feiner-living-xcoy5

Summer 2022 – Pacific Coast Highway

Tue, 04 Apr 2023 00:13:08 GMT

A summer full of love, adventure, and wealth.

I experienced absolute freedom for the first time in my life last summer. Before this, I had remained in the same place for too long. And this was translating to my mental space as well. I felt stuck. I knew I needed a change.

That's when I decided to do something drastic; I bought a roof-top tent, and booked it up the Pacific Coast Highway in my Ford Escape Hybrid with my girlfriend, Kaila. She is a musician/artist/healer and I work remotely as a Data Scientist, so with a little help from our Starlink Satellite we were able to live and work remotely off-grid where the ocean meets the forests in the Pacific Northwest. We spent almost two months on the road, and we could have gone longer.

This experience was life-changing. Kaila was able to create content with the most beautiful backdrops imaginable, and my office view was spectacular and ever-changing. We were reminded of the importance of connecting with nature, and of the fact that we humans are ourselves a part of nature. This is easy to forget when living city life, but even easier to remember when living on the road.

This was a summer full of love, adventure, and wealth - a summer like no other.

Summer 2021 – Greece

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 20:53:03 GMT

Graduation: a celebration of old memories, and a chance to create new ones

To celebrate graduating from UCLA in the midst of the chaotic COVID times, Kaila and I slipped away to the Greek islands. We started in Mykonos, then hopped to Ios, and finally to Crete.

Greece is more than just a physical place to me; it is my happy space mentally. Maybe I had a past life there, because it feels as though no matter what I am always trying to go back. But can you blame me? I mean, look at it! A stunning place with a stunning woman.

I am grateful for UCLA - all of the memories I made there, and all of the doors it has opened for me to make new ones. What a beautiful world we live in.

Summer 2020 – Southern Europe

Sat, 01 Apr 2023 23:46:59 GMT

A solo adventure full of natural beauty and self-discovery

What a summer this was. Originally, I had planned this vacation with a close friend from UCLA. However, he bailed last minute, leaving me with a choice: do I drop my plans or go experience them alone? I chose the latter, and I wouldn't change that choice for the world.

I started this journey in Lisbon, Portugal at G-Spot Party Hostel. This was my first ever hostel experience, and it lived up to its name. While in Portugal I met the coolest people, ate the best food, and surfed the most amazing waves. Forever grateful.

From Portugal I flew to Malaga, Spain to meet a friend of mine who was studying abroad there. To be honest, the city was beautiful, but it really smelled like pee. Next, I took the train up to Madrid to meet more friends who were studying abroad. Madrid was stunning; so much culture, so much food, and so much fresh orange juice. From Madrid we took a little weekend jaunt to San Sebastian and stayed at a cute little surf hostel with the best espresso martinis. Finally, I took the most beautiful train ride through mountainous northern Spain to get to Barcelona, where I unfortunately was only able to stay one night before flying to Florence.

Florence, as expected, was unreal. I met more friends who were studying abroad, broke a hostel door, broke a hotel door (I was on a good one), and ate some amazing pizza. Next was Rome, where I met up with the friend I had originally planned this trip with. We ate (at the time) the best pizza of our lives, then made our way down to Naples, where we ate what became (once again) the best pizza of our lives. For our final endeavor in Italy, we rode a moped through beautiful Positano. Next, we flew to the tiny Greek island of Zakynthos.

Zakynthos is known for the beautiful blue waters of Navagio, or Shipwreck Beach, and these waters did not disappoint. This was undoubtedly the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, and maybe ever will see. Next, we flew to Ios, the Greek island where Homer was laid to rest. Ios quickly became my own personal heaven. We had stunning beaches all to ourselves, the most authentic meat I have ever tasted, and explored the entire island on our little ATV. We then finished off our Greek endeavors on Mykonos, and quite literally partied all night.

The last leg of our journey was spent on Croatia, with the most beautiful rocky, forested beaches and the coolest people. This trip was life-changing, and I cannot wait to run it back a few years down the road.