So yes, this is a travel blog, but I wonder if not all travelers are created equal.  What I mean is – people just enjoy travel in different ways.  This post is to lay out how I travel, and what kinds of posts you can expect here.  If you’re more of a package-tour traveler, that’s fantastic.  If you’re a $2-a-day, 1-pair-of-jeans for the whole 6-month trip traveler, or a 5-star, first-class traveler, that’s also fantastic.  I’m just a girl who likes to wander.

Hopefully you’ll read something here that will inspire you to dig deeper into going somewhere.  There are resources everywhere for every kind of travel – this is the internet, after all – but hopefully I’ll just inspire someone to go (however they get there).

Just to lay a few things out:

• I am an…interesting traveler.  Much of the time (in adulthood at least), I travel on my own, so I suppose most of my posts will be geared towards the solo traveler.
• I have been known to travel with family members and groups of friends, though.  There are things I love about both…there is certainly something appealing about following my own feet and timeline, but something just as magical about sharing the experience in real time.
• I love having visitors somewhere, especially once I’m comfortable being there.  I can either show off something I know, or discover something new.
• I do like to wander – but I do like to see the things that are known.  I’m not going to go all the way to Athens, for example, without seeing the Parthenon up close – but I also don’t feel the need to see every.single.thing listed in my pocket-sized Top Ten or Lonely Planet or Time Out Guide.  I literally just keep those around as a point of reference.
• I like to see the things that are known – but I really do just like to wander.  Otherwise, I might not have found the little fruit market with the best cherries I’d had in ages.
• Really, it just boils down to my short attention span.  (SQUIRREL!)  I might be on my way to see something famous, and get distracted by a tree-lined street, or a cool looking shop, or whatever.
• I’m probably a mid-range-budget traveler.  I will stay in a hostel, sure, but I like my own door and my own bathroom.  I can recommend a bunch of those in Hong Kong.  Same with food – I do love diners and dives, but I also like not being sick from questionable street food just to save a buck.
• That being said, when I travel with family or friends, I’m happy to spring for slightly fancier fare (or not), as the trip calls for.
• That being said again – there are some fancy restaurants I’ll go to when I’m in town, no matter what.  Sometimes I just feel fancy.  (I’ll try to stick in a few of those too.)
• ….really, I just like good food.
• I am also a big believer in nostalgia.  When I go back somewhere for a repeat visit, I look for the things I loved last time – but I don’t let that get in the way of finding something new, or a new way of looking at a place.
• I am not exactly an adventure-traveler.  I got a SCUBA certification in high school, but have not used it since high school.  I have never gone skydiving or bungee jumping (nor do I particularly intend to).  I’ve been on nature-y type trips, and I do love snorkeling when I have the chance.  Generally speaking, though, I go places where I don’t need much “gear” beyond comfy shoes, a camera or two, and my travel journal.
  • I don’t have anything against camping whatsoever – I just haven’t been since high school (same trip as the SCUBA).  I would love to go again someday.  Maybe.

Hopefully, you’ll find something here that will inspire you to go there.  That’s the point, after all.

Ready?  Let’s wander.