Rachel Means

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Location
Charlotte, North Carolina
Expertise
European and U.S. trip itineraries, National park adventures, Budget traveling
  • Rachel is the founder and author of Means to Explore, a travel website helping would-be travelers learn how to plan, save, and enjoy their next vacation without breaking the bank. Inspiring others to travel, no matter their budget or PTO, is one of her favorite pastimes.
  • While she has lived in several states, the Carolinas keep calling her back. Morning runs across the Ravenel in Charleston and watching the sunset at Kiawah are some of her favorite experiences to share with visiting friends and family.
  • An engineer-turned-travel writer, Rachel has visited 42 US states and 19 countries, visiting and writing about every castle, national park, and historic site she could along the way.

Experience

Rachel worked as an engineer for a decade before turning to travel writing full-time in 2021. She has been published in Salute, Family, and Static Media's travel vertical, Islands. Her adventures have taken her all around the U.S., Caribbean, and Europe, where she has honed her itinerary planning skills and travel savviness. She's equally content planning a multi-city sightseeing extravaganza or a relaxing weekend getaway, but she could talk all day about the UK's historic sights or North Cascades National Park's stunning views. Her writing aims to inspire readers to just go, to make travel work for their schedule, budget, and lifestyle.

Islands Editorial Policies

Islands content is created by a team of veteran writers and editors passionate about travel. Outside experts with deep field knowledge sometimes inform our work with additional context and perspectives by way of exclusive commentary. Our goal is to offer readers well-rounded and diverse articles that inform, entertain, and inspire.

Our editors consistently review and update articles to ensure they're providing current, relevant, and useful information. Complete information on our editorial process is available here.

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