Globe-trotting writer’s memoir is a heartfelt journey of self-discovery

Seasoned travel journalist Nikki Vargas’ highly anticipated memoir Call You When I Land (Hanover Square Press; November 7th) takes readers on a voyage of far-flung adventures and revelatory experiences. This globe-spanning journey transformed the author’s life forever, encouraging her to take giant leaps of faith and follow her true calling. 

At 26 years old, Nikki called off her impending wedding to her college sweetheart weeks before the big day, realizing that marriage to this man was not the life she wanted. She also quit her advertising job to pursue her dream of becoming a full-fledged travel writer. Though such thoughts had been percolating in her for some time, these epiphanies didn’t occur until she went to Iguazu Falls in Argentina on a freelance travel writing assignment – a week before her wedding day. 

Nikki Vargas in Kenya

Alone in the jungle, she stopped running from herself, realizing she had nowhere to hide. She screamed into the trees that she didn’t want to get married. The moment was pivotal and dramatically changed her life, as she realized the worst thing she could do for herself was to stifle her inner voice and suppress her true desires. “Looking back,” she says, “I don’t know if I would have found the strength to call off my engagement, cancel my wedding, quit my job and pursue my dream of travel writing had I not pushed myself so far beyond my comfort zone and finally confronted myself.”

Nikki’s decision to own her truth led her to take steps to actualize her goal of becoming a professional travel journalist. And as she traveled the world, every destination and trip shaped her in some way. Call You When I Land shares a number of these journeys that had a profound and lasting impact on her. The memoir is beautifully crafted, inspirational and uplifting. It’s extremely readable and entertaining, as the author writes with a passionate voice, using lush descriptions that make you want to pack your bags and set out to satisfy your wanderlust cravings. 

Nikki Vargas in Bogota, Columbia

Nikki Vargas in India

As the book continues, you follow along on Nikki’s road to reinvention with all its twists and turns. In 2018, she became the proud founder of Unearth Women, a women’s travel publication that strives to celebrate women doing impactful and essential things around the world. The name of the magazine originated from the idea of “unearthing” women’s stories globally, “to lift women’s voices and provide a platform where women can feel heard and seen.” 

Though the print rendition of the magazine eventually folded, the publication continues today in a digital mode. Initially devastated by this turn of events, Nikki, overtime, came to realize that launching Unearth Women was never about the magazine, but rather about the stories this platform could tell. She much prefers to focus on writing and editing than being overwhelmed and stressed out from the demands of running a print publication in digital times. 

For women who would like to start their own business on only a wing and a prayer as Nikki did, she has some advice: “Be honest with yourself about how much time you can put towards cultivating and growing your business, your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to building a business and the financial demands launching a business will require.” When she launched Unearth Women, Nikki surrounded herself with women whose strengths in business and marketing would step in where she felt she needed to improve. She recognized that she wouldn’t be able to handle everything on her own and that collaboration was the key.

Nikki Vargas in Paris

Nikki’s relationship with travel has evolved over the years. She explains: “At the beginning of my book, I treated travel as an emotional crutch, using it to avoid my reality and some of the more daunting questions I needed to answer. As my story progressed, my relationship with travel morphed from being a way of avoiding to becoming so intrinsically connected to my career that I began to siphon stories and content off every trip, ultimately draining my passion entirely.” 

Today, the author has found a balance between traveling for work and for pleasure. As a Senior Editor for Fodor’s Travel, she has the option to travel often, but she is more discerning about when and where she goes for work. Instead of jumping at every press opportunity that comes around, she looks for trips she feels can lend themselves to a strong piece for the publication.

Regarding the future, Nikki comments, “I want to continue putting inspiring and impactful stories out into the world. Stories can sway opinion, spark change and permit us to imagine our lives as something different.” She adds, “If I can continue writing stories that inspire readers, then I will be happy.” 

And speaking of stories, Nikki is in the early stages of writing another book, this time a fiction novel inspired by a recent trip that explores a complicated relationship between a father and his two adult daughters as they navigate the wilds of Norway.

Nikki Vargas in Iceland

Feature Image, Nikki Vargas Photo by Jeff Cerulli