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Where it all started……..

About me and my wanderlust soul…….It all started in my youth….my Dad was a Delta pilot and we had the good fortune of traveling anywhere Delta flew for FREE….we traveled around the US as a family and took frequent trips to Key Largo, FL where our parents owned a condo with another family!  In 1981, my Mom asked me if I was interested in traveling with a group from our church on a mission trip to Egypt for a 3 week journey down the Nile River (the longest river in the world) with her!  Naturally, I agreed and off we went with our first stop in Reykjavik, Iceland,  Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Germany, an overnight in Beirut, Lebanon and finally arriving in Cairo, Egypt~

 Wow….what an amazing city of physical contrast, standing for more than a 1000 years situated on the eastern shore of the Nile river, one of the largest cities in Africa and home of the pyramids of Giza! We learned some basic Arabic, met many of the locals, toured the Pyramids King Cheops and Chephren, ate delicious middle eastern food, fended off the beggars, traveled to Luxor to see the Valley of the Kings where King Tut is buried and learned hieroglyphs, the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt! This language is basically symbols which began in the 32nd BC century extending into the 4th century AD….talk about old and ancient but so interesting to see a language conveyed through symbolic vibrant colors instead of words! This trip gave me such a WANDERLUST soul…I wanted to see more of the World after getting my feet wet on the trip to the MiddleEast…sooo the next opportunity was an exchange program in Germany!

My German class in high school had a program where we could live with a family in a small town in Bavaria and attend their schools to learn German….. Sign me up….and off I went to live with the Lang family in Treuchtlingen with some good friends from my German class. We attended their schools, toured the famous Neuschwantstein Castle built by King Ludwig, wandered through Medieval villages, Volkfestivals,  consuming liters of beer, we practiced our book learned German and spoke it more proficiently with our non-english speaking families!  Yet another amazing life experience in a culture completely different from my upbringing. I loved every minute of it and wanted to do it again…..I studied Journalism~Public Relations with a minor in German at Iowa State University in the early 80’s!  I decided to study abroad again and it made the most sense to go back to Germany…..in 1985, I traveled back to Germany to study at the Goethe Institute in Prien….a lovely town on a beautiful lake at the foothills of the Bavarian Alps! The intense German study program required daily classes learning the language with a two-hour lunch break to enjoy with  students from all over the world!  My roomies were from Lima, Peru and the island of Cyprus!  We traveled every weekend to Paris, Amsterdam,, Florence, Munich and Zurich!  This study abroad gave me a new appreciation for Europe ~I really hoped I could land a job post college where I  could speak German and travel the world!  I interned at an advertising agency in Chicago where I wrote a lot of press releases, case studies and copy.  While I loved this industry with rigid deadlines and honed my writing skills,  I knew there was another opportunity in the workplace where travel was involved . In 1987, I started working in Marketing and Sales for a regional airline subsidiary of American Airlines…..this job/position\  gave me so many opportunities in marketing, sales,  pubic relations and took me all over the world~it was the perfect fit and lasted 7 years!  During this career , I married my college sweetheart and we started a family in 1994….we raised 3 beautiful daughters who also share a love of travel, exploration and adventure!  I’ve been working in design since 2007 and continue to travel and  photograph all the beautiful places we’ve been!  I love to share our fave places to stay, eat and visit ….this travel/design/lifestyle blog is my next step!  My first blog is taking off soon and I  will continue to promptly update with loads of content!  We recently visited the Greek Islands.. the  first travel blog will highlight all the details of a magical place!  Hope you enjoy the pics and content and feel free to comment and ask questions and I will do my best to keep you all in the loop~

I’ve been fortunate to work in the travel industry and explore so many places on this planet♥  Culture and Design help shape our perspective of the world  from language to  the people we meet,  the food, arts, architecture , history  music and iconic landmarks we see on our travels…Additionally,  working in the design field, since 2007,  my  travels always inspire an eclectic aesthetic to my style and direction!  I’m so excited to share my passion for travel and design in this space  highlighting the places I go and have visited though the years including all the details from museums to restaurants, transfers, tropical  destinations ~ I pay close attention to all of them wherever I travel…..Keep reading and you will GO PLACES !