Welcome to my blog!

What it’s all about:

My name is Sami Godlove and I am currently on a post-undergrad journey around the world. On this blog you will find everything from landscape and adventure photography, to travel tips and advice from personal experience, my own essays and introspective commentary on travel and place, to the raw and unfiltered stories of the entertaining (and often humiliating/shameful) situations I have found myself in while on the road.

A bit about me:

I come from a family that has been infected by a severe hereditary epidemic of the pathogen known as the ‘travel bug.’ Before this particular trip, I had visited a total of 13 countries around North America, Central America, East Asia and Southeast Asia. I credit this passion for travel to my parents–who met backpacking in New Zealand and have made travel a part of their lives ever since. Other hobbies of mine stem from my childhood growing up in Bend, Oregon, where I spent winters skiing the snow-blanketed volcanic slopes of the Cascades and summers hiking, biking, and kayaking the various trails, rivers, and lakes in the area.

I recently graduated from the The College of Idaho with a Liberal Arts degree in Environmental Studies and a minor in Journalism. Many of the photos I take and posts I write reflect my areas of study in conservation biology and sustainability. Where I’m still in the process of determining the path I aim to pursue in life, I know travel and writing will always be a part of it. The current trip I am embarking on began as a dream when I was a freshmen and gradually took shape as I researched more and worked odd jobs over the summers (like working in a salmon processing plant in Alaska!) in order to save up for the voyage of a lifetime.

My photography influences come from the inspiring photos and stories of those such as Ansel Adams, Chris Burkard, and Paul Nicklen; my writing from the likes of Jack Kerouac, Tom Wolfe, Jack London, John Muir, Jon Krakauer, and Thoreau; and my life from the Neal Cassady’s, William Dampier’s, Sergio Vieira de Mello’s, and Anthony Bourdain’s of the world. In my work you will find a blend of ideas, style, and prose borrowed from some of these iconic figures and weaved in with my own.

Read, Enjoy, and Share!

Thanks for visiting my page! Let this website be your guide and inspiration to finally buy that ticket and take the trip of your dreams,  or–if you’re my mother–to keep track of my adventures and make sure I am staying clear of trouble.