A little about us
I was raised by nomads.... or that's what you'd think. My parents had no desire to let the dust gather on their feet and were always looking for the next place to call anything but home. To sum it up, we moved a lot. When my dad would get a new contract for work he would come home, get down the atlas and we would see where we were moving next.
I hear a lot of opinions about this lifestyle for a child, some good and some bad. I loved it. I loved getting to see new places. I loved the adventure. I obviously inherited my yearning for new places from my parents. I want to go anywhere and everywhere I can go. When I get there I want to explore every corner, see absolutely everything I can. Traveling, for me, is not about rest. I can rest at home. Traveling is about squeezing everything I can out of every second. Jason isn't a fan of this kind of traveling but we usually find a compromise :-) To make sure I see all I can when I travel, I plan. I love to plan. I obsess over planning. Staring at maps, researching little towns along the way, looking for gems that other people have found on their travels and trying to discover new ones of my own. It's my hope that sharing some of our travels and things we have done will help you with planning your next trip. Maybe you'll be inspired to book a flight somewhere. If you can't travel right now then I hope our pictures and stories will help you feel like you were right there with us. We tend to think of travel as a luxury. I believe it's necessary for growth. Mark Twain said, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” I believe that it's easy to think you know what's going on in the world by listening to the news. It's easy to think you know what other people think or feel by listening to what the media tells you. Why not see these things for yourself, meet these people you think you know?? Broaden your horizons. Learn new things. Instead of being afraid of traveling to a place where they speak a different language, try sitting with your eyes closed, listening to them speaking and think about how amazing and wonderful our differences are. Strike up a conversation with a stranger. Learn what you have in common instead of fearing what you don't. Travel. - Tega |
I pretty much lived in the same place during the whole of my childhood. I didn't get exposed to new scenery or culture very often. The exploring I did in my youth, though very frequent and enjoyable, was very limited geographically. So, unlike Tega's experience, my passion for travel comes from a very different place.
After overcoming my travel anxiety and taking a few big trips to some very-far-away places, my eyes were opened to previously unknown possibilities and now I never stop thinking about what that next adventure will be and what surprisingly different observations Tega and I will make about it. When we go to a new place, I want to dive deeply into the history, culture, cuisine, tradition and geographical wonders of the place. I like to take time to drink it in and savor the experience. Rather than making a cursory observation, I like to dedicate time, perhaps too much time, to the experience. As Tega mentioned, this is very different than her approach. But, as it turns out, our differences make the experiences richer for each of us and hopefully for you as well. You never know what discoveries you can make in a new place by being spontaneous. Though there is a lot of value in planning and Tega does it extraordinarily well, I like to stumble upon things unexpectedly. I also like having flexibility in our timelines so that if we find something particularly exciting, we can stay a little longer to get as much as possible from the experience. Alas, we often have to cut things short to maintain our itinerary so that means we just have to plan a return visit! There are few things you can do in life that are more mind-expanding and life-changing as traveling the world. You will discover things about yourself, your own culture and your relationships that you never expected from the most unlikely experiences. It changes your perceptions of just about everything, broadens your mind, stimulates your compassion, humanity and dare I say it -- spirituality in dramatic and permanent ways. "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page." - St. Augustine - Jason |