How did I get here?
Life can be funny. When I went to Wellesley for college in the late 1990s, I was thrilled to be leaving my hometown of Milwaukee behind. It was not a place I had any intention of living again. As a political science major, I had dreams of an international life, jetting around the world, possibly working for the US State Department. Spending my junior year in Hanoi, Vietnam was part of that trajectory. After college, I worked in the US Senate and thought a Washington, DC-based life with an international and government focus was for me. Then 9/11 happened and for a while, being far from home didn’t seem like the best idea, so I put aside plans to study Spanish in Cuernavaca, Mexico. I went home to Milwaukee for Christmas that year, unsure of what my next steps would be.
I had a loose plan to do a Master’s in Politics - - Comparative Ethnic Conflict, to be precise — at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland the following year but wasn’t sure what to do in the meantime. Then, one night, in January 2002, I was in an Irish bar called Paddy’s and I met an Irish man (like, really Irish — born & raised, passport and all) called Patrick. Reader, we fell in love. But! I wasn’t going to put aside my plans so about 18 months after Patrick and I met, I went to Belfast and got my Master’s degree. It was a good experience. What was even better were my regular trips to Dublin to spend time with Patrick’s family. I fell in love with them, too, and Dublin quickly became a second home.
That was nearly 25 years ago. Patrick and I bought a house 3 blocks from the one I grew up in in Milwaukee. His job was here. We got married. And we settled in. Milwaukee became home again. And I love it. Having roots in place feels good. It’s grounding. And that feels all the more important these days. Community and local connections fulfill me. After Belfast, I got a job as a study abroad coordinator at the same university where Patrick works. Life was good. I loved that job. I loved working with college students and with my colleagues at the university and around the world. But I got antsy and wanted more options so I enrolled in a PhD program in Geography. That gave me more flexibility and exposed me to a field and discipline I valued and enjoyed. I earned my Doctorate in December 2019.
And then the world shut down. Everything just … stopped. Or so it seemed. Of course life continued for so many. And for many, it did not. Following the murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and so many more, many in the country started reckoning in new ways with our history and our present. Thanks to previous and continuing education and my community connections, I started facilitating anti-racism training. I loved that work, too. It brought me into community and gave me a focus for my talents and my values. Sadly, that work ended. I felt stuck and untethered.
Yes, community and social justice work were passions, but figuring out how to do that in a changing climate was hard. I revisited my old dreams. I worked with a coach. I talked with a lot of people. When “travel advisor” popped up very unexpectedly on my radar, I was intrigued. It was so different from what I’d envisioned for myself, but it also seemed like a possible great fit. As I floated the idea to family and friends, “well, duh, of course that makes sense for you” was a very common response.
And so, here I am, 2.5 years after becoming a travel advisor and once again, I’m lucky to be doing work that I love. And it’s work that gives me the flexibility Patrick and I wanted so that we can continue to take advantage of his travel opportunities.
That international life I dreamed about in college? I have it. I never thought home base would be Milwaukee, but as I said, life is funny sometimes and if you’re lucky, as I’ve been, it can work out the way it should. Thanks in large part to Patrick’s work, but also our shared wanderlust, I travel internationally a lot. Multiple times a year to all parts of the world and often for extended stays where we both work remotely. What’s even better is that I get to share the experiences I have and the expertise I’ve developed with clients and friends. I get to put my love of travel and my broad and relevant prior experiences to work to help people plan journeys that hopefully fulfill them as much as my journeys and work do. I’m lucky.
