Like wine for Italians, it's in my blood...

My grandparents are travelers.  And even that may be an understatement. They have gone to more than their fair share of countries and have stepped foot on almost all the continents. So it turns out that my love and passion for traveling and cultures was always going to be a matter-of-fact.  When I was younger, my siblings and I were constantly receiving postcards in the mail from all over the world.  It became a sort of joke to ask, "Where are they going next?"  "And how soon" would be the follow up question. Amazingly, that hasn't really changed after 30 something years.  Each new adventure for them was another burst of excitement and anticipation for me. My dreams filled with places I couldn't spell or find on a map.  I wanted nothing more than to join them, to begin my own exploration and fill the pictures in my mind with images seen with my own eyes. Australia, African Safaris, gothic cathedrals, river boats...

I was lucky enough to have a family blessed with the means for vacations.  They started small, visiting different states, hitting up amusement parks, and as we got older, the plane rides got longer, the names of places more foreign.  No matter where we went, 5 hours to Mammoth Lakes or a cruise ship to the Caymans, I found awe in everything.  I wanted to learn, see, explore and experience. And with each vacation, each stop, my yearning for more grew.  My travel palate could never be sated enough. Pure truth spoken as here I am, a year of European explorations under my belt and still I am thirsty for more, all, everything! Thanks grandparents for such an expensive and time-consuming addiction. No really though. Thank you. Because of them, and my year abroad (which in truth, is because of them), I want to go, get out, leave.  Again. I'm thinking maybe London, or perhaps Munich or Vienna. My grandparents met, fell in love and got married abroad. Romantic? To the utmost. However, instead of falling in love with a person when I was in Sweden, I fell in love with a country.  Many in fact. But I am getting off topic.

Though my grandparents won't see this post, I felt no travel blog could be complete without an acknowledgment to the ones that started it all.  And for me, that would be LeeRoy and JoAnn Knutson.
A couple who would wish you nothing but safe travels!