I was born in San Francisco and lived in the Bay area as a child until I went to school in a small town called Sebastopol in Sonoma County. Then my mother and I moved back to the Midwest where she was from when I was young (Northern Illinois). I was fortunate to travel back to California to visit my father and aunt on school breaks. I also took a few trips back with my dad that taught me the "creative art" of travel. Who would have ever known you could return rental cars half-way across the country for free (and that's how we did it)? I spent some vacations as a babysitter for my kid cousins while traveling through the East with my uncle in his semi. There were some summers in Wyoming where I saw a few of the most beautiful unknown wonders of the world. I've been to Disneyland and Disney World and everything in between Kissimee and Anaheim (and mostly on free vouchers attained by family members). Niagra Falls were amazing and I don't remember my first trip to Mexico (I was a baby) but I long to return there year after year...and I have, many times, for less than five hundred dollars! I've been to Vegas a dozen times and swear it off at every departure but somehow am lured back by it's glitzy power time and time again. I believe I've traveled or stayed in every state in the intercontinental U.S. except for maybe New Mexico (which reminds me I must go there). I loved Washington D.C. as a teenager and can't wait to go to back. We stopped there on our way to Myrtle Beach once. I'm old enough to have been in the crown of The Statue of Liberty but yearn to see the sky-line after 9/11 so as to pay my respects in person. Florida and Texas have kept my heart for years because it's warm there like it should be. Recently I've gotten to know Minnesota (Mayo Clinic), Wisconsin (boating and the Dells), and Michigan (ski chalet in the U.P.). Whoever invented skiing should be shot, but I love the nineteenth hole at the bottom of every hill. Most of my travels were done as a child and then I took about a decade off (school, kids, poverty, etc.). And I never take for granted that my backyard is Chicago, one of the greatest cities on the planet and my portal to the world via O'Hare International Airport. I do NOT like to spend a lot of money on travel, but am heavy hearted at the thought of leaving this world before I have seen it all. Perhaps it was the gypsy upbringing...but I have devoted my life to exploring as much as humanly possible in the least expensive and feasible ways. I commit mindless hours to internet searches on the best deals I can find to ANYWHERE...for the sheer thrill of it. Most of the time I just dream about the destination, but once in a while (when the stars align) I BOOK IT!!! The best travel lesson I have learned I got from "My beautiful Jamaican Babies" and I credit them for opening my eyes to the true beauty of travel: It's not about loving the place you go as much as loving who you meet there! I look at my travels as "somewhere magical over the rainbow" and each trip I try to find something new to add to my pot of gold.

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