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Category:

Highlight

    AdviceHighlight

    How to Celebrate Mother’s Day as a Single Mom

    by Brenna Holeman May 10, 2025
    written by Brenna Holeman
    May 10, 2025
    2 comments
    0 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • HighlightLifestyleStories

    My Birth Story, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Epidural

    by Brenna Holeman February 5, 2025
    by Brenna Holeman February 5, 2025

    I have been meaning to write this post for a long, long time. I suppose you could argue I’ve been waiting to tell this story since early April of 2022, which is when I gave birth to my son. Considering he is now nearly three years old, and I have one glorious day where I am actually on top of my freelance deadlines, the sun is shining, and I have a cup of hot coffee at my side, I thought I’d finally write a blog post about my birth story, or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the epidural (I couldn’t resist the title, which is a nod to my former days of cinephilia and a love of all things Stanley Kubrick).

    4 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • HighlightHome Sweet HomeLifestyle

    A Review of 2024: The Year It Started to Make Sense

    by Brenna Holeman January 2, 2025
    by Brenna Holeman January 2, 2025

    In other years, I’ve written reviews like 2021: The Worst… I Mean, the Best Year of My Life (a general summary) or ones featuring certain words that meant a lot to me that year or, way back in the day, month by month. For this one, I thought I’d divide it into certain topics, those pillars of my life that make me me: motherhood, writing/work, lifestyle, travel, dating, and mental health. Let’s just say some topics will be juicier than others, hah.

    So, without further ado, here is my review of 2024.

    5 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • HighlightLifestyleWriting and Blogging

    Have I Completely and Utterly F#&ked Up?

    by Brenna Holeman November 23, 2024
    written by Brenna Holeman
    November 23, 2024
    80 comments
    21 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Dating and RelationshipsHighlightStories

    The Last Time I Saw You (Part Nine)

    by Brenna Holeman December 13, 2023
    by Brenna Holeman December 13, 2023

    The last time I saw you, I knew it would be the last time. Isn’t that a strange feeling? To say goodbye to someone and know you’ll never see them again.

    “I’ll see you in a couple of months,” you said to me, your mouth pressed against my ear. We were the same height. I felt the stubble on your chin brush against my cheek as you pulled away, the scent of you lingering for just a moment. Above us was a bright blue sky, an early morning sun. Shopkeepers were just starting to unpack the city, pulling chairs out on café sidewalks, opening shutters on the fruit stalls. A man wearing a loose suit jacket swept outside his bookstore, a steady rhythm of straw hitting concrete.

    “I’ll see you in a couple of months,” I echoed, grabbing my backpack off of the cobblestones. We kissed one more time, a quick one, and you tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear.

    “Ciao,” you smiled at me.

    “Ciao,” I smiled back, turning toward the train station, all the air leaving my lungs.

    8 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • AdviceDating and RelationshipsHighlight

    How to Get Over a Tough Breakup

    by Brenna Holeman October 3, 2023
    by Brenna Holeman October 3, 2023

    It doesn’t matter if you were together for 30 years, five years, or even a few months, let’s face it: breakups are terrible. In fact, a tough breakup is often cited as one of the most stressful things you’ll ever go through in life. And as someone who has suffered her fair share of difficult breakups – my last serious relationship ended when my then-partner dumped me while I was pregnant with his child – I can tell you that there are few things in the world that are as energy-draining, as mind-numbing, or as hard to get through. What I’d love to do right now is give you a big hug and tell you it’s going to be OK. Barring that, here are a few things you can do to help yourself through a difficult breakup.

    6 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • AdviceDating and RelationshipsHighlight

    What is Love Bombing?: Warning Signs and How to Avoid It

    by Brenna Holeman March 4, 2021
    written by Brenna Holeman
    March 4, 2021
    17 comments
    8 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • AdviceDating and RelationshipsHighlight

    Hot and Cold: What is Intermittent Reinforcement in Relationships?

    by Brenna Holeman October 15, 2020
    by Brenna Holeman October 15, 2020

    I met Dylan in a sandwich shop on a snowy afternoon in Toronto. With a charming accent and a mop of brown curls, I was instantly smitten. Lunch after lunch, even though it cost a fortune, I visited the sandwich shop for a chance to speak to the handsome man who worked there.

    After six weeks, he finally asked me out. From then on, things happened fast: we became boyfriend and girlfriend, moved in together, and planned a future living in another country, all within the span of six months or so. It was my first truly serious relationship – I was 22 – and I was so excited to finally have someone to introduce to friends and family, to plan out holidays with, and to share my life and all its ups and downs.

    And although Dylan and I stayed together for nearly three years, lived in three countries together, and even discussed marriage and children, I always had a worrying thought lingering the back of my mind: I don’t think Dylan is very nice to me. In fact… I think Dylan is really, really mean to me.

    16 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Dating and RelationshipsHighlightStories

    This Is How Your Heart Breaks

    by Brenna Holeman October 2, 2017
    by Brenna Holeman October 2, 2017

    This is how your heart breaks: slowly and deliberately, and then all at once. A story about falling in and out of love.

    9 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • Dating and RelationshipsHighlightLifestyleOpinions

    Trust Me, Your 30s Are So Much Better Than Your 20s

    by Brenna Holeman May 7, 2017
    written by Brenna Holeman
    May 7, 2017
    91 comments
    8 FacebookTwitterPinterestEmail
  • 1
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About Me

About Me

Hi, I'm Brenna

After travelling to more than 100 countries over the past 19 years, many of them solo, I write about travel a lot but I write about other things, too: break ups, buying way too much jewellery, and whisky, for example (none of those things are related, I swear). You’ll find a mix of advice, opinion pieces, and stories on this blog, but either way, I hope to make you want to read more. And up next? I'm now a single mom to a beautiful little boy, the biggest solo adventure I've ever been on. For more about me and what you'll find on This Battered Suitcase, click here.

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Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life." - Jack Kerouac

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AFFILIATE POLICY

Please note that some links on This Battered Suitcase are affiliates (at no extra cost to you); I only recommend products I use and love. This Battered Suitcase is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Currently in

WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, CANADA

Last Stops: Phoenix, AZ & Vancouver, BC

Up Next:  Curacao

 

Disclosures

This Battered Suitcase is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and links to Amazon.com. For the full disclosure/privacy policy, please click here.

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This Battered Suitcase
  • Home
  • About
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  • Start Here
  • Destinations
    • Africa
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      • Malta
      • Monaco
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