Hello World!
People ask me all the time about what draws me to traveling. That’s easy – I love being introduced to new cultures and people and experiencing the way other parts of the world live. I also love the excitement of going somewhere new, learning about it, and being able to store it away in my “book” (mind) of memories to look back on in the future.
I grew up taking the typical “American vacation” as a child – two weeks, a camper, traipsing across the USA, and exploring different areas. We normally went West (I was born and raised in Iowa) to places like Colorado and Wyoming. My parents loved the mountains so we spent as much time there as possible. But we also visited many other states when I was growing up including going to the East coast, Florida and the surrounding states, and further West in to California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
I was also exposed to international travel through my Father. His job required him to travel about 80% of the year and most of that was international for weeks at a time. I always loved hearing his stories (and still do today) about the far off lands he visited (he did a lot of work in the Middle East and Asia which always sounded so exotic and exciting).
I was able to experience a bit of international travel growing up – Mexico of course, but also Costa Rica in the 90’s before it became what it is today, and Spain and France. I thoroughly enjoyed all of these trips.
For college I decided to venture out of Iowa and experience a new place – I ended up at The University of Arizona in Tucson and loved my time there. My only regret was not taking advantage of a travel abroad program.
Which leads me to where I am today. I always had big dreams of visiting different countries and experiencing different cultures. I finally was able to get to a point around the age of 30 where I could truly devote resources (primarily money and time) to travel. The bucket list was huge so I just decided to go for it. The first place I visited was Ecuador and I’ve been continuing to knock places off my bucket list (while always adding new ones) throughout the years.
People ask me all the time how I do it from a time and money perspective. My answer is simple: its all about priorities. I live (and travel) in a way that affords me the ability to use my disposable income for adventures. I work for myself in the real estate industry and I am always working where ever I go so I rarely ever (vacation or not) take a day off. For me its really just about making decisions (smart ones) and deciding to take every opportunity I can to explore more and live in the moment.
I created this blog so that I could share more about my trips with family and friends but I hope that it also helps others who are contemplating trips to various countries and places. I love to share and be a resource for others. So please do not hesitate to reach out to me!
Bon Voyage! Buen Viaje! Safari Salami! Viagem Segura! Trygg Reise! Keselamatan Perjalanan!
Alyssa