I love learning about different cultures, geography, history, and traditions. When I have the time, I enjoy traveling for conferences, trainings, special events, or vacations to expand my experiences of the people and cultures from around the world. Over the past 30+ years, I have been to nearly 70 countries on 6 continents and hosted two high school exchange students from Germany and Norway for a school year (2016-2017) which was an amazing experience and expanded my family!
Most recently, I served as the Care Team Coordinator on the Fall 2023 voyage with Semester at Sea, a semester-long study abroad program for more than 600 college students, lifelong learners, faculty, and staff from around the world onboard the World Oddessy. We traversed the globe from Germany to Thailand, learning about and visiting 12 countries throughout the voyage. It has been a dream for more than 15 years, so I was grateful to embark on that exciting voyage!
Another recent highlight included visiting the Caribbean islands for the Holistic Holiday at Sea vegan cruise and seminar (2023 & 2024) where I was able to enjoy many great health-related presentations about the benefits of a whole food plant-based diet, meet wonderful like-minded professionals, and eat a variety of delicious vegan foods. Other highlights included exploring Costa Rica with friends (2024); Mexico with my Norwegian exchange daughter (2024); Greek islands with my Germany exchange daughter (2023); Puerto Rico for a group counseling conference (2020); cruising Southern Caribbean islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao) with family just before the COVID-19 lockdown (2020); visiting Ireland with family (2019); Norway and Germany with my exchange daughters (2017); Bosnia with a group of university faculty (2017), cruising the beautiful Croatian coast (2017); taking a Smokey Mountain road trip across 5 states (2015); cruising the Hawaiian islands (2014); visiting the Great Wall in China (2013); cruising the Southern Caribbean islands (2013); weathering a snowstorm with family in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (2013); taking a Pacific Coast road trip from San Francisco to San Diego (2012); seeing Sedona and the Grand Canyon in Arizona (2010); meeting family and touring Germany (2009); visiting the pyramids, temples of Egypt, and a river cruise down the Nile (2007); and enjoying two Alaskan cruises (2005, 2008). Other fun travels have included conferences in Hawaii, Las Vegas, Denver, Phoenix, Nashville, New Orleans, San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, Pittsburgh, and Williamsburg; weddings in Florida, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin; and other cruises to Mexico, Honduras, Belize, St. Thomas, Turks & Caicos, San Juan, Grand Cayman, Roatan, Bahamas, etc. in the Caribbean.
