wan·der·lust [won-der-luhst] noun. a strong, innate desire to rove or travel about.
Hi, I’m Aubrey. I spent my childhood in a tiny town in Upstate, NY. I cherish memories of summer vacations to Maine, Cape Cod, North Carolina and other places along the East Coast. For the last 18 years I’ve been traveling back and forth to Phoenix, Arizona to visit my dad. Along the way, I’ve seen several places (but still not enough) in the US and even lived for a brief period of time in the South.
Fast forward to 2006. I married a handsome, smart and sweet Polish man. Marriage in itself is quite the adventure, but marrying someone from a different country who’s whole family still lives in that other country, has made life even more adventuresome. I quickly discovered that once you’re in Europe, you can find relatively inexpensive flights just about anywhere on discount airlines.
And that’s when it really began. In 2008, Michal (husband) and I celebrated my graduation from graduate school with a trip to Europe. Besides going to Poland to visit his family, this was my first international travel adventure. I had heard people say that once you get bit by the travel bug, you will always want to travel. I had no idea how true that statement was going to be for me.
When I travel, I find myself feeling more alive. There is just something about letting go of the familiar, being vulnerable, exploring new places, watching people, seeing things you’ve read about come to life, experiencing new cultures, hearing different languages, tasting different food and being completely unknown that fuels my soul. If I could find a way to survive while traveling, I would do it. I have always wanted Samantha Brown’s (from the Travel Channel) job.
In the meantime, I’m a social worker who works with emotionally disturbed kids in a school setting. I work hard everyday determined to give these kids whatever I can to make their lives a little bit brighter. Since I work in a school, my schedule follows the school calendar which means that I get more time off than some other people do. Moreover, I am able to use some of that time off to travel.
I started this blog in 2010 when Michal and I spent several weeks exploring Eastern Europe as a way to inform friends and family about the places I went. I continue to update it as Michal and I travel to new and exciting places. I am not a writer, my spelling and grammar are atrocious and not everyone finds my opinions or sense of humor appealing. If you’re okay with that, welcome to my blog 🙂