Known Traveler: Kira West, Wellness Wanderer

For travel and wellness influencer Kira West (@bykwest), wellness was instilled in her lifestyle from a young age. Growing up in New York, she always had homemade meals, “I didn’t get to have Lunchables very often,” and was part of a progressive household regarding health and wellness. 

But when it came time to find her own routine in college, West realized the impact that health, fitness, and wellness really have on your body. “I had not been sleeping, I had been drinking, I had gained weight, and really wanted to focus on wellness from the inside out, and so that's when I started my fitness journey,” she says. She started working at the campus fitness center, which is where she got comfortable in the gym, with her entry point being running. But, as most college students can relate, she felt constraints on realistic fitness and wellness goals.

Upon graduating West moved back to New York and after experiencing a breakup, she turned to running, “[I] fell in love with running because I fell out of love with someone else.” As fitness became a big part of her daily life and wellness journey, West started to explore traveling from a wellness perspective. “I always felt like travel was a source of rejuvenation, and when I would go somewhere, even if it was somewhere new locally, that kind of sense of exploration and connecting with myself was really important,” she says.

West remembers having cultural excursions to Manhattan during her childhood and had a taste of travel early on, but fell in love with it during her abroad experiences in college. In 2015-16 West was working an intense job and found travel as her “source of joy” during this period. Knowing she didn’t want to lose the ability to travel frequently post-grad, she found ways to travel as an escape to big city life, whether it was a short trip to a faraway destination, or something closer to home.  

She started posting about fitness and her travels on social media—which she notes, was “a lot simpler” at the time—as a way to share what she was doing and learning. She says she kept answering the same questions from family and friends about her workout routines, fitness trends, and travel itineraries. What started innocently as a way to connect with people who shared similar interests, turned into a community of more than 47,000 followers. 

"[I] fell in love with running because I fell out of love with someone else.”

And while things have certainly changed on social media since she started posting, travel and fitness are still at the core of what West talks about online, “wellness is really the umbrella that connects both,” she says. Her focus is on creating content that provides value, and not just pretty pictures. 

West has a few ways she incorporates wellness into her travels, one being movement. “I’m a big walker,” she says, “coming from New York, I have no problem walking several miles a day.” She also tries to keep some element of a morning routine whether it be a healthy breakfast or journaling for a moment of gratitude. Also, exploring what wellness means locally, “there are some different cultural ways to explore wellness depending on where you are in the world,” she says.

Another way she connects wellness to travel is by traveling alone. “Solo travel is one of the best forms of self-care and one of the ways that I definitely try to keep up with connecting with myself,” she says. And even though she’s married and enjoys traveling with her husband, “there's something so beautiful about being able to do what you want when you want.” She also loves travel because it’s an eye-opening experience that helps you better understand other places and cultures, and it also teaches you a lot about your own resilience.

“Solo travel is one of the best forms of self care and one of the ways that I definitely try to keep up with connecting with myself.”

West currently lives in London but has also lived in Chicago, in addition to New York, and has used her Instagram community to meet people both at home and while traveling. She says one of the things she misses the most about Chicago is the Lakefront Trail, but loves any urban green space. Whether it’s in her home city or one that she’s visiting, she finds connection in movement, like urban hiking, thanks to its health benefits and lower barrier of entry (and it’s free). 

“Sometimes with travel, we think of it as really far big trips that might cost a lot, but there's so much that you can see and explore in your own city,” she says, “walking is a really beautiful way of doing that.”

This article is part of our Known Traveler series where we highlight creators who share inspiring travel and lifestyle content. Check out the full edition for Wellness Wanderers.