Only in my wildest dreams did it occur to me that I may one day do a lot of traveling. Due primarily to the randomness of a business transaction – the little company my husband worked for acquired by a multi-national – my dreams became reality.

My first international trip was perfectly timed to coincide with a milestone birthday: two days after I turned 50 in 2013 I left for an almost-3-week trip to Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. My good friend Melanie – single mother of 5 – said to me: “You have to blog, I will never get to travel, it will be the only way I ever get to do it.” I will forever be grateful to her for the inspiration.

Blog? How would I do that? Short version: I figured it out using Google’s Blogger and my travel blog was born. Over the course of that trip and into the next 5 years, the blog took on a life of its own, becoming a nightly (and early morning) ritual to traveling. I noticed almost immediately that how I was going through my day – what I’d chose to do, what I’d notice, what I researched, what I ate – became driven by thinking about what I’d write about that evening. And I mean that in only the best way. The blog became the lens through which I experienced things (is that a mixed metaphor?) and it made the experience much richer.

Because of that, I’d be happy if no one ever read it. I’ve said many times I get a great deal out of the process, and I’m probably my biggest fan re-reading them much more than I probably should. Because I’m not a souvenir kinda person – have never brought back a single thing – the blog IS my souvenir. That it so quickly developed a dedicated following made it more fun and meaningful.

I’ve been thinking for awhile about kicking the platform up a notch or five, so I could get all of them in one easy place. Maybe that’s possible on Blogger but if so it wasn’t evident. And for a variety of other reasons I won’t get into here, it makes more sense to have an actual website that gives you flexibility to do whatever you want. More room to dream.

But for now, it’s the blogs, and that’s quite enough. Eventually I’ll migrate all of my Blogger items over here, but I need to learn more about site setup before I do that. For now it’s just enough to play with.

Stay tuned!

Steve