We recently connected with Marci Stewart and have shared our conversation below.

Marci, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

Traveling in a foreign country is exciting but also can be nerve wrecking. You can plan and research all your want, but something unexpected will almost always come up. It’s amazing to me how different travel is today than it was 15 years ago when I first studied abroad. I went from paper maps to a plethora of options on Google Maps for how to get from point A to B including scooters, ubers, trains and walking directions. Here are my tips for being prepared for any situation:

-Be mentally prepared to be flexible – you can’t control everything, but you can control your reaction
-Take screen shots of maps and directions for quick reference and incase you lose cell service
-Bring a back up charger incase you run into a situation where your phone is low battery
-Don’t be afraid to ask for help from locals or employees of the bus/train/metro station
-Bring snacks
-Bring a book incase you’re on a long flight and the movie screens are not working
-Enjoy the journey

Marci, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi, I’m Marci! I have always loved to travel as soon as I had the time and funds to do so, and am either planning a trip or on a plane somewhere. I started my travel blog, LayoversandLuggage.com a few years ago and have been consistently maintaining my travel instagram @marci_on_the_map for a few years too.

My favorite city outside of the US is Paris, as it’s a place I feel like I can go again and again and never get tired of it. The most adventurous trip I’ve taken was to Iceland in the winter and my most recent trip was to Porto and Lisbon in Portugal.

I like to find the right balance when traveling which means hunting for flight deals, but also enjoying a fancy dinner or a nice hotel. In any city I try to see the “must see” sites (and usually get up early to avoid the crowds) but also enjoy wandering the streets of a new place and stumbling into a local shop or small wine bar.

I love sharing pictures of my trips as well as tips for anyone else who wants to check out that destination. I do not heavily edit my pictures and want them to reflect the true beauty of the place I am visiting so that others can experience the same thing too.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

There are some amazing travel bloggers out there who share inspiration, photo tips, editing tips and travel hacks. It is a super fun community that shares a passion for exploring the planet and I never tire of seeing where everyone is going. I have a new found appreciation for being able to leave the country and use my passport after not being able to go anywhere easily internationally for a year and a half. Seeing old photos from other travel bloggers or learning about their local destinations was immensely entertaining during that period.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

After thinking about doing a blog for years I started out with an instagram because I knew I could maintain it easily and had a lot of photos to share. The engagement with others is really fun too. When I finally had some down time I sat down and wrote out highlights from my trips and I hope those itineraries and pictures can help others when they are planning trips. I rely on information from a lot of other people across social media platforms when I plan a trip and wanted to share my experiences to help other travelers too.

My best advice is to just start – there will never be a good time. People are extremely supportive and appreciate consistency and authenticity. There are also plenty of resources out there when it comes to what hashtags to use, photo tips (I’m a sucker for straightening out the horizon line) and inspiration.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.layoversandluggage.com
• Instagram: @marci_on_the_map