Meet Carrie Green-Zinn | Travel Blogger

We had the good fortune of connecting with Carrie Green-Zinn and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carrie, what habits do you feel helped you succeed?
My organizational skills are key to my success. I’m juggling many things at once and if I don’t keep an organized list of what to do next, I get completely overwhelmed and lose all productivity. Travel blogging is not just about the travel, and the writing, and the editing of photos. It involves SEO and marketing techniques that require a lot of time and effort and involve a huge learning curve for me. So, I have to be really organized and patient with myself. I sometimes feel distracted and forget my original focus but the structure of my lists keeps me on track. That being said, it’s hard to maintain the pace that I would like, so I have to give myself some slack and remember it’s OK to not meet the goals and not check things off the list. The beauty of being in business for myself means I don’t have to report to anyone else.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I’ve had many evolutions in my life that have brought me to travel blogging. The common thread for me has always been about people and travel.

I inherited my creativity, love for dance, and a deep wanderlust from my mother. Since early childhood in New England, I’ve always loved going places, near or far. During college, I scaled the pyramids in Egypt and waited on tables in Tel Aviv. After college, I headed to New York City to dance and ended up in a circus in Mexico dancing with elephants, and touring the states as Daffy Duck.

When that all got sour, I finished my first masters degree as a Dance Movement Therapist in San Francisco. I worked with psychiatric patients during their darkest times, helping them to express themselves with movement when words were not enough.

When I met my jazz musician of a husband, I loved my career and we started raising our brilliant daughters in the beautiful Bay Area. We were determined to teach our young girls the benefits of travel, but I needed a new job that would support that goal with more time off. So, I got another masters degree as a School Psychologist, which meant that I had summers off with the kids.

Now, here I am, after many years in the school district, with two grown daughters who do their own traveling and adventure seeking. Being an empty-nester can be both wonderful and confusing! With the girls gone and us heading into retirement, I needed to renew my creative self. What a better way to do that than with my love of travel, writing, and photography?

I started to blog, writing short life stories, and sharing my photos with a personal challenge of 52 blogs and 52 photos in 52 weeks. I was so proud of that project and wanted to keep the spark going.

Then came the down time of the pandemic, which proved to be just the catalyst I needed. I started following travel bloggers and was determined to become a person who could travel in retirement without worrying about life on a fixed income. As the travel bans lifted, I became more obsessed with the idea of traveling for a living.

While I’m still on a steep learning curve of SEO, affiliate marketing, and website technology, I’m doing it. And, I’m thrilled to say that in a few months I’ll be retired as a School Psychologist and loving my next career as a full time Travel Blogger!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I love it when friends visit the Bay Area because there is so much to do, you can easily fill up a week’s itinerary. Here is a brief version of some great things to do in the Bay Area.

Day 1
San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, Ghirardelli Square, Clam Chowder in sourdough bread bowls, Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista, and a trip to Alcatraz on a boat in the Bay.

Day 2
Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, take in the views, and have lunch in Sausalito.

Day 3
Head to Ocean Beach in San Francisco, have drinks and lunch overlooking the ocean at the Beach Chalet, then go to Fort Funston and hike down to the beach and watch the hang gliders flying off the cliffs, or go horseback riding on the beach.

Day 4
Shopping in downtown San Francisco at Union Square and then a dinner and a Broadway show or music at one of the famous venues.

Day 5
Have a Golden Gate Park and Museum day! Take your pick from the De Young Museum, the Academy of Sciences, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers. And then a walk to Haight Ashbury for a slice of real San Francisco history and culture.

Day 6
A drive up to Wine Country. Head up to Sonoma or Napa Valley for tours of the best vineyards in the country and enjoy delicious cheese and dine at great restaurants.

Day 7
A hike in Muir Woods to see the awesome redwood trees that add to the Bay Area’s stunning beauty. You can stroll or hike and spend as much time as you like relaxing among the trees

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I dedicate my shoutout to my husband Dann Zinn, a brilliant jazz musician and composer, and our magnificent daughters Zaria Zinn and Aleeza Zinn with whom I could never have created my travel blog.

Website: https://carriegreenzinn.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carriegreenzinn/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carriegreenzinn/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/carriegreenzinn

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carriegz/