I’m Tiffani, a 50 year old educator and mom to a teen with a passion for learning , exploring, and experiencing as many places and ways of life as possible. My approach to travel tends to be maximalist: I always want to see everything and do everything. But, I do want to really “get it” and experience as much of a place and a culture as I can. I want to eat the food, join in the celebrations, talk to the people, and try to see the world through new eyes (well, new for me). That means everything from eating haggis in Edinburgh to trying to take a deep breathe and not be inpatient in the leisurely Walmart checkout line in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. For me that means trying to learn some of the local language wherever I go, but also laughing at myself when it takes me days to realize that the strange word shop people are are saying to me in Spain is “gracias,” but with the Spanish lisp that I knew about but my California Spanish classes left me utterly unprepared for.

I’ve always been the travel nerd. On the trip my college roommates and I did (6 countries in three weeks!) around Europe after we graduated, I was the one reading aloud from the book about the Roman forum as they desperately tried to escape the brutal sun and tune me out. On that trip, we also learned the power of Rick Steves and Uncle Rick was my guide on that trip and many others (pre-Internet). We all need someone to tell us which gelato place is really great and which one is good enough to save us the trip across down. And, even though we took the Sound of Music Tour that he told us not to take (and he wasn’t wrong, it really was a tourist trap), we never regretted it. We made our choice with full knowledge of what we were getting into. (And they we took the tram to Eagle’s Nest and hiked around the Alps to find a good place to “spin in the Alps” which is what we really wanted to do anyway!).

My perfect trip includes the “must-see” sights of a place, but also some experiences that are off the beaten track. I especially hunt for foods that the locals love and anything local that has to do with animals (especially wild native ones!). I do hours and hours of research before each trip, figuring out what I want to see and do, but I also believe in spontaneity and letting the trip take the lead. I love to pull off the road at at interesting sign or pop into a shop or a museum that I didn’t even know existed. I try to, as much as possible, take public transportation and walk because, while I like having a destination, I really love the process of getting to my destinations — taking in the city or town and just absorbing everything around me. I don’t mind getting lost, even though I will confess that it’s never my husband’s favorite part of our trips. I do recognize that there’s a fine line between exploring and over-exploring. After, I took the kid on a Hop-on Hop-off bus, getting on a bus heading in the wrong direction, leading to what felt like a multi-hour trip around Bucharest, my child has cringed at the sight of any double decker red bus!

I am often accused of planning trips that sound “impossible” but I usually pull them off. And, I’ve learned to stop telling people everything I have planned. I don’t mind trimming my plans as I go, but I want to feel it out as I explore, making trade-offs on the fly, not trimming before I even set out.

When we travel, I try to journal everything. I want to remember every detail. And I try to post on Facebook, a daily overview, plus pictures, plus captions. Why do it? Years ago, a dear friend of mine went on an epic tour of Thailand just a few months before we were scheduled to go. I was riveted. I wanted to learn everything that she learned so that I could start our trip ahead of the curve. She posted pictures with these amazing captions, explaining what she was seeing, what it meant, sometimes even how she had misunderstood what she saw. It was like reading a very good travel novel. And I copied her. And, whether they are just being kind or they really enjoy it, I don’t know, but my friends seem to enjoy my travel posts. In part, they can live vicariously. In part, they know who to ask before they travel to the same spots. In part, they might be inspired to add a new pin in their “hope to travel to” map.

The point of this blog is to give back a little bit of what I’ve gained from the travel blog community. And, when I can, I’ll link to the folks I’ve learned from. We all travel differently. I think if any of us finds a travel writer or blogger who gets us completely, we’re rare indeed. But, find enough people and you can put together your perfect trip. It’s my greatest hope to give a future traveler a tip about a sight they’d really enjoy or some courage for a goofy, yet spectacular idea they want to try, despite the naysayers. So, read, enjoy, and happy travels.