MJ Mondaca

✈️Traveling while working 9-5
🍲 Best eats & things to do in Orlando, FL
🎥 1/2 of YouTuber couple
💌Collabs: [email protected]

01/15/2025

Mentally, I’m back in Oslo ❄️

Check out the last video of the slowest attempt at a polar plunge. Surely I made it way more difficult and painful than it needed to be.

Sauna culture is Norway 🇳🇴 is very cool! If you’re visiting be sure to add this activity to your plans!

01/11/2025

Random moments from Suomenlinna, Finland 🇫🇮

01/03/2025

Rovaniemi is located on the Arctic Circle, where wilderness and the city meet.

We are so glad we ventured outside of Santa’s Village. The city of Rovaniemi is home to three impressive culture and science centres: Arktikum Science Center and Museum, Korundi House of Culture, and Science Center Pilke. While there we explored Arktikum, and wandered city center.

What an experience! Be sure to add Lapland to your travel plans!

12/31/2024

My favorite pictures from 2024 were all from the amazing talent at . I really scored having the very best in both Helsinki and London.

Can’t wait to continue adding professional pictures to our travel memories. We already have some great travels planned and what a better way to capture the essence of a city than through the lens of a local.

What’s something you hope to do more in 2025!?

Happy New Year’s Eve friends!!!

12/27/2024

The world is too big to stay in one place, and in our typical fashion we took advantage of every single day off!

Anthony and I have compiled all our travels into one spreadsheet… 2024 had been a great one! Here’s our travel wrapped for the year:

⏰ 1w 1d 2h 22m in the air
🛫 81,507 miles flown
✈️ 44 flights taken
🌎 11 countries, 4 new for MJ, 6 for Anthony
🇺🇸 4 domestic trips
☕️ at least 10 cute coffee shops were visited
🚶🏾‍♂️ Anthony went on his first solo international trip

We are so grateful to have all of you following along on all of our adventures this year - both around the world and at home here in Orlando ☀️. We added new countries, crossed off bucket list items, made new friends, encountered many (MANY) delays, experienced Crowdstrike first hand, and had some solo adventures. Your comments, and likes keep us going!

Our YouTube channel has been a little quiet this year, but I think 2025 is our comeback year there 😉.

We did this all while working full time, and you can too! Be sure to follow for inspiration on how to make the most of your vacation time and explore the world.

We can’t wait to see what 2025 has prepared for us! Until then, stay tuned for my countdown of the top 5 best trips this year.

What’s been your favorite memory from 2024?!?

12/25/2024

Merry Christmas everyone! 🎄🎅🏻☃️

12/23/2024

Memories from Ireland 🇮🇪🍀🌈

If you haven’t been to Ireland yet, I urge you to put it on your list for 2025. You won’t be disappointed!

12/20/2024

All I want for Christmas is more Christmas 🎄🎅🏻

Epcot for the Festival of the Holidays and Candlelight Processional with Gary Sinise with these two amazing humans.

Have you been to Candlelight Processional?? It’s an annual event at Disney World. You get to hear the story of Christmas retold by a celebrity narrator and massed choir—accompanied by a 50-piece orchestra, herald trumpets and the Voices of Liberty. It is simply beautiful!

It’s an extremely popular event. While you can join the standby line, I highly recommend doing a dining package at one of the restaurants to join a guaranteed queue. We ate the Biergarten Restaurant in the Germany Pavilion. So yummm!

Super fun day enjoying Epcot! Thank you & … I had missed you guys 🫶.

🌐

12/16/2024

You haven’t truly visited Ireland until you visit the Cliffs of Moher!

These are magnificent sea cliffs located at the southwestern edge of Burren region in Country Clare, Ireland 🇮🇪.

Take in the amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean and Aran Islands. It will truly take your breath away! We were there the day after a terrible storm and it was so incredibly windy.

We visited on a tour from Dublin by Viator. So worth it! There’s a couple of other points of interest included in our day trip.

Did you know the Cliffs of Moher have appeared in a number of movies?!? Leap Year (last picture) is one of my favorites… the last scene with Anna and Declan was at the cliffs. They were also in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

12/08/2024

Lived out the magic of Santa by visiting his hometown and loved every second. Santa Claus Holiday Village is not just for the kids!

You can visit all year long but there’s something special about being there in the winter.

Reindeer, the northern lights, and Christmas all around you. I learned about Moomins, and yes fell in love with them too!

Rovaniemi - Lapland, Finland 🇫🇮

11/28/2024

Impressed by Aurora’s brilliance!

An aurora aka northern lights (aurora borealis) or southern lights (aurora australis),is a natural light display in Earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky.

To see them you need optimal weather conditions:
Clear skies: The sky should be clear and dark.
Cold and dry: The weather should be cold and dry.
Near midnight: The best time to see the northern lights is usually between 10 PM and 2 AM local time.
Away from cities: You should get away from cities and travel to dark locations free from light pollution.

My recommendation is to book a trustworthy tour if you want to go hunting for them! We booked through who connected us to . While our tour left from Rovaniemi, we ended up finding the northern lights on this night in Sweden on this epic adventure.

Is this on your bucket list?!? Where do you want to see them?
If you’ve seen them, where were you?

11/23/2024

Take me back to Helsinki! 🍂

The colors, the vibe, the architecture. It made it all so special.

Did you know? Helsinki is considered one of the world’s most livable cities due to its high quality of life, including easy access to nature, a strong emphasis on sustainability, excellent public services, a safe environment, a high standard of education, and a strong work-life balance, all while maintaining a vibrant urban culture within a beautiful natural setting with extensive coastline and green spaces.

If you’ve been, what was your favorite part of Helsinki?

📸 Emiliano for 🥰

11/16/2024

Taking in the elegance of Helsinki.

One of my new favorite activities when traveling is booking a professional photo session. I was thrilled when my bf booked this one for me 🥰.

Emiliano with is amazing! He captured the essence of Helsinki beautifully in these pictures.

Capture the magic of travel with Flytographer. As a matter of fact, their biggest sale of the year is right around the corner!

Ready to make your travel memories last a lifetime? Comment below and I’ll share my link. I also have it in my bio.

📍Route: all of downtown Helsinki’s most famous landmarks with a visit to Senate and Market Squares. This is just a few of the amazing pictures I received.

11/14/2024

Postcards from Helsinki 💟

Helsinki has a rich history, here are some interesting facts:
🇫🇮Helsinki was founded by Sweden in 1550 as a port city called “Helsingfors.”
🇫🇮The city came under Russian rule in 1809 and experienced significant growth and development during the 19th century.
🇫🇮Finland declared independence from Russia in 1917, and Helsinki became the capital of the newly formed nation.
🇫🇮The city suffered heavy damage during World War II, but it was rebuilt and modernized in the postwar years.

A lot of what we saw during our first full day reflected this history, in the architecture, food and vibe.

11/08/2024

Welcome new friends! This is a great time for an introduction post 🙋🏻‍♀️.

I’m MJ (Maria Jose), and I live in Orlando, Florida. I was born in Venezuela 🇻🇪, and most of my family is from Chile 🇨🇱. I grew up between New York and Florida. Soy bilingüe - hablo español. Je parle un peu français. Ich lerne deutsch.

I work in fintech and lead a training department. When I’m not working, I’m traveling ✈️ with my bf. Together we’ve got a YouTube channel: Travel No Jitters. If I’m not traveling, I’m enjoying what my amazing hometown offers which includes lots of great food and plenty of adventures.

I’m involved in my community and enjoy volunteering. I don’t like to share French Fries or M&Ms. I love pups 🐶. If there’s music on, I’m going to start dancing.

My goal is to inspire people to get out and see the world 🌎 even while working full time. Take advantage of your vacation/PTO and holidays!

My favorite destinations:
UK 🇬🇧
Spain 🇪🇸
Norway 🇳🇴
Iceland 🇮🇸
Peru 🇵🇪
Japan 🇯🇵

My bucket list is long! I’d love to visit Morocco, Kenya, Scotland, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. Really anywhere I haven’t been is on the list.

Follow if you’d like to see more travel content and why Orlando is my favorite place to live in.

If you’ve been here for a while (thank you 🫶) tell me what’s your favorite part of my account!

11/03/2024

Last day of early voting! You’ve got until 8pm!

This is big. Do you research, bring your sample ballot and have your voice heard.

Let’s see what happens Tuesday!!!

Did you vote already?

10/30/2024

Find yourself a realtor that will become your friend! Ever since we met Macry back in 2020 I had a good feeling about her 🥰. Two deals later and now I can’t recommend her enough. Head on over and give her a follow… she’s bilingual: .

We celebrated at so delicious! If you haven’t made your way over to them, what are you waiting for?!?

📍Bulla Gastrobar
110 S Orlando Ave #7
Winter Park, FL 32789

Pictured:
Patatas Bravas
Chef’s Board
Ham Croquettes
Albóndigas
Chicken Paella
Sangre de Toro wine

Stop by and tell them MJ sent you!

10/28/2024

Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 appreciation post.

Some people say really dumb things, and don’t realize how words can affect others. Is there a trash crisis affecting the island, yes. Wording, however, was atrocious, and you’ve offended rather than focus on the true issue.

I had the opportunity to visit San Juan back in April 2021. Everything wasn’t opened yet but I got to see some amazing highlights. I look forward to visiting again very soon and seeing more of the island. The culture, music, food and energy is something to experience. The pride is enviable.

If you haven’t been to Puerto Rico, here’s a little glimpse of what you’ll get there.

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Christmas time in Galway, Ireland 🇮🇪 Galway is such a bright and charming city! Located on the western side of Ireland. It’s full of culture, artistry, great food and music. It’s got a bohemian vibe that makes it incredibly welcoming. This is why it’s the perfect place to visit on a day trip from Dublin. How to get there: Book a round trip train ticket on Irish Rail. You’ll leave from Heuston Station in Dublin. Trip is about 2.5 hours. Train is super comfortable! Once you arrive you’ll see that Galway is a very walkable city! Here are some of the things we enjoyed: 🎄 Christmas Market at Eyre Square (runs through Jan. 5th) 💍 Buy a Claddagh Ringring from Fallers - official makers since 1879 ☕️ Stop by a bakery like Gourmet Tart 🚶🏻‍♀️ Stroll along The Long Walk 🍕 Have lunch at The Dough Bros - sooo good! 🍦 Get ice cream at Murphy’s - yes, even if it’s cold! Best plan in Galway is no plan… wander around and take it all in. Enjoy the shops, street performers, buy an Aran sweater. Want more culture? Check out the Galway City Museum, Cathedral or Arts Centre. Get a pint at a pub and just be happy! Special shout out to my friend @vicariously_vee for the great recommendations! If you’re there during Christmas time be sure to stay until dark so you can admire how pretty the decorations are. Then make sure way back to Dublin, train station is right by Eyre Square. Tag your favorite travel buddy so you can save these recommendations. #visitgalway #galwayireland #galway

If only I had my own money tree. Follow @mjtravels31 for all the fun adventures! #WanderlustCommunity #TravelTogether #travel #travelinspiration #traveladdicted #traveltheworld #travelmore #traveler #TravelGoals #TravelInspiration #Wanderlust #ExploreTheWorld #TravelAddict #AdventureAwaits #TravelLife #Travelltinerary #travelcommunity

On this Thanksgiving I’m grateful for so much! From my fave travel partner, to an awesome job and team, great friends near and far - some I’ve never even met in person (yet 😉), an amazing hometown and everything in between. I hope today is a beautiful one, stress free, full of delicious food! Be thankful for all the little things around you. I’m also sending much love to those that struggle today, that have complicated family situations, or prefer to have the day go quickly. 🫶 What are you most thankful for today?

Best wishes… ✨ You have been warned - get your life together.