- Local Of: Bennington VT, USA, Boston MA, USA, Denver CO, USA, Las Vegas NV, USA, Dublin, Ireland
- Expert of: Denver CO, USA, freelancing, and working remotely
- Travel Style: Foodie, Budget, City Lover, Hiker
- Years Traveling: 2019 – Now
- Favorite Destinations: Vienna, Austria, Denver CO, USA, and Calgary, Canada
- Backpack or Suitcase: Suitcase
- Window or Aisle: Window
- Bus or Train: Train
- Education: Krystianna Pietrzak of Simmons University in Boston, MA
Connect With Krystianna
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Krystianna’s Expertise
I am a website design agency owner and travel blogger who has lived in 5 cities and counting (#6 will be next year!). With a degree in Graphic Design and Media Arts from Simmons University in Boston, I started a design studio from the ground up in 2020 and have helped build custom websites for 50+ online businesses.
As the host of The Unexpected Entrepreneur podcast and instructor behind the beginner web design course Camp Site, I love helping other freelance creatives chase their wanderlust by fueling their lifestyle through running their own business. My #1 goal is to show other creatives that this lifestyle is 100% possible using skillsets that they already have, whether they’re self-taught or went to university for a degree.
Krystianna Around The World
Krystianna’s #1 Travel Tip
My #1 travel tip is to leave at least one day open in your itinerary with nothing planned. You never know what kind of surprises or hidden gems you’ll stumble upon if you give yourself the chance to explore without any research.
Traveling is the perfect way to get out of your comfort zone and explore new places, and while it can be daunting to plan a trip, it’s also important to leave space for spontaneity. I always make sure my itinerary has a day for what I like to call “unexpected exploration.” That day of my trip always ends up being the most unforgettable and ends up leading to some of the best stories.
Take the time to wander around, go down different streets and alleys, stumble upon a new neighborhood, or even just find a cozy cafe with snacks and a great view. You never know who you might meet! This is the way to find great street art, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and unique shops that aren’t plastered all over the internet already.
Krystianna’s Favorite Food
My absolute favorite dish I’ve had while traveling is würstel in Vienna, Austria, at the Bitzinger stand. It’s essentially a sausage made with pork and beef. The best kind is called kasekrainer, which is filled with cheese. Though Bitzinger is the best place to get one, there are a multitude of würstel stands throughout Vienna.
Favorite Travel Experience
Though I have many travel experiences, my favorite was while I was studying abroad in Dublin in 2019. I was visiting the small town of Bray with my friend from home and we were getting ready to go on the famous Bray to Greystones cliff walk. However, there was a lot of construction going on, making it near impossible to follow the maps app on our phone.
Being the awkward college students that we were, we were wandering around aimlessly knowing that we had to be close. We ended up stumbling upon a local who so kindly asked us if we were trying to find the cliff walk, which we were taken aback by at first. In the US, where we’re from, it’s not always the best option to talk to a stranger.
But this local started chatting with us and ended up walking us all the way to the beginning of the trail! It was so incredibly sweet, and was one of my first (and most memorable) experiences that made me love travel – it’s really all about the experiences and getting to know the locals. And after studying abroad in Dublin, the locals in Ireland are some of my favorite!
Where Have You Lived?
I grew up in southern Vermont in a small town called Bennington, where I lived for 18(ish) years. For college, I moved to Boston’s famed Fenway Park area to attend Simmons University for 4 years. While in school, I took a semester during my junior year to study abroad at University College Dublin in Ireland, where I lived for 5 months, and traveled to 13 countries.
After graduating from university in 2020, I moved to Denver, Colorado in the USA where I lived for about 2.5 years. Eventually, I made the move to Las Vegas, Nevada. Of course, I’m already planning out my next move – it’s time for a new adventure.
Funny Travel Quirk
My funny travel quirk is that while I love trying all the local cuisine, the camera always eats first. What I mean by this is that I snap a photo of literally every food that I eat while traveling. It gets to the point that when I go to edit all of the photos from my trip, at least 80% of them are just of food. It’s sort of a running joke in my family that the main reason I love to travel must be because of my love of food.
Luckily, I’ve really nailed down how to take the perfect food photo while traveling. All you need is two phone cameras to get a great food photo; one to take the photo and the other to use the flashlight to make sure the food has great lighting on it. This works great for short-form videos, too.
