Beyond the Destination

Travel was always someone else’s dream. A magazine at the grocery store promising azure seas while a beautiful woman’s white maxi dress danced wildly in the breeze. Travel was the thoughtfulness of our noble vagabonds who drift place to place and tell us about local cuisine juxtaposed with the social stories of exotic locales.

Travel was listening to a friend or colleague sigh heavily as they recalled the places from which they just returned.

Sharing Is Caring

Years ago, a tour guide repeated the phrase “sharing is caring.” Those three words redefined my viewpoint of travel.

Maybe working hard at school, business, life, and relationships was not the reason I was gifted with the ability to travel. Maybe, just maybe, the reason I get to travel is because I’m supposed to share those experiences with others.

Maybe, in my small way, through this website, I can inspire someone else to want more. Maybe a picture you see here will inspire you to want to go somewhere you never dreamed.

Real Travel Is Messy

In creating this website, I want to not only share the beautiful pictures but also the practicality of travels.

Guess what? That perfectly pressed billowy dress on the front cover of the grocery store magazine? Yeah, real travel either includes some wrinkles or extra weight for a steam iron.

Real travel is messy.

It’s long flights, wrinkled clothes, missed connections, lost luggage, language barriers, and a whole host of things that go wrong.

And Then There Are the Moments That Make It Worth It

But how great is travel when it goes right?

My husband and I went to Santorini earlier this year. The wild violet hues of the sunset of Santorini haunted me from a calendar I saw when I was twelve. Years later—and I mean years later—I finally got to see my sunset.

We spent an afternoon sitting in a hot tub overlooking the caldera of the island while we watched the sun ignite in the sky to golden, to red, to purple, and then to twilight.

It made the lost luggage, delayed flight, long haul of too much luggage, and oppressive crowds worth it.

The Story Behind Next Time I Go

Next Time I Go is a website dedicated to sharing the joys and mishaps of traveling and what I would do differently when and if I get to go again.

I hope you enjoy this site as I share my travels.

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