“I wanted real adventure to happen to myself. But real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad.” – James Joyce
Hello! My name is Alison and I love to travel.
I’ve always been fascinated by far away places. Growing up in land-locked Tennessee, most families headed either east to the Carolinas or south to the Gulf for their summer vacation. You didn’t often hear of people visiting exotic places overseas, much less moving there.
I went on my own first real international trip to Switzerland while I was an Architecture student at the University of Tennessee. I loved everything about the experience — the newness of the culture and food and the sense of adventure that came along with it. After that first trip, I looked for any other opportunity to study abroad. Before graduating from college I spent another summer in Scandinavia and a full semester in Krakow, Poland.
After graduating in 2010, I moved to New York City to start my career as an Architect and met my husband Dan a couple of years later. Before long, we started planning trips abroad together. We road-tripped around Italy and Switzerland, hiked Machu Picchu in Peru, and slept with the toucans and howler monkeys in Costa Rica.
Then, on a trip around Iceland’s Ring Road, Dan popped the question.
When it came time to plan our wedding, we started looking at venues in upstate New York but weren’t excited by the options. So one thing led to the next, and we started planning our adventure wedding in Iceland. 80 of our friends and family flew around the world to be with us for our wedding. The entire weekend was magical!
Read More:
Our Destination Wedding in Iceland
Planning a Destination Wedding in Iceland
Becoming an Expat
As newlyweds, we started making plans to finally move away from New York. We visited cities around the US to try to find our next home. After a few months of searching, we had the thought, Why not move abroad? We didn’t have a mortgage or kids (yet) and so it felt like now or never.
After a few months exploring Europe and seeking out employment opportunities, we found ourselves flying to the Netherlands with our cat in tow to move into our new apartment in Amsterdam. Everything was new and exciting. We took full advantage of our new home base with many weekend trips to neighboring countries and even Morocco, our first visit to Africa.
Unfortunately just two years after moving, Covid hit Europe and we found ourselves suddenly trapped inside our small Amsterdam apartment. Traveling those next couple of years came with a whole new set of challenges — suddenly air travel and crowded cities seemed much less appealing. But where there’s a will, there’s away. We spent more time in nature and opted for road trips (one of which, a three-week trip around France, ended up being one of my all-time favorite trips!).
Fast-forward to 2022 and life took another turn as we welcomed our daughter Luna. The adjustment to life with a baby is a shock for anyone, and I’m sure doing it in a foreign country with no family within 3,000 miles probably didn’t make that transition any easier. Luckily, the Netherlands is a great place to have kids with lots of support for parents, so we eventually found our way and settled into our new life as a family. Before long, we were toting our baby across Spain, Norway, Slovenia, and Scotland.
Read More:
Having a Baby in the Netherlands (an American’s Perspective)
As of 2024 we’ve added a second daughter to the mix, a cute little ball of energy named Harper. Even as our family grows, my husband and I are determined to not lose that sense of wanderlust that keeps us exploring. This new chapter of travel certainly looks different than before (gone are the days or relaxing by the pool!) but with it comes a whole new sense of adventure and reward as we get to watch our kids discover the world.
So what’s next for us? We are now six years into life as expats, and we still don’t know what the future holds. Will we stay in Amsterdam, move back to the States, or set out on a new adventure somewhere else entirely? Who can say. If there’s one thing this experience has taught me, it’s that life can be a lot more fun if you can learn to embrace the unknown and enjoy the ride!
Starting The Postcard
I initially started The Postcard as a way to share photos and stories from our travels with friends and family back home when we first set out on our European adventure in 2018. Over the years as I’ve added more and more content, it’s transformed from a hobby into a digital heirloom of sorts. I’ve put in a ton of time and effort in keeping this thing going year after year, and it is so wonderful being able to reflect on the amazing experiences we’ve had.
Through the blog, I’ve discovered that there’s actually more than just the travel itself that I love. As it turns out, I also get a ton of satisfaction from all the stuff that happens before the trip itself: building out a “wish list” of destinations, researching a new place, and puzzling together the perfect itinerary. Perusing countless travel blogs as a part of the trip planning process lets me live vicariously through other people’s experiences. I feel like I’ve lived the trip many times before we even depart!
One thing I’ve learned after so much trip planning is that nothing beats a personal recommendation. Any time we meet seasoned travelers, I always ask what have been their favorite destinations. Some of our most memorable trips have spawned from these recommendations. Connecting with others through personal stories, photos, and reflections on our trips is what The Postcard is all about. I hope that by sharing these details, others will feel inspired to get out of their comfort zone and see more of the world, too.
More About Me: Check out a map of where I’ve been & don’t miss my personal travel bucket list, which I plan to keep up-to-date as we cross things off the list!