It's the most WONDERFUL time of the year!

I know, I know. This post is a long overdue, and it should've been written at the beginning of the month and not at the end. However, my last days of European travel have been consumed with Christmas Markets and glühwein. 

So without further ado here is the first post of my much-awaited (by me at least) series on Christmas Markets in Europe. I hope you enjoy and find it useful. :)

Polish Pottery

While I've always had a passion for travel, I've only just started my Travel Blog. I'm not quite sure why I didn't do it before.

I love to write and I love to travel... it should have been my first thought in starting a blog. However, my first thought was to write about parenting. DOH! Like we don't have enough Mommy Bloggers in the world. *wink*

Don't get me wrong... I'm no expert in that subject either, but it was far more encompassing in my life, and ever so much more challenging than anything I could write about traveling. So I went with what I knew/know still have no clue about: Parenting.

What's the point you ask? I share this with you because on my other blog one of my latest posts was the inspiration for this separate travel blog: a shopping trip.

Some of my girlfriends and I went on a shopping trip to relatively nearby Poland for some amazing Polish pottery! In doing so we used a write-up on a mil spouse blog as our point of reference and guide source. When it was all said and done, our experience was different enough from the milspouse blogger that I wrote a post about it. That was my "ah-ha" moment for this blog, my WTF moment about how different an experience can be from one person to the next.

Here is the link to the post about Polish Pottery! Enjoy!!!

Polish Pottery

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My love of Travel

All my life I have loved to travel. There was just something about getting to see new places, and exploring new things that was always enticing. I guess I didn't realize how much I loved to travel until I got a little older and could appreciate the time and money it takes to see the world.

I can remember my earliest travels to Florida with relatives to visit other distant relatives. I can remember the heat and the smell of that small trailer park in Bunnell, FL. I can remember the allergies and asthma we didn't know I had, emerging as a souvenir from that trip.

I can remember a family trip to Moosehead Lake, Maine when I was ten. I remember how downright teeth chattering COLD the lake was in August. I can remember my first and only ride, on a sea plane. The sight of the lake getting closer and closer, and the fear of thinking we were going to crash right on it. I can also remember catching my cousin's eyebrow with a hook while in a small little fishing boat- not the best part of those 2 weeks in Maine.

I remember taking a family trip to St. Croix at 13 and staying in a lovely private villa with a pool overlooking Christiansted. I can somewhat remember exploring the island, but I won't forget the feeling of family and togetherness that is unique to vacations. I can also relive the embarrassment at forgetting I longer had on my swimsuit when I decided to disrobe to get into the pool one evening. Nothing is more painful than teenage angst and training bras exposed to the world.

I remember the numerous cruises I have been on, and the ports and places I have marveled at over the course of 7-12 days. The yummy food, awesome excursions and scary drivers we lived through.

The more I saw of the world, the more of the world I wanted to see. These desires have only increased as I have gotten older and the more I have traveled. I can say that my last two-plus years living abroad have only increased my appetite for traveling, only satiating my need to explore for shorter and shorter intervals at a stretch.

We wonder why people travel. Why do people choose to leave the comfort of their towns and what is familiar to head out to the unknown? It is about the experience. It's about seeing the world, living the culture, eating the food, sharing someone else's daily life. It's about expanding your mind.

My love of travel is about pictures, stories, and people watching. It's about understanding that I am merely a small being in this big expansive world. It's about learning to tolerate and appreciate the diversity everyone has to offer and being humbled by things greater than just our country, state or county.

My passion for travel is only increasing with every place I travel to and if I have my way- this is just the beginning.

So I share with you my love and passion for travel, along with any insight I might glean along the way.

Welcome to my Travel Blog.