Why We Travel

We each have our own reasons why we travel. For some, it is an opportunity to visit family and friends and places we love. For others, it is a once in a lifetime celebration of a special event such as a graduation, a birthday or an anniversary. A chance to rest, relax and recharge away from the routine drives many vacations. When we travel, we look to learn of the history and culture of the places we visit.

Eating Local–We try to eat the local foods. Some go down easier than others. Cuy (pronounced Coo-ee) in Peru and tripe in Florence are two that we can say that we tried it and never have to eat it again. Two of our favorite dining experiences were in Lima, Peru and Athens, Greece. Both times we got lost looking for restaurants recommended to us and ended up in different ones. No one spoke English in either restaurant. In Lima, Colleen knew that she wanted Ceviche and with my very limited Spanish, I knew that pollo meant chicken so I pointed at the menu and crossed my fingers. In Athens, we just picked something off the menu. We knew what gyros were, but Central Wisconsin isn’t known for Greek dining so we were adventurous. We ended up going back there several nights during our stay. The food was fantastic in both restaurants. These were restaurants where the locals ate so we had authentic dining experiences, not meals that were adapted to cater to tourists’ tastes. I also like to sample the local beers when traveling and have found some great craft beers like the Donkey beers by Santorini Brewing in Santorini, Greece or Wawel in Krakow, Poland.

International Culture–We’ve attended Flamenco dancing performances in Spain and Fado singing in Lisbon. We always visit art museums and UNESCO World Heritage sites. As a history major, historical locations and museums are a part of almost all of our trips. Many of these sites are seeing heavy tourist traffic. Please, please, be considerate of the sites when you visit. If there are chains up, they’re there for a reason; to protect something. Don’t cross them even if the perfect selfie is on the other side. Don’t take anything other than pictures and don’t write on or otherwise deface the site.

Below are some of our favorite pictures that we have taken on our trips along with travel quotes that inspire us. We hope that they inspire you to go someplace new.

Colleen and I have taken all of the pictures that we use on our website and our Facebook posts.. Be sure to check back as we will continue to add pictures from our travels.