Click on a flag, learn more about where I’ve been and what I’ve seen on my wanderings around the world. While I have certainly seen more of the world than most people, I have not explored nearly as much as I would like.
The Americas
From a young age, my parents took me and my sister all over the United States. At around 6 weeks old, I’m told that I took my first flight to the San Francisco Bay Area. Since then, I have explored both coasts and most of the Western United States. Traveling across the USA, it’s remarkable how diverse and different the states are while still remaining a somewhat cohesive whole. And indeed, as I branched out from the United States and saw Canada then Mexico, I realized that while North America may seem very different place-to-place, it still feels very “American” compared to other places. Pushing ever southward, I’ve now visited Belize, Guatemala, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay. What surprised me at first was that while Central America stands out as very unique, the parts of South America I’ve visited feel downright European.
Europe
The first time I left the United States, I departed for London, England, the place of my mother’s birth. But, as she was born to US parents on a US military base, the UK is a place with no real family connection. We visited Paris as well as most of the UK on that trip. The next year we went to Italy and a few years later, we visited Switzerland.
Asia
I first traveled to Asia as part of a community service and leadership organization, the Southeast Asian Leadership Network. SEALNet took me to Cambodia and the next year to Vietnam. After the Vietnam project in June 2007, I traveled the region, then moved to Vietnam for a few months.
Oceania
Just the name alone evokes so many images in our heads. Having traveled to Hawai’i since I was relatively young, I’ve fallen in love with the many islands spread across thousands of miles of open water. My journeys have taken me to not only the Hawai’ian islands, but also to Guam, Palau, the Cook Islands, New Zealand, and Australia.