A passion for travel

Travel, much like life, has a way of laughing at your plans. Flights get delayed, snowstorms roll in, connections are missed, and somehow the story unfolds differently than you imagined. But I've learned that the magic is rarely found in everything going according to plan. It's found in the moments when you loosen your grip, trust the timing, and let the journey lead.

Some of my favorite conversations have started with a travel story. The trip that went completely wrong. The hidden restaurant discovered by accident. The city that unexpectedly stole your heart. The unforgettable night that still feels like a dream years later. Travel has a way of turning strangers into friends and memories into stories you'll tell forever.

In 2014, I followed a quiet feeling I couldn't quite explain and signed up for a short-term art history program through London and Paris. I waited until the day before I left to tell my family—partly because I knew they would worry, and partly because I knew I had to follow it. One day I was standing in MSP Airport with a suitcase and a hundred questions, and the next I was landing at Heathrow with the feeling that my life was about to get a little bigger. It was the beginning of a love story with the world.

A few years later, I honeymooned through Venice, Rome, Santorini, and Athens, collecting sun-soaked memories and postcard moments along the way. Since then, I've found myself returning to places that feel like old songs—London, Bath, Paris—and discovering new corners of the world, from the cliffside beauty of the Amalfi Coast to champagne-filled celebrations in France.

For me, travel has never been about checking places off a list. It's about following curiosity wherever it leads. It's about golden-hour walks down unfamiliar streets, conversations that linger long after the trip is over, and finding pieces of yourself in places you never expected. Every journey leaves me with a new story, a fuller heart, and the reminder that sometimes the most beautiful chapters are the ones you never planned to write.