hi! I am kch travels

Hi! I'm Karla, the face behind KCH Travels. KCH stands for Karla C. Hernandez.

I grew up in Panama (yes, the country!) and moved to the US to study. I went to FSU (#GoNoles, I know that's controversial, lol). That's also where I met my husband. During COVID, we moved to Denver, CO. There was so much we loved about Colorado, but it never quite felt like home. Citrus County was always on our minds because we have family here. We visited a while back and something just felt right, but we didn't do anything about it right away.

Years later, we started thinking about buying a home, and after a lot of back and forth, we decided Florida was where we wanted to be, closer to family.

Citrus County is more affordable, but it's also so peaceful and beautiful, and if we ever need a big city fix, it's just a short drive away.

We moved, and we are so happy this is our home base now.

I work remotely full-time as a digital marketing professional for a national PR and advertising agency, and I love my job. I get to be creative, travel, and meet a lot of really cool people. I've always had a passion for gadgets, and I got my first camera very young.

I started a photography business doing photoshoots at 14 years old, and I still do it today.

Photography was my first love and it's still my favorite hobby.

Promoting that small business on Instagram quickly became its own thing, and if I wanted to keep my clients, I had to get good at social media. Without even realizing it, I was thinking about organic social strategy for years before it was ever my job. I started practicing video editing and graphic design to complement my business and loved it.

My business kept evolving all through college, my first internship was a social media internship, and the rest is history.

These days, my full-time job has me behind the scenes coordinating a lot of the strategy side, but I still love the editing, filming, and content creation part of it all, and that's really how KCH Travels started.

When we moved, I went looking for "things to do" TikToks the way I always did in Denver, and I couldn't find the kind of content here that I'd found so helpful there.

So I thought, what the heck, let me do it myself.

The timing was perfect since we had just moved, I wanted to explore everything, and we have family members who know this area so well.

Shoutout to Ardath and Tom (yes, you probably know them, because they know everyone and everything in this town). The absolute best family members to have, especially if you are moving to a completely new place.

The posts were so fun to make, and they started getting traction pretty quickly. I'm super grateful for everyone who supported me from the start, it's genuinely what kept me going.

With that exposure, local businesses started reaching out, and I've gotten to meet so many amazing people and discover so many incredible places in this county.

I've gotten messages that have made me emotional. People thanking me because they just moved here, used my posts to explore, and through those adventures fell in love with Citrus. People who've lived here forever and still didn't know about places I've featured. Business owners thanking me because a viral video brought them the exposure they needed to keep the lights on. That's my why. You all have made this move feel like the best decision, and even though I do travel a lot for work, Citrus County as a home base means everything to us.

I can't wait to keep this going. You’ve been asking me for more - guides, tips, maps, and I promise I'm working on it. This page is just the first step. Big things coming.

I get a lot of repeated questions in my DMs and emails, so I wanted to take the time here to answer a few FAQs.

How do you pick what businesses you feature next?
A combination of "I saw it on the street," business owners inviting me, or friends recommending it.

What's the best way to make new friends when you just moved to Citrus County?
This county is so active. I promise if you attend an ongoing event at a spot near where you live related to an activity you like (golfing, art, sports, music), consistently, you'll meet amazing people. For me and my husband, joining the Chamber of Commerce led to meeting amazing people we've done plenty of business with, but who also became great friends.

What's your favorite restaurant?
I honestly can't pick. I love so many.

What do you use to edit your videos and what devices do you have?
Mostly CapCut and the built in editor for Instagram and TikTok. I use Canva for graphics. I have an iPhone 17 Pro Max, a Canon R5, and a DJI mic.

How can I hire you?
Visit my services page for info.