Hello, my name’s Daniel Gillaspia and I’m the founder of UponArriving.com.
I’m a former attorney who made a career change to a digital entrepreneur, and I have a deep passion for exploring and building things.
Since 2014, I’ve been blogging about various aspects of travel that I’ve experienced.
Whether that was credit card rewards, TSA policies, practical airline and hotel tips, or giving the lowdown on specific destinations, I’ve always tried to use my personal experiences to create extremely thorough and helpful content.
I grew up in the Lone Star State, where the people are friendly, the summers are scorching, and the Tex-Mex food is to die for. After graduating from Texas A&M, I shipped off to the West Coast for a bit of a change of pace.
There, I spent three years living in the hippy haven of Berkeley, California for law school. Berkeley — as crazy as it can be — exposed me to a whole new world of ideas and way of life.
I fell into the hobby of photography, grew fond of the beautiful natural scenery in sunny California, and after being exposed to polar-opposite political ideologies at A&M and UC-Berkeley, I found myself developing a keen insight and appreciation for differences in opinion and outlooks that I think has been invaluable in getting the most out of my travels… and life in general.
I’ve “lived” for at least some time in three different countries besides the United States. I spent a summer living in Oaxaca, Mexico, a beautiful capital nestled in a mountain valley where I discovered the wonder that is mole and mezcal.
I later lived in Bondi Beach, Australia, just outside of Sydney, for an Aussie winter and it was there that I really discovered my passion for travel.
Later, I spent about a year living in the United Kingdom munching on fish-n-chips, minding the gap, and doing my best to seek out as much Vitamin D as humanly possible while living there.
Eventually, I would spend a few years living in Southern Arizona falling in love with the desert and mountains of the Southwest before transitioning to a fully digital nomad lifestyle.
I now run the credit card app WalletFlo, work as a marketing consultant for startups, and continue to blog about all of my travels.
I’m now most interested in telling the story of destinations and combining those stories with practical knowledge and tips that help other people make the most of their own experiences.
