I caught the travel bug a long time ago (before I knew it was a 'thing'). Pretty much since I was a kid I would pour over travel books and watch hours of the travel channel. My favorites were Samantha Brown and Anthony Bourdain (RIP). As a child of parents from the midwest, let me just say that dinners and family trips were of the 'traditional' kind, which were of course wonderful (I have an amazing family that I love dearly)- but I was always a bit of a black sheep when it came to eating and adventure. Add in the fact that I grew up in South Florida (a cultural mashup of food and language), and you get me.

 

With that said, as a child I naturally found myself drawn to foods, flavors, movies, books and general aesthetics of anything foreign. I would read books on mummies, study French history and watch any movie that involved travel or took place in a foreign country over and over again (for kids The Chipmunk Adventure was my absolute favorite but others like 'Death on the Nile' might suit more adult interests).

 

Places like Egypt, France, Italy, Mexico, Norway, Germany and China (to name a few) were my 'happy places'. Places that I knew I would one day explore (if I could get up the courage to go out there and actually do it). So now that I'm older, have gotten a taste of traveling and have experienced so many other cultures, I'm hooked. I absolutely LOVE getting to know and understand other people through their culture, food, history and customs. It absolutely thrills me and I truly believe it makes us all better people, more compassionate and open to others. It's my belief that only through the eyes of another will we realize we're not so different, that we're more similar than we are dis-similar, so let's get out there and explore!

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