Ahhhhh, I can’t believe I am finally sitting down to write my first blog post. I have always liked to write, but I have always told myself I wasn’t that good at it. I recently found an old journal of mine from when I was probably 12 or 13. In this journal is a story that I was writing about a girl being surprised with a trip to Italy with her family (even 12-year-old Amanda loved Italy!). Reading this story made me realize that writing is something I have always liked to do. I decided to no longer let my fear of my writing not being good enough hold me back from chasing a passion of mine.

So, here we are!! As I sit in my apartment outside of Philadelphia as a girl in her mid-20s, I am so proud of who I have become and how I have grown from the little 12 year old writing about going to Italy to now being a travel advisor making that dream come true for other people as well as someone who has found a love in travel and gets to share that with the world!

This blog will be a collection of tales of my travels, hotel reviews, a peek into being a travel advisor and working with a travel advisor, stories about the trips I plan for clients, travel tips and tricks I have learned along the way, and everything else travel.

Let me introduce myself so you can get to know the face behind the blog! My name is Amanda, and I am in my mid-20s. I was born and raised on Long Island with two twin brothers, my parents, and two black labs, Reese and Snickers. As young kids, we did not travel a lot. We would take trips to Hershey Park or Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I had never been on a plane. In 6th grade, my parents surprised us with a trip to Disney with my best friend Marissa’s family. I think this trip sparked my love for travel. Marissa and I spent weeks planning all of our outfits and packing for the trip! Once we were back, we spent weeks scrapbooking every ounce of our trip, and I mean every ounce. We probably printed over 1,000 pictures each and our scrapbooks are like 60 pages each.

The next year, my grandma was sadly diagnosed with cancer and she decided she wanted to experience the world with us and create memories we would always be able to hold on to. She took her children and grandchildren on two cruises the next two summers. We explored Canada’s East Coast and the Bahamas, swam with dolphins and pulled up a lobster trap with fresh lobster. We spent so much time laughing and creating memories that, to this day, are some of my favorites. These trips continued to grow that spark for a love of travel. A love of exploring new places and experiencing things I have never experienced.

My love for travel kept growing with some family cruises. I found myself a sophomore in college with that dream of Italy still in the back of my mind. My roommate at the time mentioned wanting to study abroad. From here, we made it happen! We chose Florence, Italy and headed off to Florence in the spring of our Junior year! For 4 months, we lived in our own apartment, taking classes, exploring Florence, taking day trips to places like Pisa and Siena, and taking weekend trips all over Europe to places like Budapest and Greece. We truly spent the 4 months living our best lives! This is truly where my love for travel transformed from a little spark to a full-blown flame. The place I was writing about visiting as a 12-year-old became a reality! I fell in love with everything Florence and will always know that a piece of my heart is forever there!

After graduating college with a degree in Deaf Education, I moved to Delaware County, Pennsylvania for a job and to be near many of my college friends! I work with children who have hearing loss across the county to be an advocate for and with them. I have continued to foster this love for travel with a family trip back to Italy, girl’s trips to Nashville and Chicago with friends, trips to Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore to explore the beauty of The United States as well as trips to visit friends and family in places like Seattle, Oregon, California.

About a year and a half ago, I stumbled upon an article about being a travel advisor. I had never thought about this before, but as I continued to read the article, I knew this was where I was meant to go next. I applied, got accepted, and began building my business in October of 2023. I started this as a way to help people travel and see the places they have always dreamed of. Little did I know, I would completely fall in love with this career and dive fully into turning this into a business. I have met some of the most inspiring and supportive women along the way, that I am so happy to call some of my best friends now!

As I continue to travel the world and share it with you, I want this to become a place that will inspire you, teach you, maybe make you laugh, but most importantly, allow you to travel to the places you have always dreamed of. I can’t wait to share my travels and the travels I plan for clients with you— be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a post!

I’d love to hear from you— what’s a destination you have always dreamed of visiting??

~ Amanda