Travel expert and author, Taj Bates, shares tips, stories and advice from her travels - past and present - in an effort to make travel planning and exploring a more zen n' enjoyable experience for you as you journey to the world’s most YOLO-worthy destinations.

WHO'S TAJ?

Taj is an adventurous traveler and author of a groundbreaking series of travel guides to California. Through the years, she has journeyed to dozens of countries and locales across 6 continents.

She has climbed the Great Wall and the Great Pyramid; ungracefully wobbled on glaciers in New Zealand and Alaska; and sailed along the Nile, the Everglades and the Amazon.

She first fell in love with mussels in Brussels; scuba diving in the Red Sea; Vivaldi’s 'Four Seasons' during a magical concert in a Venetian church; and the indomitable spirit of Aloha! on the Hawaiian islands.

When she is not busy island- or continent-hopping, she can be found road trippin’ through California, where the ocean is her muse.