The Return of Travel Itch Mitch

Hey… Long time, no see… this is the grand return of me, Travel Itch Mitch.

I feel like I am coming back to this blog like someone that I ran into from high school and I really don’t know what to say. It’s been over two years since I’ve last posted and to be honest, I am not too sure why I stopped posting. I’ve taken several trips, started writing posts, and filming & editing videos that just haven’t seen the light of day.

“So why am coming back now?” you ask. To be honest I am not too sure. Sure, part of it might be this the pandemic and wanting to return to memories of my travels. Another part of me thinks that I am finally at a point in my life that I am ready to take on a creative outlet.

Either way, I am excited to be back. I am not sure the consistency that I am going to be posting at this point but I promise it’ll be more than once every two and a half years.

Before I start getting into travel again I wanted to give some life updates, roughly in the order, they occurred.

I’m Vegetarian

Yep, it’s true. Now before you ask me where I get the flavor for my food or if I’m getting enough protein. First of all, spices and cheese. Second, don’t worry I got this and have made more conscious choices to get protein in my diet.

I honestly started being vegetarian as a challenge. The two years before me starting being a vegetarian Zach, my best friend, and former roommate had been doing “Vegetarian February.” It was a challenge that for the month of February, Zach would not consume any meat, to practice some self-control (and since it was also the shortest month of the year). So in his third year of the challenge, I thought I would give it a go.

I was only supposed to be 28 days of being a vegetarian, but as the month progressed I noticed that I was just generally feeling better. So after a trip to Culver’s on March 1st for some buffalo chicken tenders (and feeling pretty gross afterward), I decided that I would continue being a vegetarian for the foreseeable future.

Here I am two and a half years later and I haven’t looked back really. I haven’t really missed eating meat. Sure, it has been inconvenient at times, but I think it is a healthy choice for me at this point.

(I also just watched Athlete A on Netflix, and if you want to hear more about plant-based eating, I highly recommend it)

I Graduated

As the subtitle above would suggest, I have graduated from college. I officially graduated from the University of Wisconsin- Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. I took so many different psych classes over time that I can probably say that I’ll be using my degree in one form or another.

Wow. There isn’t really much else to say on this subject as I thought. Anyway, I enjoyed my time in school, and here’s a picture of graduation.

I was in a Hey Nadine video

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Nadine, she is a travel blogger and vlogger. She posted on her Instagram story that she was visiting Madison, Wisconsin soon and was looking for someone to show her around. So I (maybe a few drinks in) replied to the story saying that I would be happy to show her around. To my surprise, I got a response and we made plans for us to spend a day in Madison. I could tell you about what we did, but why not just check out the video?

It was a pleasure getting to spend the day with her, talk about vegetarian & vegan food, discuss travel goals, and learn more about the behind-the-scenes of what goes into a travel video.

See the video here:

I got a dog

Okay, this is probably the most exciting thing that has happened to me in recent history. I adopted a dog!! Meet Simon. He’s a pointer mix that’s just about two-years old.

It’s wild to think about it sometimes. He is a bundle of excitement and has a real passion for bugs.

I got him about a month before the pandemic hitting big in the United States, so we’ve had some good quality time over the past few months. I am looking to our future adventures, once we work on some more training.

If you do happen to be looking for a dog in Dane County, Wisconsin I highly recommend considering Fetch Wisconsin Rescue.

I got two jobs and quit them both

Soon after graduation, (I don’t want to say stumbled, but it really feels like I did) I stumbled into my first recruiting job. I had just completed one of my senior capstones in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, which is just basically the psychology of the workplace. After that course, I became interested in Human Resources and recruiting seemed like a great way to get started.

I would say that I really enjoyed my first “big kid” job, but had another opportunity that came up that seemed great. I accepted this role and started working remotely. (Did I mention that all of this happened during the pandemic.) Things were going alright, I was generally doing a good job and getting things done that needed to get done, but wasn’t getting the fulfillment that I was looking for in a job.

The lease was coming up on my apartment and one thing led to another. Cue putting in my notice with no real plan and led me to what happens in the next section.

I moved to Michigan

So yeah, I put in my notice and decided to move in with some of my family in Michigan. I have since accepted a role for the next year and am liking it so far!

That being said I am taking the next year or so to processing and evaluating what I am looking for in life. One of those things is taking the time to go on more creative endeavors (i.e. this). I don’t want to make specific goals of what I am going to write, but it’s going to be travel related in way, shape, or form.

Michigan has been pretty cool so far, although winter is just around the corner so ask me again in a few months. I’ve enjoyed the late summer and the fall colors. I’ve had the chance to take on some new hikes in the area and can’t wait until I can start doing things indoors in the future (hopefully).

I got this hat

That’s it. That’s the story.

Travel Itch Mitch Returns

Hey! You made it to the end of this post. Thanks for taking the time to read this today. Feel free to check back here for more travel content or take a look at some of my previous articles here.