To avoid my biography sounding too much like a dating profile or a resume, I decided to focus on all the things in my life that directly affect how I view travel and how I react to the situations I was presented with as a travel professional. With this approach, I’m hoping the About Me section of the blog will actually be useful in helping the reader understand my travel content and any content that exists after my days in the industry.

It’s also unintentionally long, so kudos to anyone who makes it through!

Road trips 

My love for travel was trained in me at an early age. My parents are hugely adventurous, having backpacked across the Brooks Range in Alaska, canoed and rafted throughout Alaska and Canada, and slept in tents more times than any of us can count. They’ve now retired to an RV so they can continue their exploration of the US and Canada in a little more comfort than a tent.

As kids, my brother and I learned to ride for very long distances in a car. All our vacations were road trips. We would spend up to two weeks driving around the country, exploring national parks, camping, backpacking, hiking, and just generally enjoying the outdoors. We avoided cities and spent as much time in the middle of nowhere as possible.

By age 20, I had been to all the lower 48. I’m still missing Alaska and Hawaii but I’ll check them off the bucket list soon enough.

Many people would be amazed by what the United States has to offer. It’s a huge country with some of the most diverse climates and biomes of any country out there. My childhood taught me to love exploring and, possibly more importantly, how to handle long travel days.

Anthropology

I’ve had a passion for ancient Egypt for as long as anyone can remember. When I graduated high school, I switched majors about six times, trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. (Interestingly, one of the things I switched to (for about a week) WAS Travel and Tourism.) After flip-flopping all over the decision, I finally decided that I was going to go for the career I really wanted, no matter what it would take, and changed my major again to Anthropology. I was going to be an Egyptologist!

Well, as it turns out, writing research papers sucks and most archaeologists spend their time on construction sites sifting through dirt in case some archaeological material turns up. If you do wind up working on more interesting sites, you’d be lucky to have your name mentioned in the paper published by the lead archaeologist on the project, who gets to take credit for any discoveries.

I completed just over three years of anthropology at Colorado State University, and in that time, I published a paper that has been sited multiple times in other scientific papers. That paper makes me, still, despite this being over 12 years ago, the world’s leading expert on the effects of cattle trampling on recently burned archaeological sites. Which, despite being pointless, is pretty cool.

Anthropology still heavily influences how I see the world and doesn’t always focus on the ancient. A lot of my coursework was in cultural anthropology, which focuses on the way of life of modern vs. ancient peoples. It aims to understand the social influences that have shaped our modern society over time and expend a lot of energy looking at less developed cultures, such as the hunter-gatherer tribes still thriving in central Africa and Indonesia. I view all cultures as a learning experience. Anthropologists are trained to stay outside of the situation so that the subjects of study are not influenced by the presence of an outside party. Basically, glorified people-watching. But it’s something I’ve always enjoyed. Just observing others in their day-to-day activities can tell you more about a culture or group of people than anything you’d see on an excursion or at a resort.

Archaeology is also a major influence. I have a large collection of Egyptology books and there have been several occasions where I’ve had the opportunity to see some of the artifacts in person in various museums. I’ve also been able to travel to some of the archaeological sites I learned about during my classes. It’s an incredible feeling to have spent so much time studying something and then getting to see it in its natural landscape stretching out in front of you.

Cuisine

I’ve always loved interesting food. I’ve never had much interest in steak and potatoes or classic American food in general. Indian has been one of my favorite cuisines since I was a teenager, and I grew up on my dad’s recipes, which included all kinds of Asian, European, Latin, and German dishes.

Fortunately, I also love to cook. My Dad taught me to cool during the holidays when I helped him prepare our Thanksgiving and Christmas meals. As soon as I learned to read recipes, I started to create recipes. Whenever I’m home, I’m always trying a new recipe or learning to make one of my favorite foods.

Food is always a huge part of travel and it helps to have an indiscriminating palate. Trying the local cuisine is always the first thing I want to do when I arrive in a new country. I love learning about new foods and trying new dishes with spices and flavors I can’t even begin to identify.

Backpacking

As mentioned earlier, my family spent a lot of time exploring the less developed parts of the country. It’s led to a desire to explore off the beaten path and a willingness to get dirty. I’ve peed on more bushes than I can count, hiked as much as 12 miles per day with a 70-pound pack, gone 11 days without a shower, backpacked through the Absorokas south of Yellowstone, and spent nights in a tent at 11,500 feet during a lightning storm. It would be inaccurate to say that I’m fearless, but I would certainly qualify as a risk-taker.

It’s easy to get the most out of an experience or really see a country authentically when you’re willing to use a restroom in a Mexican truck stop, eat dinner at a greasy spoon kofta shack in Egypt or kayak every body of water you can get a boat on.

Getting off the beaten path leads me to some of the most incredible things that so many people will never see. I’m so thrilled that I don’t have to miss out on an experience because I’m afraid or don’t want to get dirty.

Non-fiction and Maps

My grandfather owned a racing sailboat docked in the Chesapeake Bay for years when I was a kid and I missed so many amazing opportunities because I didn’t think I cared. As I got older, I started to develop an interest in sailing. When I was 14, I read what is still my favorite book, In the Heart of the Sea. It’s the true story of the whale ship Essex that was sunk by a whale and inspired Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. Since then, my taste in literature has been entirely nonfiction. I’ll read anything that has to do with exploration and survival. The stories told by the men who mapped our country.

Interestingly, I also love maps. Like… I REALLY love maps. I can’t do a road trip without a good printed map. They’re souvenirs I often come home with. I use them as decor in my home and office. My dad taught me to navigate with a compass while hiking as a kid, and ever since then I have loved being able to see the layout of the landscape and understand where I am in the world in relation to other landmarks and way points. GPSs are great, and I, of course, use Google Maps; but there’s nothing like a good map that shows you your location in the world and what geographical landmarks you’re surrounded by.

The combination of these two interests has led to a number of my bucket list items and helped expand my interest in travel.

Preparedness

I was never a scout, but my parents are both engineers, and my brother and I grew up with a lot of structure. Our house was always organized, you always knew where to find things, and everything always went back where it belonged. That structure has continued in my travels. It makes it very easy to know exactly where my equipment is. I’m able to pack the morning I fly out because my standard travel kit is always ready to go, just add clothing. With all the last-minute assignments, drastically different climates, and random sleeping arrangements, being prepared for anything has come in handy more times than I could ever write about.

Art and Photography

I am NOT a photographer. Not even close. But I do have a fine arts degree and I have taken one whole photography class. My Graphic Design and Fiber Arts degrees have left me with an eye for composition and a love for art in general. I try my hand at photography and many of the photos on the blog are ones that I have taken. I don’t usually travel with my DSLR because cell phone cameras have come so far it hardly seems worth taking of the extra space in my bag to take it. My graphic design background allows me to be decent with Photoshop so I can make my photographs look a little better than cell phone camera quality, and the convenience of the cell phone camera is unmatched. I hope to get more into photography and begin taking and selling real stock photography but I keep finding myself too busy while on trips to really take the time required.

My study of Fiber Arts is also something that influences my interests when traveling. The archaeological history of textiles can teach us a lot about a culture and it’s easy to find examples of modern and ancient textiles anywhere you go. I tend to seek out textile art and I get way more excited about fiber than most normal human beings should!

Other Stuff

Other than all the above, I love road trips, watching football (Geaux Saints!), I love animals, playing D&D, watching a lot of movies, and enjoying a good nap on the couch. I take every opportunity to do something outside. I have a Pibble (American Pitbull Terrier) named Zoey who loves absolutely everyone and everything. I also have two cats, Tibideaux, who is the reason I can’t have nice things. And Evangeline (Evie) who purrs on contact and just wants all the love.