About Joan

 

Welcome!  I’m Joan.  And since you found me on this blog, I’m guessing that you share my love of travel!

I got my first taste of international travel back in 1969 – 1970, when I spent a year as a student in Bergen, Norway with the University of California’s Education Abroad Program.  That life-changing experience gave me a wanderlust that has never ended.  My husband Rob and I have been exploring the world together for the last 22 years.  So far, we have visited over 40 countries on six continents.

On this blog, I'm sharing travel tales to enlighten and entertain - and hopefully, to share some tips and insights about meaningful travel that will help your own journeys easier and more fun.

I can’t imagine traveling without my journal.  Travel is so full of new sights and sensations, interesting encounters with people, so much history, art, and culture to learn about.  It's hard to remember everything without writing it down.  (In fact, if I don’t write things down each evening of a trip, I find myself saying to Rob, “Ummm, what did we do day before yesterday?”)   I share the full story of our journeys on my journal website, “Travels With Robby,” which you can access by clicking this link  Travels With Robby or by opening the tab at the top of this page.

But on every adventure, there are events or encounters that are especially memorable  or meaningful.  These provide the inspiration for my travel stories.  Some are humorous, some are instructive, some are tragic…but with all of them, I hope to share some of the wonder and joy of exploring the world.

My travel stories seem to fall into three main categories:  Animal Encounters, People and Cultures, and Walks Through History.  You can find links to the stories in each category by clicking the tabs at the top of this page.

Thanks for reading!  I welcome your comments and questions and look forward to hearing about your own travels!