're not on a perpetual holiday with lavish brunches you're somehow not living a fantastic and fulfilling life. I’m so tired of seeing posts that say, “This is the only way to live,” accompanied by some girl on a swing in Bali. Honestly? Just do what makes you happiest. The rest will fall into place. I'm trying to learn this, too. 😌✈️☕️ By the way, I’m well aware at the hypocrisy of posting this photo with this caption but I’m in full home office troll mode at the moment, and I’m smiling in this photo, so it seemed to fit. 😎

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Sometimes I know a lot about a destination before I get there, sometimes I don’t know anything at all, and sometimes I think I know a bit, only to quickly realise I knew nothing at all. I’m a big believer in learning while travelling; it’s always nice to have a holiday, of course, but when it came to visiting #Mississippi, I was mostly looking forward to learning, to trying to understand even the tip of the iceberg of this state’s history. I knew of the Delta blues, of the passion and soul that came out of this stretch of Mississippi; I had grown up listening to and then studied at university the music of Muddy Waters, Son House, Robert Johnson, BB King, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Bo Diddley, and so many others, and also fell in love with the gospel music of Sam Cooke when I was 19. I even got to see some of these great musicians play while they were alive – Bo Diddley gave me his guitar pick after a show when I was 22 – but to say I “know” the blues, as a white Canadian woman, is wildly inaccurate. It's also impossible to sum up Mississippi by its music alone, as there is so much more to this state’s history and culture than that. Spending time in such noteworthy museums as The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum, The BB King Museum, the brand-new Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Museum, and The GRAMMY Museum (just to name a few) is essential when visiting Mississippi, as they showcase the incredible people that have called Mississippi home, incredible people who, through their strength, intelligence, talent, and perseverance have forever changed – and are still changing – the landscape of both the state and the country. In visiting former sharecroppers' homes, and one of the possible graves of Robert Johnson, and driving out across the great expanse of the Delta and beyond, I hope I learned just a tiny bit more about Mississippi, and about who has shaped its history. They say there’s something in the water in Mississippi – something that has created such outstanding talent. I’d say there’s something in it that makes you want to go back, too, that makes you want to learn even more. #visitms #visitmississippi #presstrip

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So I’m back in London, and it feels… weird. I’ve been back for nearly two weeks now, and it seems nothing is clicking into place like I hoped it would. I know I’ve always repped London SO HARD, especially East London, and I stand by those words. But the truth is, I’ve really struggled with London for the past two years. As much as I love it – the diversity! the galleries! the restaurants! the feeling I get when I walk down the street and I’m like, “Holy shit, there’s Big Ben”! – it has also felt incredibly lonely and anonymous for a long time. As someone who’s single, lives alone, and works from home, you can imagine I crave human interaction. But when you live in a city of 8.8 million people, oddly enough, sometimes it’s even harder to make real friends. I’ve found that so many of my friends in London move away, or have a similar job to me (which means it’s nigh on impossible to be in the same city at the same time), or simply live so far away that spontaneous meet ups for a glass of wine are rare. •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Compare that to how I’ve felt in Canada these past few months, and it’s clear to me now that London and I are no longer meant for each other. It’s the funniest feeling; I honestly thought I might live here forever. I thought this visit would feel rejuvenating and inspiring – that it would feel like coming home – but all it’s done is confirm to me that I know exactly where I’m meant to be: in my own little house on a quiet street, the one with the office filled with books and sunshine, the one that’s only ten minutes away from some of the people I love most in this world (and only 15 minutes away from the airport 😉✈️). •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• I still love London, very much so, and I always will. But returning has felt like trying it one last time with an old flame, one you know isn’t right for you anymore, and finally having the guts to say goodbye. 💔💪 •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Have you ever had that experience with a place? You simply know it's time to move on? Photo taken by @smallcrazy on a day two years ago (gulp) when I was still very firmly in my London love bubble ☺️🇬🇧

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Oops!… I did it again. I played with your heart, got lost in the… wait, sorry, I got carried away. What I'm really saying "oops" for is that I haven't posted on Instagram in six weeks, other than Instagram stories (which were mostly just my dad and I getting drunk and losing money on slot machines in Vegas, so if you missed them, you didn't miss much). I wish I had some amazing, philosophical reason for not posting on Instagram for that time, but the truth is simple: I was just being lazy as all hell. Lazy and happy. I spent most of January working hard on my health, which in turn made me so much happier and more productive on the blog (my main platform, I don't consider myself an "instagrammer"… clearly). Then I went on a three week trip to Vancouver, Whistler, Kelowna, Banff, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, where I promptly undid all of that hard work but had a great time nevertheless (those photos coming soon). No joke, the past ten days were just a series of drinking delicious margaritas by cacti, and I loved every minute. I have a lot of interesting trips coming up this year, and lots of photos from the past to share, but if you follow me here or on any other platform, you know I always prioritise tequila over social media (which is why I'll a) never be that successful at this and b) never be able to be full-time nomadic again, because I'd never get anything done). So cheers to those of you who can travel, work, AND post beautiful photos on social media, because hot damn, I'm so ridiculously bad at it. Margaritas, however? I'm fantastic at margaritas (making them and drinking them). More photos of Canada and USA coming this week… 📷 by my dad ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••#arizona #scottsdale #scottsdaleaz #margaritaville #desertvibes #widelegpants #whydidihashtagthat

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One of the best parts of travelling? Discovering new-to-you places. When my sister, her boyfriend, and I started planning our Italian road trip, we came upon the little Umbrian village of Citerna purely by chance. Ross saw a photo of beautiful Anghiari on Instagram, and when I started researching places to stay near there, Citerna came up. And oh man, did it exceed our expectations and then some! ••• This tiny town is not only the perfect base to explore Tuscany and Umbria, it looks out on the most gorgeous valley (I posted a photo of it last week). We ate the best pasta of our entire trip, sat every night in the square with locals drinking wine, and totally fell in love with this place that, until this summer, we had never heard of. What about you? Have you ever had a similar experience in your travels? A blog post of this region coming soon… ••• 📷 by @zholeman ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••#loveitaly #beautifulitaly #prettylittleitaly #tlpicks #traveldeeper #instatravel #iamatraveler #instapassport #tuscanygram #igitalia #igitaly #bellaitalia #umbriagram #passionpassport #umbria #tuscany #darlingescapes #prettylittletrips #theprettycities #italytrip #italylove #italy_ig #visititalia #visititaly #ig_italia #italyiloveyou #italygram #discoveritaly

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