Have you ever heard the expression “traveling is in my blood”? Had an innate part of yourself that longed to see the world and travel and taste and do and be and just try absolutely everything? (Caveat: within reason… I’m not cliff diving or trying blowfish or doing anything that I find extraordinarily dangerous; I do have a large amount of self-preservation).

If so, this may be the spot for you.

I began traveling at a young age. Summers were spent visiting the beach, my grandparents, or extended family members at locations throughout the United States. The summer after my freshman year of high school, we traveled out to New Mexico and Texas to see my Aunt Nita and her family. While there, we saw the White Sands National Park, we went horseback riding at a ranch in Texas, and we went white water rafting. Although Texas, in the scheme of things, is not very far or very different from my life at home, I remember the excitement I felt at seeing this new place, in experiencing a new culture, in being somewhere that was different than my own home of North Carolina.

While New Mexico and Texas were not my first time traveling on a plane – that honor goes to my 6th grade trip to Boston, I still remember the excitement I felt as I boarded and the fear I felt as the plane took off.

Fast forward to the summer I was 16: at that time I was close friends with a girl who had family who lived in Hamburg, Germany. She was going to visit them for a month that summer, and I was asked to go along. Instant answer: Oh my gosh, yes! I spent a summer immersing myself in their culture, going to spas (where my 16 year old self was shocked to discover that people went naked), traveling to Berlin and Potsdam, hopping a bus over to Amsterdam and seeing Anne Frank’s house. Traveling at 16 can be difficult, though. I was homesick often, a sentiment that still pops up to this day.

When people ask me whether I would move to another country, the honest answer is no: I love my home. I love traveling. I also love coming home.

There’s this quote that I came across years ago that was credited to Karen Hawkins. She said, “One of the benefits of traveling is that you learn what you truly value when you are home. And little things that you might take for granted are sweeter, softer, larger, and infinitely better for the experience of not having them.” This quote has always hit home. While I love the thrill and joy of traveling, I also love the quiet contentment of home.

Follow along with me as I discuss my travels, past, present, and future.

In fact: I have huge travel plans coming upon in about 5 weeks: London, England; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Montenegro; Athens, Amorgos, and Santorini, Greece, and Stockholm, Sweden over a course of about 17 days. Stay tuned!