We drove to the airport as the snow came down heavier and heavier with each minute that ticked by. I watched the fat snowflakes land on the windshield and melt and thought about the number 5. It’s shocking to me that this is my 5th Niece Project trip. And even more surprising – this is […]
“It’s like Hawaii and Colorado had a baby” – that’s how my niece Lindsey described New Zealand, and that’s actually pretty damn accurate. I have been in few places in the world with this beautiful of turquoise waters, beaches, wildlife, and snowy mountain peaks. A country where you can do it all, and we did. […]
“Have you decided?” I asked Lindsey with excitement and anticipation on where her big choice was going to be. However, this was niece number 5, I should’ve known the answer is never that easy. When I started this Niece Project journey in 2012, I thought the travel decisions on where they wanted to go would […]
“This is probably the last time we’ll ever all be together,” my mom said when she was telling me why she wanted to have all 13 of us in the same location. I wondered if we both were thinking the same thing – finishing that sentence in our heads with “except for the inevitable funerals.” […]
I grew up in the landlocked Midwest. Summers were spent at swimming pools, running through sprinklers, and sliding down a big yellow slip’n slide we set up in our yard. That was my only real exposure to water activities and water culture. I’m comfortable with cornfields, mile roads, and farming culture because that’s what I […]
“I don’t know how you travel with dad, I don’t think I could do it,” my siblings often mention to me. We all have distinct memories of growing up and my father being the ‘leader’ of the family and family trips. He was the one who made all the decisions and ultimately the family dictator. […]
One of the most rewarding types of travel and writing I do is traveling with my nieces as part of the Niece Project. It’s not simply about building important relationships with my nieces or being a travel mentor to them; it’s about inspiring other Aunts and Uncles to do the same. Every year that I […]
Have you ever traveled somewhere and while there you learned of new areas to see or things to do, but you didn’t have time to include it in your first trip? It happens to me all the time; I go to a place, get a deeper understanding of it, and say – I have to […]
This Valentine’s day, skip the flowers and chocolates and why don’t you travel to hear and see a great story about love in Saxony Germany. When I came across this story in Annaberg-Buchholz Germany last fall I was so uplifted by it; it was practically a Disney fairytale. And it made me believe in the […]
I watched her expressions as she dipped a toe in the ocean for the first time in her life. As an aunt I may not get to see their first steps or hear their first words, but this was one first that I was there for – and I soaked in every delicious moment of […]
