Meet Erin Fitzgerald | Solo Traveler & Adventurer Guide | Digital Content Creator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Erin Fitzgerald and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Erin, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I have been living on my own in Los Angeles for almost 20 years, and in those past two decades I have done so much as a solo traveler and adventurer! I love going places and exploring with my friends, but I also really know how to do it by myself and I know how much joy and self worth I derive from doing things and going to places on my own. I wanted to start a brand that would be able to showcase my adventures but also one that would hopefully inspire others to go out there and do it on their own as well! I knew I could produce videos, as that is my background, so I decided the best approach for starting a company that would ultimately serve as a way to inspire and help people to travel and explore on their own was to show me doing it. I work full time at an office corporate job, but that allows me to have most of my evenings and weekends free to work on launching my own brand and business! Because it is centered around something I love (travel and exploring – both close by and far away) I always seem to have the motivation and energy to keep going. I am rolling out the business in phases with phase one being getting everything set up online behind the scenes (my YouTube Channel, TikTok and Instagram) – and then I will be launching into phase two of selling merchandise and trip guides and how to books for traveling solo!

What should our readers know about your business?
First off, I am a work in progress — it is hard for me to just call myself an artist or business owner or entrepreneur, even though I know with all of my being that that is truly who I am and what I was meant to be doing with my time on this planet. It’s hard to fight against societal norms of just having a job or working for a company for 30+ years and then retiring with your 401K plan. Especially because that is how my entire family lives, also they live on the east coast in Massachusetts and I moved to Los Angeles to embark on a life that is anything but normal when I was in my 20’s. All that being said though, my family and friends have never been anything but supportive of anything I wanted to do and try — even when they don’t fully quite understand what that is. For me, that is actually the key – nobody else has to understand what I am trying to do or think that I will eventually succeed — but I need to believe that for myself. At the end of the day it is wonderful to have love and support and people cheering you on, but they are not the one’s who will be doing the work and making the sacrifices – you are, so YOU need to be your #1 fan and supporter and the person telling you to keep going! Some days that inner supporter is so nice to me and sometimes… well she isn’t. She tells me to quit or give up or that what I am trying to do is stupid (things my actual family and friends would never tell me!!) but when that voice is extra loud, I try and listen and understand where it is coming from. It’s usually from a place of fear, fear that something “bad” is going to happen to me if I don’t stick to the company status quo… and for that I can’t really be mad at her. But usually she quiets down and I am able to keep on keeping on. Having a road map helps quiet her a lot, like an actual business plan I can review with her and make sure she knows – we have a plan and we are just executing it! The biggest thing I have learned going down this path is never ever give up, if you want something – keep taking action to get there. Nothing will ever just happen, you need to work towards what you want. Hopefully one day my brand – TheErinSpace – will stand for people finding out who they are and doing what they want! And I will be able to have inspired people around the world to travel and explore through my videos and fun merchandise and books — but I bet even then, I will consider myself an entrepreneur in progress, and maybe that is not such a bad thing.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I have been the designated tour guide to Los Angeles for almost 20 years now. Anytime my friends and relatives visit from the East Coast, I step it up and find all the coolest places to take them to. For me, it does depend on the time of year – there are some really cool things to do here specific to the seasons (which LA does absolutely have!). I have come to love the Spring and early Summer the most out here. We start getting that really nice SoCal weather in March and it stays beautiful usually through July, then it gets hot. Like hot hot. If you are coming to visit in late April/early May for a week, here is what I would have us do!

Sunday: travel day, you fly in (hopefully to one of the airports that are not LAX!) I pick you up and we go grab a coffee at one of my favorite spots: The Palm Coffee Bar in Burbank. We then get you to your hotel (I prefer those over an air BnB when traveling, I LOVE A HOTEL), I would recommend the Burbank/North Hollywood area for the week – maybe the Hilton Universal, the views are so insane from the top floors and it puts you smack dab in the middle of Los Angeles proper with easy access to the beaches, Hollywood, Downtown and Anaheim! I suggest a nice hot shower and room service dinner at your hotel, then sleep. You need to get on our LA time stat!

Monday: We start out chill, I can pick you up and we will head out to the beach areas. A drive on the PCH early in the morning is literally the best way to start a day. I would say we grab breakfast at Cora’s Coffee Shoppe — it is a hidden away gem with the most yummy pancakes around. We then hit the PCH hard and drive it while blasting tunes until we hit the Arch Rock, an iconic SoCal spot! We can chill there and take all the pictures before heading back down the PCH to the Malibu area. We can grab snacks and coffee at Vintage Grocers, the BEST place in Malibu for snacks… and people watching. We can then find a place to park along the PCH for sunset and snacks, we can end the day with a seafood treat at Malibu Seafood! My fave spot for fish around!

Tuesday: Today we tackle downtown LA… The 7th and Fig shopping area, The Last Bookstore, The Disney Concert Hall, The Grand Central Market and of course a ride on the classic Angels Flight funicular lift. This day is all about classic downtown Los Angeles. If time allows (and you are here after the major construction going on now) we can go to one of my favorite spots in town, LACMA – the Los Angeles County Art Museum. They have a yummy place for dinner and we can enjoy the cooler early evening weather at Ray’s & Stark.

Wednesday: Let’s do Hollywood!! We start out on Sunset Boulevard with breakfast at Mel’s Diner… right on Sunset. We do the tourist thing of walking around the Sunset Strip, grabbing a coffee at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. We make our way East back into Hollywood proper, where we stop off at the giant Funko Pop store – where we can pop ourselves and make mini Funko’s of us! We pop into Amoeba Music for a spin around the albums, and then grab a late lunch/early dinner at Musso and Frank’s. Another iconic Hollywood joint that has the BEST steak around. If they are in town, we can hit up a Dodger game that night. Dodger Stadium is truly one of my favorite places in LA… especially in the evening! If not a game, we may try and see something at The Pantages Theater or the Hollywood Bowl!

Thursday: We start out with breakfast and coffee at our hotel, and then we head out to Griffith Park and the Los Feliz neighborhood area. This area of Los Angeles can take you back in time to the Golden Age of Hollywood. We will try and get up to Griffith Observatory as early as we can, spend some time inside — it’s free! And then snap all our pics of the Hollywood Sign and maybe do a little hiking as well. We head into Los Feliz proper after this to one of my fave bookstores around: Skylight Books. And we must hit up their annex shop as well, that specializes in graphic novels and comics – Skylight Books Arts Annex. We grab lunch at Home — an old time fave of mine from my time I spent living in this neighborhood. We then circle back into Hollywood and spend some time on the Walk of Fame and the Hollywood and Highland complex, a tourist trap for sure – but still an icon. We put our hands in cement in front of the Chinese Theatre and maybe grab a hot dog at Pink’s before checking out Golden Apple Comics and my favorite small art gallery – Gallery 825. Then it is back to your Hilton. We pop down to Universal CityWalk late night for a cocktail or milkshake from The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and spend the late night evening enjoying Universal!

Friday: We have to head out early and out of LA proper for this one, we are going down to Anaheim and to the OG of OG park’s – Disneyland! We are headed to the Grand Californian for breakfast at the Craftsman Grill, where they serve the literal best Avocado Toast around. We check out all of the updates they are making to Downtown Disney – and if you want to hit the parks we can, but honestly there is enough to do in Downtown Disney on its own! We hit the road back up to LA around 2pm to avoid the Friday rush hour. That gets us back to LA proper around 4pm, a quick stop in our hotel to freshen up and then we are off again – heading to dinner at my favorite place in Thai Town – Jitlada! Amazing food and amazing atmosphere. We can end the night in Little Tokyo, another must see neighborhood — karaokeing away at Pharaoh Karaoke Lounge.

Saturday: We have a nice lie in today, with room service coffee and breakfast and spend most of the day poolside – resting and relaxing! For your last night in town, we grab dinner at my favorite hole in the wall Italian joint – Miceli’s.

Sunday: It’s time for you to head out… until your next visit where I will cook up an entirely different itinerary for us! 🙂

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My opportunity for even being a part of this shout out would not be possible without one of my oldest friends, Amy Lordan. She has been in my life for probably 30 years at this point (yikes!) 🙂 We met when we were in college – and connected on so many things, pop culture, music, film, books… anything and everything media related, we could talk about and collaborate about. She was one of the first people I ever met who seemed to vibrate on my same nerdy level, and she still does to this day. I have been so inspired by her own use of social media to promote self awareness on so many important topics around mental health, social and health issues and of course pop culture. She is always putting herself out there to inspire and motivate through art and artists and I could not be more proud of her or more inspired to keep on keeping on with my own creative and business endeavors!.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_erinspace/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheErinSpace

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheErinSpace

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theerinspace