Hi, my name is Laurie and I’m from Dallas, Texas. Thanks for reading my blog. I hope you find it helpful or inspiring or somewhere in between. It’s a great outlet for me to share with you some of my love of travel. I spent many years of my life as a consultant, traveling mostly throughout the U.S. to client meetings and racking up frequent flyer miles — dreaming of a day when I’d jump on a plane that wasn’t to a client site. Then one day my sister, my best friend, had a devastating loss and it was a moment that gives you this clarity of vision. Some of this stuff is just not important.
For the last 12 few years of my life, I’ve made travel a priority. I’m at that age when I’m not young anymore…but not (that) old. I’m not one of those people who loves to work–my job is more of a funding mechanism for travel than a life calling. I live to travel. I work to travel. I’d rather have more experiences than more stuff.
I’ve been lucky enough to go on some amazing trips with my sister Jan, my husband and best friend, Jim and our adult son (who just got engaged!) as well as 2 of my oldest friends and a new group of friends I affectionately call the “Italy ladies” because we met on a trip to Tuscany 12 years ago and have been fast friends ever since.
I love to be places where I don’t speak the language. It’s soothing to me to hear the conversations flow around me and not know what they mean. It’s musical–lyrical. I love to be in places where people live and work and just do what they’ve done for hundreds of years, set amongst these unfathomable locations like the hill towns of Tuscany, where they go to build a grocery store and dig up an Etruscan well while they’re excavating. Places like that make me feel connected to something bigger and more important than just paying the bills or dealing with an irritated client.
There’s a misconception that you have to have money to travel. You don’t. You do have to prioritize it. You do have to put realistic expectations on it and understand what your tolerance level for adventure is. If your idea of travel is staying at the airport Hilton in Rome, this blog may not be for you. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t travel. You just may find some of my recommendations different than what you’re looking for. Give it a read and let me know what you think. I’ll be sharing some trips from the last few years to England, Italy, France and Croatia with a sprinkling of some cool U.S. destinations as well. I hope you’ll come along for the ride as I share experiences, places to stay, food and recipes and stories about people I’ve encountered along the way.
Life is a journey 