As someone who likes to ramble (and overshare), I could probably go on for days telling you all about myself. My name is Allison, and I’m a 30-something millennial who is obsessed with my cats, a good cup of coffee, reading, from-scratch baking, Philadelphia sports teams, and of course travel. I also recently made a massive life change – relocating from Philadelphia to the Netherlands!
A Little Backstory
Growing up, my family wasn’t able to travel much. Besides an annual beach vacation in Ocean City, Maryland and one eventful trip where we drove to Orlando when I was 10, I spent the majority of my childhood in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When I decided to go to college a few hours away, I started to realize how little of the world outside my bubble I’d really seen! Reading, learning, researching, and writing have always been things I’ve excelled at. So I took those skills to Penn State, where I received a Broadcast Journalism degree. (I did so well in school that no one realized I was possibly AuDHD until I was an adult!)
After college, my boyfriend (now husband) and I made our first big move – driving across the country to Oklahoma City for his first engineering job. We didn’t even last a year! And so began over a decade of living in different places. First came Syracuse, where we finally got married after 10 years together. Next we spent a few years just outside New York City where we lived in a different apartment every year. We even thought it was a good idea to move to Philadelphia in mid-2020, aka the height of the pandemic! We eventually bought a house and thought that would be the end of it. Wrong. After 6 years in Philly the moving bug bit us again. This time we figured it was finally time to try living abroad after talking about it for a decade. And now we find ourselves in the Netherlands!
How I Got Into Travel Writing
I realized a bit late that interviewing people and being comfortable on camera were not really my forte. And by a bit late, I mean like 6 months before my college graduation. Broadcast journalism just wasn’t for me, but apparently neither were the other things I tried over the years: retail, portrait photography, home/auto insurance, corporate B2B marketing, graphic design, and even a small stint where I started making business plans for a bakery.
In mid-2021 I hit my breaking point. Overwhelmed, burnt out, and lacking direction, I quit my job and started what I thought would just be a 6-12 month sabbatical. During this time I traveled overseas for the first time (two weeks in Italy to be specific). I realized how much I loved all the research and planning that went into the trip, as well as documenting our experiences and telling all of my friends and family about it. It felt like I was finally doing something I was good at and meant to do! So that sabbatical ended up turning into a permanent exit from the corporate world and starting something of my own.
When I had the idea to start this blog, I figured it’d be easy. Just have to jot some ideas down, add a bunch of photos, and viola! What I thought would be a quick turnaround turned into weeks of write then delete, loss of motivation, and analysis paralysis. But finally something just clicked in my brain: you can’t live your life catering to the fear of “what if”. “What if people hate it?” or “What if it’s too repetitive?” As cheesy as it sounds, you’ll never know until you try!
Do all of the things that scare you, because life is just too short to doubt yourself.
My Hopes and Dreams for this Blog
Now I’ll admit, starting something from scratch as an anxious perfectionist with ADHD is impossibly hard. Then add in the pressure of having an obnoxiously supportive husband bearing the entire financial load. Feeling like I need to succeed, both for myself and his faith in me, has been stressful to say the least! I won’t lie and say I don’t hope to make this a real ‘job’ that makes me money at some point. But even if that never comes to pass, at least I get some great memories out of it! My main goals for this blog are:
1. To commit all of the amazing trips I’ve taken, meals I’ve eaten, and experiences I’ve had to memory. My brain unfortunately likes to hold onto the most random things (like lyrics to songs I haven’t heard in years, or random facts about otters), while letting important memories fade.
2. To help other people make the best of their future trips. I’ve been told I’m a chronic over-planner, but I don’t see it that way. All the pre-trip research I do really seems to make a difference in how much I (and others) enjoy trips!
Whether you are interested in full itineraries from trips abroad, or an in-depth review of a restaurant a bit closer to home, you’ve come to the right place!
Thanks for taking this journey with me.