We were able to head back to Chicago for Independence Day and my 30th birthday (yikes!) thanks to an aptly timed professional development conference for work. My boss has been wonderful about letting us add on a few days when we attend conferences to enjoy the destination, and I usually also take my husband along since he …
Cleveland Bucket List Success
We've been trying to knock some things off the mini list we created from the Cleveland Bucket List on a monthly basis since January. Although we haven't been successful in doing one per month, as I had originally hoped, I do think we've been pretty successful in keeping up with the list thus far. We picked a …
Pleasurable Portugal
Despite having been to mainland Europe several times and having explored most of Western Europe, I somehow always missed Portugal. I thought it was comparatively expensive when I was first traveling abroad in 2005, and I thought it was difficult to get to by train from everywhere else when we were backpacking in 2007. In …
Spain Siesta
One of my biggest challenges when planning our travels--whether it be a weekend trip somewhere domestic or a several week international excursion--is that I try to squeeze in too much. My husband, as well as friends, will tell you I pack the itinerary to a painful point in order to make sure we miss nothing. …
Exploring Morocco
My amazing husband helped me reach my first travel goal this year: I wanted to visit 30 countries before turning 30. Throughout the end of May and into June we made it, traveling to some countries that had long been on my list--Morocco and Portugal--and spending a day in southern Spain. Our itinerary was based on …
Defeating Cortisol Resistance With Travel
Things have been a little out of control. I'm not going to say the sky is falling or anything like that, but as seems to be the constant case, we are busy. My first semester of grad school comes to a close this week with finals and papers and presentations that have been causing me …
Impressed with Moroccan Hospitality
We aren't even there yet, and I'm already impressed with Moroccan hospitality. I have been hustling to get our itinerary finalized amid work, school, holidays and just life in general. I had most of our lodging booked weeks ago--we are doing a combination of hotel chains (where we have points/can stay for free or cheap) …
