Originally from Colorado, I’ve always been a bit of an adventurer at heart. I scaled mountains on summer backpacking trips and took to snowboarding like an obsession.

My first trip out of the U.S. was as a toddler to Germany, where my mom had studied abroad in college. The love for travel intensified on a one month summer trip to Europe in middle school. We stayed with host families through Servas. I learned to appreciate the everyday experiences of people in places that were completely new to me.

This fueled my desire to save up for school trip in high school to London, Paris and Rome as well as a swim trip to Australia and New Zealand. Graduating as a valedictorian, my family celebrated with two weeks in Germany with my Grandma. Her first time out of the U.S. (and she was in her 70s!). Seeing Europe through her eyes was very special.

After college, I backpacked on my own and with friends. Working in California brought a deployment to Afghanistan and I was lucky to get a two-year assignment to Germany. A stressful work environment was somewhat negated by endless travel opportunities around Europe and northern Africa.

I separated from the Air Force and took to Asia. Trekking to Everest Base Camp, working with pandas in China and backpacking Southeast Asia with a friend was a dream experience for me. After almost a year of travel, I settled back in Colorado for grad school.

After that, my then boyfriend (now husband) and I hightailed it to Central and America for almost 5 months. We came back engaged, bought a home, started working again and got married. Our family grew in 2017 and 2019 and while the pandemic slowed us down, our family has resumed slow traveling in 2022 with a summer in Canada, a school year in Spain 2023-2024 and now living half and half in Spain and Colorado.

I’ve always been smart with money but my passion for personal finance started with my children. I’ve since helped managed our finances to a point that we can coast until retirement! I completed a Financial Educator certificate and have successfully coached dozens so their money can fuel their travel desires as well!

I hope this inspires you to find the cadence and travel desires that fit best for you and your family and then go out there and do it!

My favorite quote is “To see the world through your child’s eyes is to see it for the first time, all over again.”