Growing up, I was incredibly fortunate. I still cannot believe I had such amazing opportunities. As part of my high school orchestra, I visited Russia (St. Petersburg) as a sophomore, and Austria (Vienna and Salzburg) as a senior. We visited historical sites, learned about the culture and performed.

The first time I flew unaccompanied, without an “adult” was in 2013. My cousins, my sister and I flew across the country to visit family in California. My interest - and now passion - for traveling has only grown since then. I think the big change happened during graduate school - that time in your life when you see the world out there with so many opportunities, when you have big aspirations, endless cultures and foods to experience, things to see and do….but no money to do it with, or time because you need to study.

Then, of course, the social media universe opened my eyes to more and more places that sparked my interest. Place after place was (is) added to an ever-growing list.

Making a website to document my journeys has been a dream of mine for a few years now. But with my career, it felt like a silly hobby I’d never actually have time to keep up with. Part of my why for being here is that I love to travel and I think it’s so important to travel to open your eyes to other cultures and perspectives and learn about the world. Aside from that, I’m so fortunate to be able to see the world on my terms - for the most part that means going where I want, when I want. If I get any readers here, I hope to inspire people to get out and explore, and to overcome whatever obstacle is holding them back from achieving their dream, no matter how silly it may seem.

Everything I share on my blog is my perspective, my experiences and my photos (there may be a Google Maps image here and there as the only exception). I’ll share about tours I’ve taken and tour companies I’ve used, but I do not receive any financial incentive to do so, or for anything on this site at all.

I’ve built this site for myself more than anyone else, to look back upon some day and relive my favorite trips and admire how rich a life I have. If you’re reading this, it makes me so happy that you’re here and I hope you enjoy my stories and photos.

I have a couple of travel goals I hope to achieve in my lifetime. I hope to:

  • Visit all fifty states (layovers and driving through the state without stopping and doing something there does not count)

  • Visit all seven continents

  • Visit all of the US National Parks

  • Visit all of the Modern Seven Wonders of the World (The Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, the Colosseum, the Taj Mahal, Petra, Christ the Redeemer, Chichén Itzá) plus the Great Pyramid of Giza.

As of writing this in September 2023, I have been to 28 of the 50 states, four of the seven continents, 16 of the 63 US NPs, and four of the Seven Wonders of the World.