Continuing to Give Back during difficult times

Continuing to Give Back during difficult times

It’s with a heavy but inspired heart that I write the first blog post since the Give Backpacker’s founder Lindsay M. Hawley’s passing on New Years Day 2017. She was more then a best friend, she was my idol who made me want to give back, travel and live more. Lindsay was a guiding light for so many of us, and her shocking and sudden death left us all speechless. Unsure how to deal with the loss and feeling the urge to do what she always inspired me to do, I chose to embark on a wild journey through South East Asia that April, flying out of LAX on 4-14-17. Following in her footsteps quite literally, I researched all the places she went to and asked a couple mutual friends if they’d like to join my quest to keep Give Backpackers alive. Even though our kind hearted friend is gone, we can keep her spirit with us in so many ways. This was my way of keeping Lindsay close, and I learned so much along the way. I encourage others to follow their heart when dealing with pain and loss, it helped me so much and I cannot wait for the next trip. This is a brief summary of the latest Give Backpackers journey, hopefully I’ll see you on the next one! I flew to Siem Reap with Elliott Breit, a friend of Lindsay’s and Give Backpacker advocate from San Diego. Carissa Castro, a long time friend and fellow model that worked for Lindsay’s other company LMH promotions (yeah, Linz was a badass), had already arrived the night before....