Hello, my name is Shanna, and I am a travel addict…[group nods and says the obligatory, “Hi, Shanna.”]. I have loved travel all my life. When I was growing up, my parents took me on many camping and car trips to the western United States. My husband grew up much the same way, and now that we are adults, we continue in our love of travel. There is something about travel that refreshes my soul, and allows me to come back into my normal, everyday existence and see it in a new way and with a new perspective.

I am a normal traveler, just like you, who never has enough time and money to see everything that I want to see (but one who also likes to get the most out of the time and money that I have.)

Staying a little more towards the “budget” travel end of the spectrum has helped to give us more authentic travel experiences. We like to go to a new place and become a part of it, live in it, not just see its pretty, glittery surface. We try to get around like the people who live there get around, we try to eat where the local people eat.

Shanna at Carcassonne France
Shanna at Carcassonne France
Of course we see the must see tourist attractions (there is USUALLY a good reason why people come from from all over the world to see them…) but we also make it a point to go into parts of town where there are no tourists, to see the way that normal people live. For budget reasons, we often end up staying in hotels that are out of the center of all of the glitz and attractions. This ends up being positive in many ways, because we are not immersed in that safe, tourist realm, and we do get to see a better picture of real life.

Now that I work in the airline industry, much of my life practically revolves around travel, and I love it. These are the stories of where we have been and what we have seen. I hope that they will inform and inspire you!