Shocked and devastated by the loss of Anthony Bourdain.

It’s a difficult day for the travel industry and the world. Anthony Bourdain epitomized what it is to be a real traveler. To meet with locals, to immerse one's self in a culture, to live life boldly, and without fear.

Tony was a true adventurer, and he took the travel world by storm.

By leaving Travel Channel, Bourdain was able to make the shows he wanted. Just like a secret recipe, Bourdain took a combination of food, travel, and politics and sprinkled it with the essence of Bourdain to make one of the most beloved shows. His eagerness to tell a good story was only matched by his talent to do so.

Whenever anyone asks about what I do or what my final goal is with Trusted Travel Girl, the answer is always the same. “I want a travel show and I want to be the female Anthony Bourdain”.

Whenever I am hesitant to be bold in my travels, I have always asked myself “What would Bourdain do?”— and the experiences I have after I challenge myself with that question are always more enriched, more authentic, and more important. Beneath the blog posts and the pretty Instagram posts, there is someone who constantly searches for a way to get off the beaten path of tourism and just hang with the locals. But, that information isn’t always presented to my audience, I lack the knowledge of how to always bring the magnitude of those simple moments to you the way Bourdain always has. I will do better.

When I met him, he generously gave me so much of his time as he echoed my feelings for more women in this industry.

It’s a sad day for travelers and travel industry professionals who loved Tony. But it’s also our duty to keep sharing the world the way he would want us to. Let’s all do better.

And I challenge you, next time you have a choice to make on your travels, to be a tourist, or experience something like a local, or next time you are too scared to make a bold choice, ask yourself... What Would Bourdain Do?

“I wanted adventures. I wanted to go up the Nung river to the heart of darkness in Cambodia. I wanted to ride out into a desert on camelback, sand and dunes in every direction, eat whole roasted lamb with my fingers. I wanted to kick snow off my boots in a Mafiya nightclub in Russia. I wanted to play with automatic weapons in Phnom Penh, recapture the past in a small oyster village in France, step into a seedy neon-lit pulqueria in rural Mexico. I wanted to run roadblocks in the middle of the night, blowing past angry militia with a handful of hurled Marlboro packs, experience fear, excitement, wonder. I wanted kicks – the kind of melodramatic thrills and chills I’d yearned for since childhood, the kind of adventure I’d found as a little boy in the pages of my Tintin comic books. I wanted to see the world – and I wanted the world to be just like the movies” –Anthony Bourdain

RIP Tony.

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