Some of my fondest memories of childhood are of the various camping trips we took in the southwestern United States and the occasional summers with my grandmother in California. Other than that, we didn't do a lot of traveling when I was growing up. I was an avid reader, though, and spent a great deal of my time reading about and imagining myself in faraway lands.
Following my senior year in college, my younger sister and I concocted this half-baked plan to backpack through Europe for five weeks. Oh, how naive we were! Neither one of us had ever been out of the country or traveled on our own, and the Internet wasn't nearly as widespread as it is now, so we did very little research or planning before we went. We landed in Germany with a few changes of clothes, a guidebook, not a lot of cash, no friends and no idea of where we'd be staying that night. I won't sugarcoat: we fought and were stressed at times. Even so, I have the most wonderful memories from that experience because we learned so much about the places we visited, met a fair number of interesting people and managed to have a great deal of fun in spite of our lack of traveling expertise or sophistication. Somewhere along the way, I gained a sense of confidence and self-reliance I'm not sure I'd have otherwise. I also discovered that I love to travel.
I kept a journal of that trip and still enjoy going back to read it sometimes. I've always wished I could find some cohesive way to share my travel experiences with friends and family. Just sending a bunch of pictures isn't enough for me. Not all pictures speak a thousand words; some require a little context. It occurred to me recently that a blog might be just the solution I'm looking for - pictures and text, easily accessible to most of my friends and family.
So welcome to my new travel blog. The world is vast and exciting, and we always manage to meet the most wonderful people wherever we go. I'm so glad you could join us!
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