Colleen here!

I’m so glad you stopped by today!

Join me as I share what I’ve discovered—and see just how much we might have in common.

Here’s what travel has taught me:

🐿️ Even researching travel helps me focus.
🐿️ Travel nudges me outside my comfort zone in all the best ways.
🐿️ Travel helps reset my brain, calm my soul and open doors to experiences I never thought possible.

Travel hasn’t just changed my location.

It has changed the way I live.

So, let’s share experiences, dreams, questions—and even the struggles that trip us up as we take that first step.🦶🏻✈️

If travel has ever felt exhilarating and terrifying at the same time, welcome to the Squirrely Girl Travels way of life—where it’s almost never boring! 😃

Have you ever….

🧐💻 researched until your laptop battery died—more than once?

📊📓 made multiple charts and lists, but still worried about what you might have forgotten?

😃🫨 been completely excited to take the trip…but talk yourself out of it because anxiety took over?

You’re in the right place🐿️

What do you need most right now?

Start here—What would help you the most today?
(multiple answers? That’s ok…I have trouble deciding too.)

🧠 I want to travel with ADHD.
practical tips, real strategies that have worked for me and some good old-fashioned encouragement 🤗

📸 Show me pictures. Inspire me.
Browse the gallery and see which pictures pique your interest
(or make you want to start a new page in that notebook)

🌏 Where should I go?
Beach? Mountains? Forest? Small lakes? The Great Lakes?
Let’s find a place that feels right for you.

😰 I overthink EVERYTHING!
Simple step-by-step lists to help you move from “maybe someday” to Let’s do this!

🤯😱OMG! I don’t even know where to start—help!
Start here if everything feels overwhelming.
Let me show you the first steps to take—no pressure, just a little guidance.

You don’t need a full plan right now, you just need to see the starting line.

Why Squirrely Girl Travels?

I created Squirrely Girl Travels when I realized how much joy traveling, researching travel, and sharing adventures (and the stories that come with them) has brought into my life.

My late ADHD diagnosis helped me see myself—and the world—in an exciting, beautiful new way. I want to share this joy with others like me… anxiety-ridden overthinkers who always have:

💻 too many tabs open.

📝 too many dog-eared notebooks full of new destinations, road trip routes, and experiences.

🔥 so many questions the search engines start smoking.

Join me as we compare nutty notes (see what I did there? 😁), create messy outlines, chase life-altering experiences, and sometimes get downright Squirrely along the way.

A woman and an animated squirrel wearing matching shirts and a hat, holding a wooden sign that says 'WELCOME!' outdoors with trees and blue sky in the background.

Most travel blogs are helpful…if you already know where you’re going, what you want to do, and how to plan—or even how to research—your perfect vacation.☀️❄️🌊⛰️

Squirrely Girl Travels is for the rest of us… the planners, dreamers, and over-thinkers with too many tabs open who want to travel—but don’t always know where to begin.

And that’s okay.

You’re in the right place.🐿️✈️😰

other travel blogs

🥱

  • Assume you automatically know where you want to go. (is this really a thing?)

  • Present general advice/recommendations for the “average” traveler (boring!)

  • Push productivity based suggestions (think ”Top Ten Things To Do In…”)

  • Show only the highlight reels (Surely I can’t be the only one who gets overwhelmed, anxious, sunburned, lost or has spent multiple nights crying alone in a hotel bathroom because things just aren’t going as planned?)

  • Focus on maximizing activities and cramming everything into one trip. (I may be guilty of this from time to time)

  • Provide quick checklists for fast planners who don’t question everything.

  • Post polished (perfect) influencer -style itineraries with no room for anxiety, second guessing or changing your mind..

  • Reinforce traveling the “right” way. (seriously?)

  • Talk AT readers.

Squirrely Girl Travels

🤗

  • Helps you actually start planning trips. Yes, I’m talking to you fellow over-thinkers

  • Gives detailed info for over–thinkers, planners and neurodivergent people. (This can actually be fun!)

  • Offers encouragement, ideas and practical suggestions without pressure

  • Shares real stories: the good, the bad, the ugly and ALWAYS the Squirrely!

  • Focuses on reducing overwhelm and helping you enjoy the trip..

  • Offers planning tips for people who always have too many tabs open.

  • Includes honest reflection, flexible ideas and tips for imperfect travel.

  • Encourages traveling your way. (perfectly imperfect and completely valid)

  • Actually wants your feedback and input.

At Squirrely Girl Travels…

  • Did I forget something?
    Please call me out!

  • Have a suggestion?
    Let’s hear it!

  • Want a different perspective from another squirrely traveler?
    I’ll gladly share mine — honestly.

  • Need reassurance that it’s okay to travel scared, anxious, awkward, over-prepared, under-prepared, or differently than everyone else?
    You are absolutely in the right place. ✈️🌏🐿️

I know I’ve said it before, but…

Travel hasn’t just changed my location —
it has changed how I see the world…and myself.

If you’re standing at the edge of that mountain of travel suggestions, wondering if you’re ready to jump…

You are exactly where you’re supposed to be.
And you don’t have to figure everything out before you begin—we’ll do this together, one Squirrely step at a time.

Want simple travel encouragement without all the pressure and overwhelm?

You’re in the right place.
Join the Squirrely Girl Travels family and start one Squirrely step at a time →

A woman with curly brown hair wearing a blue hoodie that says 'Squirrelly Girl Travels' is pointing to her right with an excited expression. A cute animated squirrel is perched on her shoulder, also looking happy.
Send me some squirrely encouragement! 🩷

Beach lover? Me too…🌊☀️

Take a stroll along some of my favorite beaches (Oahu, HI; Portland, ME; Depoe Bay, OR; Navarre, FL; South Padre Island, TX; Newport Beach, CA)

A beach scene with trees in the foreground, a sandy shoreline, and the ocean with waves and a small rocky island in the background under a partly cloudy sky.
A beach scene with the sun high in the partly cloudy sky, reflecting sunlight on the ocean waves. There are a few people on the sandy shore near the water, and a ship can be seen in the distance on the horizon.
Mountain landscape with cloudy sky, green forested valley, and snow-capped peaks in the distance.
A person standing on a rocky ledge with a canyon landscape behind them, under a partly cloudy sky.
A leafless tree stands in a snow-covered field during sunset, with silhouettes of other trees and houses in the background.
A person in a skydiving suit and helmet appears to be floating with the assistance of a wind tunnel, and another person in a red jacket and helmet is smiling and holding onto the first person in an indoor skydiving facility. 
🐿️ I haven't been brave enough to do the real thing...YET!
A woman smiling and posing with her arm extended toward a statue of a young girl in a dress with a wide-brimmed hat, standing on a platform in an outdoor setting with trees, houses, and parked cars in the background. 
🐿️ Pollyanna was my favorite movie as a kid!

GALLERY

A beach scene with white sandy shoreline, turquoise ocean water, and people relaxing under umbrellas. The sky is clear with some clouds on the horizon. 
🐿️ Did I say productive? I meant peaceful! 😎
A rocky shoreline with a pebble-covered beach, a cliff on the right, and foggy weather in the background.
Rocky coastline with dry bushes in the foreground, cliffs on the shore, and a blue sky with sparse clouds in the background.
A scenic mountain landscape with a highway driving through the valley, surrounded by trees, during cloudy weather.

🐿️ Did my brain just go QUIET?☮️

A squirrel is perched on a wooden platform in front of a blue bird feeder filled with black sunflower seeds, with a snowy landscape and leafless trees in the background. 
🐿️ Is he judging me?
A yellow smiley face-shaped parachute or parasail floating in a clear blue sky, with a long white tow rope connected to a boat on the water below. 
🐿️ 400 feet over the ocean!
A dead crab on a sandy beach with seashells scattered around. 
🐿️ You don't see these in the midwest!
A coastal scene with overcast skies, a sandy beach, and green shrubbery along a path leading to the shoreline.
A wooden pier extending into the ocean with people walking on it, clear blue sky, calm waters, and sandy beach in the foreground.

Mountains? Yes Please! ⛰️

Do pictures of majestic mountains bring you peace too?
Here are a few of my favorite mountain(-ish) pics!
(Knoxville, TN; Portland, ME; Eugene, OR; Badlands, SD ; Littleton, NH; O’ahu, HI)

An aerial view of a volcano emitting smoke and ash, with a mountain range in the background, surrounded by clouds and mist.
Aerial view of coastal city with mountains, urban area, and ocean

Is snow your thing? ❄️🥶

Honestly, it’s not really mine, but I did find a few pictures with snow in them.

(OK, so two of them are from my house 😁)

Mountain peak covered in snow with a clear blue sky and wispy clouds above.

This is where you all can help me broaden my horizons even more! ❄️🐿️
Share your favorite snowy views and places that made YOU fall in love with winter.❄️🥶🐿️

JUST WANNA HAVE FUN?

Take a look at some of the amazing things I have seen and done since stepping outside my comfort zone!

Six fighter jets flying in a tight formation, leaving white smoke trails across a partly cloudy sky. 
🐿️ I never knew I wanted to watch the Blue Angels practice...WOW!
Exterior view of Lambeau Field stadium with overcast sky, American flags, and signage including Bellin Health Gate. 
🐿️ I'm not a huge football fan, but Lambeau Field was pretty cool!