Hey Reader!

I'm in London this week and loving it! I've been here with some other travel professionals, hosted by the wonderful Melià Hotels, a Spanish brand that has hotels all over the world.

I've been hearing so many wonderful travel stories, I wanted to share some of my own:

• My first trip abroad was doing an internship in Ghana with a nonprofit in the middle of nowhere, living by myself. To say I had culture shock is an understatement...I survived on packaged noodles and walked 30 minutes to an internet cafe to communicate with my boyfriend (now husband, love ya babe). But I also made friends with pineapple farmers and artists, learned some Ewe, explored half the country, accidentally entered Togo (whoops), partied in Accra, and went to a massive secret waterfall in the rainforest - all thanks to my local friends. My love affair with West Africa continues to this day. I love the warm and friendly people, the wild beauty, and yes, the chaos :)

• I was a Peace Corps Volunteer with my husband in both Mali and Guyana. We adored our community in Mali, but we had to be evacuated after the coup in 2012, which was a wild time. When everyone in our region - all 22 of us - were locked down at our regional house that ordinarily slept about 10 people, we slept on the roof, rotated out who cooked "team dinner," and held the Sikasso Olympics, a bunch of silly games that included bobbing for cashew fruit and eating caterpillars. We also celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary on that roof during our lockdown, with our 20 besties. We still miss Mali dearly and wish we could go back to visit, but it's been really unstable since then.

• My last job before starting my business in 2018 was working for an Irish nonprofit in Sierra Leone - I did research with Ebola survivors there. (I have a Master's in Global Public Health, hence why I have lived and worked in so many offbeat places.) When our cat got sick, the only vet in the country only worked on dogs, not cats. So I called the chimpanzee sanctuary to see if they had any equipment small enough for cats, which they did not. My husband had to medevac him, and I quit that job to come back to the US. (Pets are family!) Cattfink was fine after a hospital stay, and lived to be 17.

• My first vacation to Europe was not until 2022 - after I had lived in Africa and Latin America several times, and worked in places like Albania and Jordan. We went to Sicily for our first trip to Europe, and fell in love with the history, food, culture, beaches, and farmers...Sicily is like West Africa and Italy had a baby. We stumbled into a street arts festival in Ragusa, stayed at a citrus and olive farm that prepared gluten-free arancini especially for me, learned how to make traditional almond cookies, visited my husband's ancestral village, and road-tripped throughout the island to see Greek and Roman ruins. I also got to practice my Italian and only got lost a few times! (I still get lost in Seattle, honestly, so this was a win.) Since that trip, we've visited the Netherlands, France, and now, the UK! I'm slowly exploring the "easier" parts of the world.

• I think it goes without saying if you read all this - but travel genuinely brings me so much joy. The more I travel, the more I feel connected to our shared humanity. And maybe that's cheesy, but it can be cheesy and true! Planning clients' trips also helps me learn about new places to explore, so selfishly, I love planning travel for other people because I can live vicariously through your trip. I'm constantly in awe of everything the world has to offer.

Anyway, this is way too long and I'd love to hear from you. What have been some cool travel experiences you've had?

Have you made new friends? Seen a secret place you didn't know existed? Accidentally entered a country?

Don't be shy - hit reply and let me know! I love hearing from you!!

-Carolyn