About Me

I've been keeping this blog since 2003. I started it to share our family's experience visiting the UK and Paris. After that, I kept it up -- continuing to write about travel, but also chronicling the day to day weirdness of being a party-loving bohemian trapped in the body of a middle aged housewife and mother... living in one of the world's strangest locales: Southern California.

It wasn't until my mid-30's that I discovered I love to travel. That's when my then-boyfriend invited me to visit his parents... in the United Kingdom. Since then, we've made the trip about a dozen times (about every 12 to 18 months), and have branched out to other parts of the U.S. Although I'm not too crazy about the transportation process (airports, long drives through flat stretches of nothingness -- although I love long drives with beautiful scenery), I still get excited about being in a new place and meeting new people.

Having children along only makes it better. Sure, you have fewer romantic moments -- but how great is it to view the Mona Lisa through your child's eyes? Yes, traveling with kids requires a bit more planning and imposes some limitations on what you get to do -- but the rewards are immeasurable. My little girl, at 10 years old, is a seasoned traveler and a wonderful companion. She has her own list of places to see, and I hope we can make it happen for her.

They say that travel broadens you, and I wholeheartedly agree. When a friend (who had never left the United States before) returned from a recent trip to Europe, I detected a softening of her attitude. No longer putting down say, the French -- now she waxed poetic about the beauty of Paris and how nice the people were. I truly believe that it would be harder to start a war if more of the population was able to visit the other countries of the world.

As for the type of travel -- I enjoy just about everything EXCEPT camping. Sorry -- my idea of roughing it is staying in a 3-star hotel instead of one with four or five. This means I don't get to do as much of it as I like -- which is where YOU come in. I want to hear about YOUR travels. I'd love to link to your posts -- or even display them here. Drop me a line when you're going someplace good -- or even not so good! It's all part of the fun of discovery.