Joanna Kalafatis, 25, originally moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, though her work has more recently turned to travel writing and photography. She is the founder of losethemap.com, which in spite of the short period of time it’s been around, has managed to surface the media, as one of the most promising and popular personal travel sites. The underlying motives behind her work are not that different to acting, however.
“Essentially, I love telling human stories, whether that be of characters on screen or stories from people and cultures all around the world,” Joanna Kalafatis tells Neos Kosmos.
“My first significant experience doing any kind of work abroad was during a study abroad program in college, for which I went to Brazil and South Africa.”
“The program focused on economic and urban development, and it was very hands-on, so we got to meet and work with local charities, political organizations, businesses, and community groups,” she explains.
She created losethemap.com in January of 2014, and it was originally named Go Road Trippin’. The decision came about over the winter holidays on a whim. Her first travel job, though, was writing small blurbs for a site called placesonline.com. Then gradually, she started writing for more prominent sites with larger reach, like Hipmunk and the Matador Network.
“I was feeling very restless; I’ve never been good with not doing much, and I felt like I had lost touch with a lot of my creativity while pursuing acting in Hollywood, because it had become so much of a business endeavor – focusing on marketing, networking, logistical issues – that the fun, artistic part was almost gone.”
“Since I had always had a passion for travel and writing, and had started working more seriously on photography, I decided I might as well start a blog. It was up and running with the first post published within 3-4 hours,” she says harking back.

Joanna has been to almost 30 countries at the moment, covering most of Western, Southern, and central Europe, as well as central America, North America, many Caribbean nations, and Brazil and South Africa.

“There are so many destinations I would you like to visit that I haven’t had the chance to, yet,” she muses.
“Although it’s hard to narrow down because the whole world is on my list, I would have to say Iceland and Mongolia are topping my list right now.”
“These may seem like somewhat random choices, but Iceland has unparalleled natural beauty, and I like that both nations are large in size but low in population – it gives them somewhat of an untamed feel.”
She believes it is very relaxing to explore wild nature and lose your connection to the modern world, even for a little while. Travelling solo really gives Joanna a great confidence in her own independence and competence under pressure. But mostly, it offers her the many fascinating glimpses into other peoples’ cultures and other peoples’ lives.
“Travelling makes me feel renewed each time I return from a trip,” she admits.
“It opens up my mind to exploring other perspectives, learning to appreciate and respect other lifestyles and values, and really just being mesmerized by all the wonderful things our world has to offer, both natural and man-made.”
Amongst the many fascinating experiences she has to share from her endless travels, there is one that changed her life forever.

“On my last day of classes on my South African study abroad program, I was hit by a car going 60-70 km an hour and thrown onto the other side of the road.”
“My injuries were pretty serious, as I hit my head, broke my femur, and my lung partially collapsed.”
Joanna spent 10 days in the hospital, a few weeks in a wheelchair, and a few months on crutches and in physical therapy.
“It might be cliche to say that a near-death experience really changes how you see life, but I definitely felt it to be true,” she confesses.
“The doctors told me I was lucky the car hit me on my strongest bones, because if the car had hit me anywhere else, I would have either had permanent damage or much worse.”
Knowing everything could have changed or ended in a split second made her so much more observant and appreciate of life.
“The accident happened in March,” she tells.
“I remember standing on my college campus in September, looking at the leaves turning and feeling the crisp New York autumn breeze, and almost crying from joy because I was around to experience that!
“And because I could finally walk with no noticeable limp or pain.”
It was Joanna’s last year of college, and she decided then and there to just take the risk she had previously been dismissing as ‘too crazy’, and move out to LA after graduation.
“That experience made me more of a risk-taker in general, because I was always a pretty careful child. I took all the precautions and something bad still happened.”
“So now I’ve lost a lot of my fears, and am doing what I love, because I don’t want to put off pursuing my biggest dreams to some later date.”
“We can never be sure if we have that luxury,” she insists.
Joanna goes back to Greece every summer for at least a month only to initiate the countdown for next year.
“If I’m really feeling homesick, sometimes I will return at some point during the winter as well,” she confesses.

“If Greece wasn’t 16 hours away by plane, I would probably be back every weekend.”
She feels very connected to the Greek culture and lifestyle, especially because she spent the first few years of her life there, and still is lucky enough to have kept her childhood home in Greece.
“The bonds I’ve created with friends and family back in Greece, as well as Greeks abroad, are extremely strong, and I think I owe a lot of my open, curious, free-spirited personality to my heritage.”
“I can travel and never feel alone because I know I have such a strong community back home supporting me no matter where I go,” she tells.

Joanna informs me that she’ll be heading to Japan the next day. It will be her springboard to delve into the beauties of Asia, before attending an important travel blogger meeting.
“It’s my first time in Asia, and I will be exploring Tokyo, Mt. Fuji, and Kyoto. Then I fly to Costa Brava for the 2015 TBEX conference.”
“Thanks to a partnership with Eurail, I will be traveling through Europe in May after the conference,” she says.
Joanna has also received an invitation to stay at Beatilla Resort in Mantova, Italy, and will be therefore covering the resort for the Matador Network.
“I am looking forward to exploring some of southern Europe’s smaller cities, like Nimes, Annecy, Trieste, as well as the beautiful Cinque Terre reserve.
To follow Joanna Kalafati’s next 6 weeks of travels, photos and tips visit on LosetheMap.com