Who Am I?
Welcome to my page! I am a young American lawyer living in Boston, and I love to spend my free time traveling. During the week you’ll find me in the office, at the gym, going to dinner with friends, playing music, cooking, learning new languages, and hanging out with my roommates. On the weekends and my vacation days I am usually on the road, either visiting friends and family or exploring a new city or country. I try to live well and appreciate life’s little luxuries so that I can enjoy myself without spending more money than I make, both at home and while traveling.
Why I Travel
When my dad was my age, he spent a summer traveling around Europe. He bought a one-way plane ticket to Brussels, Belgium, and had some pretty interesting adventures. Hearing all of his stories growing up planted the seed of wanderlust in me: I wanted my own adventures, my own stories to tell.
As I was growing up, my parents took me on at least one family vacation per year so that I could learn about new places and have something to talk about at school. We would road trip from Connecticut to Chicago each Thanksgiving to see my mom’s family and stop at unique places along the way (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Toledo Zoo, etc). We also took long-weekend trips to places like Washington, D.C., Florida, the Grand Canyon, and an ambitious journey from San Francisco to San Diego. Looking back, my dad says that he wanted to make sure I was as well-traveled as the other children, and I ended up being one of the most well-traveled!
My first experience abroad was a trip to Montreal when I was 10 years old, back when Americans needed only a birth certificate to visit Canada. We returned a few years later to attend the Carnavale de Quebec in Quebec City, and traveled to Cancun, Mexico, the year after that. At this point I was a member of my high school’s Model United Nations team so I was not only experiencing other places as a fun-loving tourist, but also understanding the culture, politics, and history of each place I visited. I had also been learning French for about 10 years and was starting to speak Spanish, which further enhanced my experiences in other countries.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to study abroad in college and again in law school. In college, I spent five months living in Strasbourg, France, and in law school I lived in London, England, for a semester. I used every opportunity during these months to travel to new places or visit friends and family living in Europe. Traveling every weekend was exhausting at times, but the experiences I had and insight I gained with each trip shaped my world views and made me who I am today (as cheesy as that sounds, sorry!). Though a bit more difficult while working a 9-5 (or 9-midnight…) job for Corporate America, I still try to take advantage of every opportunity available to travel, whether it’s an afternoon in Salem, Massachusetts, a weekend on the Cape, or a week in Greece.
Why I Blog
I maintained personal travel blogs during each of my semesters abroad to keep my family and friends updated on my travels. I didn’t want to forget any details or try to sum up all my amazing experiences in a short five-minute conversation. I also wanted to be able to highlight photos of my favorite places without them being lost in a Facebook album.
Each of the previous blogs had a definite end date, but my travel has certainly not ended. I have visited some fascinating new places as well as returning to some places multiple times and want to share my favorite locations with you! Also, being a lawyer, I like giving advice to others: I have learned so much about traveling, living, and staying fit while abroad, along with secrets about different cities, that I want to give this information to as many people as possible. Hopefully the information in this blog helps you plan or prepare for your next vacation, inspires you to visit a new country, state, or city, or just entertains you with its stories and photos of my adventures!
