Travel Light with Joelle Friend

With most of us trying our best to turn the Covid-19 lemon into lemonade (we admit this phrase sounded better in our head), we look for travel inspiration close at home. Instagram influencer Joelle Friend dedicates her days to adventure. Having lived in the Pacific Northwest all her life, and currently based in Seattle, her growing audience on Instagram includes some 240k followers. All share her passion for the great outdoors.

“I get a lot of people asking me what my favorite country is,” wrote Friend in a recent Instagram post. “I have to say I love the Nordic countries so much. They are always so clean and there is such beautiful landscapes there. Even this simple path in the Finnish Lapland had me going ‘!!!!’, it was so quiet, and the air is known to be the cleanest in the world.”

But with international travel next to impossible, Friend finds the silver lining in more local travels and road trips. ”If you were to ask me what one of my favorite places to roam around in is, Mt. Rainier would be at the top of my list,” she explained on her website. “Why? Growing up in Washington, when the clouds finally clear, it shows itself so majestically. It towers over Western Washington and makes itself known. It has a powerful presence to it.”

Hitting the road also means traveling light. “When I go on road trips, I try to pack light and bring the necessities,” says Friend, “because sometimes it involves car camping and it makes my life a whole lot easier if I pack light.” Follow her day-to-day adventures on Instagram: