I really caught the travel bug in 1978 when I took my first trip abroad. I visited Spain that year with my high school Spanish club. (Boy did we have to sell a lot of tacos and wash a lot of cars to raise the money for that trip!) If I had to choose a favorite city, from those that we visited, it would probably be Seville, but La Costa del Sol (the Spanish Riviera) was a wonderful way to end the week!

Then in college I spent a term living in Bogotå Colombia. Where I
~Lived with a Colombian family.
~Learned to Salsa (a latin dance).
~Learned to drink Aguardiente (a wickedly wonderful liquorice liquor).
~Taught English as a second language to help pay for my stay.
~Took classes in a U.S. accredited college run by Colombians.
~Was proposed to by a stranger on the street (‘¡Hey baby! ¿You want to marry to me?’).
~Avoided the cops/soldiers with their machine guns!
~Saw enough poverty to melt even the most ardent conservative's heart.
~Was known as ‘La Blanquita Gordita’ (a compliment, beleive it or not) or ‘La Gringa’(a definite insult).
~Well, I could go on, but you get the picture! It was an incredible experience! From which I returned a very different person than the one who had gotten on a plane some three short months prior.

Then I went through a long spell of getting established on my own and paying off college loans. I did a bit of roaming around the states during that time. I visited New York City. Lived in Tallahassee, Florida. Moved back to Indiana again... Then I transfered (with the company that I was working for at the time) to a store in Lawrenceville, New Jersy (between Trenton and Princeton). I lived across the border in Bensalem, Pennsylvania (just northeast of Philly).

From there I got a chance to explore more of the East Coast, including Connecticut, New York, much of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Deleware -- pretty much where ever we had a store, I got to visit from time to time. I even won a trip to Hawaii from that company, so I got to see a bit of that beautiful state! (In fact it was there during a snorkling trip that I desided that 'one day' I would learn how to dive.) That and a trip to the Carolina's were the only ‘real’ vacations that I took during my time out East.

After five years, family problems brought me back to Indiana... After getting re-established here again, I met a good friend, Indybear. He loves to travel as much, if not more, than I and we have been traveling ‘buddies’ and best friends ever since! It helps that we are both single and that he can find travel bagains better than any travel agent on earth! Last year Indybear and I visited the Neatherlands, Switzerland, Italy, and France during a two week trip to Europe. We stayed with friends of his and took night trains to economize and had a GREAT time!!!!!

When I originally wrote this we were planing our next BIG trip. This time to Australia!!! Where I planned to get to travel to my other favorite ‘world’ of sorts, the world of the fishes! I have been a swimmer all of my life and I learned to scuba dive two years ago. For me there is nothing better, and yes I do mean nothing! So Indybear agreed to allow me time to dive the Great Barrier Reef while we are there, despite the fact that he thinks fish are just for dining on, rather than sharing your ‘space’ with. He is even talked about letting me take him snorkling again. (From the shore, this time!) We are planed on flying into Cairns and renting a camper or RV and driving our way down to Sydney. If you can't guess, I was very excited about it already!!!!

Since then we have gone to Australia and you are welcome to read all about it. I have also moved once again with the company that I now work for to a city southwest of Chicago, IL. We have been traveling again too and soon I will be adding a new set of pages telling you all about our last trip to Thailand! :-}

For those of you who love to travel as much as I do I have included a few of my favorite links. There are many, many, many great travel sites out there, so here's a link to Yahoo, one of my favorite search engines, though once again, there are lots of great ones out there... A great place to begin planning your trip from would be Lonely Planet. If you have ever bought a guide book, then you have probably heard of them before, if not, believe me when I tell you that you won't be disappointed.

Once you have decided on a vacation spot, you will probably be wondering how you will be getting there... I recommend you try Map Quest Global Online Travel, Priceline, or Shoestring Travel. These sites all have something to offer, so good luck and happy travels!!! If you know of some other great sites that I should have here, or if you would like to share with me your favorite travel spot, I would love to hear from you!!!

Beyond here there be dragons.