about

Hello!  Hi!  Buongiorno!  Bonjour!

I’m Sara and I’ve been blogging since before blogging was a thing.  (I’m talking livejournal circa 2001 over here.)  Before livejournal was a thing, I chronicled my adventures in a paper journal, painstakingly trying to remember every moment of my (beautiful and complicated) life.  In some ways, not too much has changed on that front.  I still capture the details of our trips in a paper journal and generally blog about them when I get home.  It’s a lot more fun to write about things when you have the photos right next to you.  It’s the best way to remember all the incredible details and moments that you loved.

My husband and I are full-time professionals in two different fields.  We are our own bosses, which gives us a lot of flexibility to spend our time on the things we care about.  We’re committed to changing the world in terms of equity, access and opportunity.  We believe that the greatest vehicle for social mobility is through educational attainment.  As such, sometimes I rant to him about the sorry state of education and sometimes I rant to my blog audience about it.  As a professional, I’ve been featured on Marketwave, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and the Washington Post.  That’s not the kind of blogging I do here (often) though.  This is my creative outlet – the thing that lets me escape from the challenges of the “real” world from day to day.  It’s my space to remember that it’s important to do something – whether that’s being, creating, or doing.

Journey of Doing is a luxury travel and lifestyle blog.  That doesn’t mean I don’t love a good deal.  I thrive on a good deal.  (I’ve successfully purchased most of my Waterford crystal at Home Goods and I’m proud of that.)  If that sounds like you, keep reading.  (If it doesn’t, I won’t be offended.  There’s a space out there for everyone.  Just don’t be mean because I’m not your type of traveler.  There’s no need for additional negativity in this world.)

A lot of this blog is focused on travel. My first trip abroad was to study in Florence, Italy while in college. My husband’s first trip abroad was our honeymoon. Thankfully, he enjoyed it as much as I did. We spend a lot of time reliving our trips, planning our next trip, and helping others plan their trips. If I could, I would just steal Aimee’s about page and claim it as my own, but I’m not that clever (nor do I believe in plagiarism). If you’re not offended by her, you probably won’t be offended by me either.

We can probably be friends if you…

• Appreciate a good bubble bath but can equally appreciate a hot, strong shower after a long-haul flight.  (You might even be willing to shower in the airline lounges during long layovers to recharge your batteries so you can get hit the ground running.)
• Don’t (completely) mind getting up for blue hour or sunrise, but you’re more likely to schedule your dinner plans around golden hour, sunset, and blue hour because that doesn’t require you to get up early.
• Monitor multiple websites for the best flight deals but have trouble making a decision on where to go when the deal pops up.  Do you go back to where you’ve been or do you go somewhere new?  FOMO makes the choice so hard.
• Prefer dresses to pants in every circumstance.
• Enjoy learning about local history, culture, and traditions when you travel (i.e. not doing the same things that you can do at home) and try to speak a little (or a lot) of the local language.
• Believe that the best travel souvenirs are pictures (that you can frame, that you can use as Christmas cards, that are exactly how you remember a place), but also know that sometimes you have to buy the hand-painted Christmas ornament or the vase that will look amazing in your house, too.
• Probably won’t ever skip fresh bread, especially if there’s olive oil involved.
• Get really excited when you find a great deal on an expensive item that you would never pay full price for, no matter how much you love it
• Are likely to hit up the local grocery store for breakfast, lunch and snacks so you can save your appetite for a really great dinner (or gelato.  or apple strudel.  or any other kind of sweet treat).
• Believe that sketching out itineraries with all the relevant details for opening and closing details is just traveling smartly… even if everyone has a smart phone.
• Wish that you could pull off effortless put-together style on your own, but generally have to lean on Lela Rose and Emilia Wickstead (and Kate Middleton) for inspiration
• Will always spend money on quality over quantity (but prefer it when it is on sale)
• Enjoy learning, but especially when it involves cooking classes
• Purchase multiple books to read about destinations well in advance and then leave the books in your hotel room for the next guest to find and use for their own adventure.
• Have all these great ideas about how you are going to throw pinterest-perfect parties but can’t ever seem to execute them.
• Know that the best self-care happens in a spa and on a massage table but don’t do it often enough
• Will probably not be excited about any place that requires you to share a bathroom with people you don’t know
• Prefer hauling around your DSLR and multiple lenses as opposing to taking photographs with your iPhone, even if it takes you months to edit the photos.
• Don’t feel bad about continually posting pictures of your (past) travels on instagram because it’s what makes you happy – and you know that’s all that matters.
• Love Christmas markets and will chase them throughout Europe. (I even set up a niche site dedicated to my love of visiting Christmas markets!)
• Still love to watch your wedding video trailer because it was the most perfect day ever and it’s the reason you have someone to have grand adventures with today and every day.