The Yes Girl Saga continues in the fall of 2021 when I started dancing at these private parties. 

Covid was still a thing at that point so the private party industry was bumpin.

I started to make a lot of money really fast. More than I’d ever seen in my life. And I was only working a few nights a week.

It was intoxicating.

With all of this new found money and freedom, I had the itch to travel. Well, I always had the itch, but now I had the means.

And I was a yes girl, so by that winter I’d booked a trip to Mexico with some friends. Tulum in early January. I hadn’t been on a vacation for some time so I was really excited.

Right around Christmas time, one of my guy friends was visiting his mom down in Cabo. He got Covid.

And this was still the time when you had to provide a negative test result to get back into Canada. (This is so weird to be talking about this time now when all of that is gone and past. wtf was all that man…)

So he was stuck in Cabo.

He invited myself and all of our friends to come down and make a trip out of it once his contagious period was over.

I said OF COURSE, I’m a yes girl. When’s the next flight out?

(This is the group of friends that I spent all summer partying with btw so you know it’s about to be a rowdy time.)

I booked my flights to line up with my Tulum trip so I would just go straight from Cabo to Tulum and it worked out perfectly. A week in Cabo and a week in Tulum.

As expected, a week in Cabo with that group was absolutely bananas. I hadn’t drank that much since the summer and I barely survived.

I think we went to the same club and got bottle service 6 nights in a row. Mandalas. Iykyk.

I think the best part was when we all booked a fishing trip at 2am at the club for the following morning which was only a few hours away.

Or maybe the night we did Mexican Meth from the guy in the club bathroom stall. *would NOT recommend*

After a week of absolute shenanigans I was looking forward to having a more chill time in Tulum… right?

Or so I thought…

How naive of me to think a girls trip to Tulum would be chill. It was a total shit show. Never again. That’s a story for another day.

It is important to note that not one bit of my whole trip up until this point had been relaxing or rejuvenating because this was what nudged me into extending my trip and deciding not to go home right away.

I wasn’t satisfied to go back home after 2 chaotic trips. I needed some peace and nourishment. I needed a soul trip. And that’s exactly what I got.

4 days before my flight back to Vancouver I changed my flight from landing at YVR to LIR.

I was going to Costa Rica babyyyy.

I had money, I had time, I had nowhere to be.

I didn’t have to go back home until my money ran out.

I had no responsibilities.

I was a yes girl.

So I booked a ONE WAY flight to Costa Rica, where I had never been.

A solo trip which I had never done.

In a hostel which I had never been in.

For a month. Which would be the longest I had ever been away from home by far. By the time I got back it had been close to 7 weeks since I left Vancouver.

Costa Rica had been on my radar for some time and I had a high school friend who was staying there and had been there for a bunch of months.

I always saw his posts on IG so I reached out and started asking him about where he was at and where he would recommend I go.

I ended up booking my stay in Tamarindo, which was the town he was in at the time. It has the most stuff going on and the best vibes in terms of night life, beach, food, shops, excursions/activities/day trips and other young backpackers.

It’s a really good well rounded hub compared to a lot of the other towns in Costa Rica (in case you’re interested in going).

Highly recommend. I have been back there since this first trip and would go back again.

*I’ve been to Costa Rica 3 times now and my mom actually moved down there this year*

I cried the moment I stepped onto the plane on that flight from Cancun to Liberia. I was overwhelmed with emotion.

Gratitude that I could do something like this, joy that I was finally travelling in the way I wanted (a solo soul adventure), anticipation of what was to come, and other emotions that I couldn’t explain at the time but I now realize were feelings of shedding a version of myself and stepping into a new era.

I started tearing up again when I stepped off the flight onto Costa Rican soil and felt the warm humid air on my face. Another moment I will never forget.

I was so nervous to be travelling alone, but I was so proud of myself for pushing the comfort zone and getting out there.

Little did I know in that moment that trip would have a profound impact on my life and would change me forever.

I spent 4 weeks in the town of Tamarindo.

I met the most amazing people, a lot of which I still keep up with on instagram.

One of which is now a good friend for life. (Another story for another time)

My intentions for that trip were to go inward, deeply connect to myself, learn about myself, challenge myself, and BE myself. And I got way more than I even bargained for.

There’s nothing more freeing than travelling somewhere no one knows you. You get to be 110% yourself with no one’s previous experiences of you or ideas about who you are.

It’s a magical experience and I highly recommend that everyone solo travel at least once in their life.

During that trip, I was journaling, meditating, and reading every day by the pool. Working out every day, basking in the sun, socializing with my new friends, dancing at the bars.

That trip healed parts of me that I didn’t even know needed healing.

And… it opened the flood gates of the next 2 years of travelling 10 more new countries, 6 of which I did alone.

And for that, I’ve never been more grateful for my decision to be a yes girl.

Thanks for being here.

xo Bailey