About Me

Ten years old in Colorado

Me (left) and my sisters-in-law :: California, 2016

Me and Mount Everest, 2005

I was born in Montana, raised in the mountains of Colorado and found my true home in Lake Tahoe, California. Mountains are in my soul — a place where I’ll always feel at home.

My love of travel began on my first trip to Europe in 1997. My father and I went to Paris. We looked at the art, ate so many pastries and ran around in the winter weather in disbelief that we were in such a magnificent city.

In 1999, I took a road less traveled and went to Peru to trek to Machu Picchu. It was my first trip to a developing country. Returning to the U.S. after this trip resulted in a major epiphany about the random luck of being born in what’s often regarded as the richest, most powerful country in the world. I began to question my definition of happiness in the context of the world, rather than within the standards and measurements of the U.S. Had I not traveled outside the U.S., I would never have seen or evaluated my life from this new perspective so I regard this trip as a major turning point in my life. It lit the fire. It left me with a lot of curiosity and questions about the world. I haven’t stopped traveling since.

In 2012, I left the mountains and moved to Singapore with my husband, who had accepted a position with a world-renowned visual effects studio. This significant change in our lives presented me with a unique opportunity to transition my career as a creative director from full-time work in an office to remote work from anywhere in the world. This was life-changing for me and, with new freedom and lots of new places to explore, I started Compass & Camera.

More important than where I’ve been or what I’ve done is what I’ve learned while traveling. I’ve learned that I don’t need much to be happy; that beauty, happiness and good people are everywhere; that a smile is the greatest currency; and that a thank you or even just a look in the eye and a nod of the head can go a very long way. I see you.

I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures — from the discoveries of everyday walks through my neighborhood, to more elaborate journeys exploring culture, history and life around the world. My dream trips for 2023 include Egypt, Jordan, Mongolia, maybe a return to Bangkok or Sri Lanka, and hopefully a few other places I haven’t discovered yet. I hope you’ll keep reading and come along with me. There is so much to explore.

Cheers,
Kelly     Kelly Heapy

***

Human Family
By Maya Angelou

I note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.

I’ve sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land,
I’ve seen the wonders of the world
not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I’ve not seen any two
who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
we weep on England’s moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we’re the same.

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.