My Story: How I Came to Love Travel

After a decade of teaching elementary school, and constantly dreaming about my next travel adventure, I decided to step back and follow my explorer’s heart, becoming a travel photographer and writer.

I have loved travel for as long as I can remember. My parents instilled that in me at a very young age. Our summers, and a lot of our weekends, were spent travelling in our RV. We did a lot of local trips here in Alberta but also went on some long haul journeys. We drove to Alaska, across Canada, and to Southern California, just to name a few. I loved seeing new places and learning about the history and culture. Social Studies was always my favourite subject in school.

The travel bug bit me hard in eleventh grade, when I took my first trip to Europe. It was a school trip and the first time I had ever been on a plane (I was so nervous!) We started in London and made our way down to Paris. And then I fell in love. Not puppy-dog, high school love. This was true love. The kind of love that consumes you, that pains you to be away from. The kind of love that lasts forever.

Was I in love with Paris? Oh yes! But more so, I was in love with the entire experience of travelling. I could not get enough. I wanted to see as much as I could, learn as much as I could, make the most of every minute. Travelling by bus, I would look around and see people sleeping and think, What is wrong with you people! You are missing out! I even enjoyed simple landscapes as they were fleeting past my window.

Since that first trip, I have had wanderlust. I’ve travelled to many different places in many different ways- independent trips, group tours, package vacations and cruises. While there are pros and cons to each type of travel, I definitely have discovered my travel preferences.

I tend to prefer travelling independently to places that have a mix of beautiful landscapes and historic sites. I love to visit archaeological sites and spend time outdoors hiking, biking, and boating. It’s really hard to convince me to go to a beach somewhere and do nothing but lay around for a week. I can handle maybe a day or two, but after that I need to get active and go out exploring! I also crave to see a country in depth. I am not a fan of the 10 countries in 10 days type of tours (I hate feeling rushed and missing out on places). And budget travel isn’t my thing either. I like a little bit of luxury at the end of the day!

I make it a priority to travel. It not only makes me happy in the short term, but I find it to be extremely fulfilling on a deeper level. I try to take one big trip a year and a few smaller ones scattered throughout. I would love to travel full time, like I’ve seen so many other people do, but for now this is what works for me.

I am excited to share my travel experiences and photos on this site and hope you find my stories, tips and reviews helpful when you are planning your own great adventure. Be inspired…don’t dream it, do it!

Rhonda