The Short Story:
Hello out there and welcome to the Travel Makes Me Happy blog! My name is KJ and I’ve discovered many things throughout my lifetime. I am from one of the (in my opinion) best cities in the world, New Orleans, Louisiana. I have always been surrounded with great food, great music, and fun growing up and living here. There is always a festival, music, or food event to fill the weekends in New Orleans.
The most impactful discovery I have had is that travel is an experience that truly makes me happy. I am a relatively new “empty nester” who has rediscovered international travel and learned many things along the way that I hope to share with others. I never really stopped traveling, the focus and destinations have just shifted now that my sons are older and not “in the nest” anymore. Hopefully, by sharing my experiences, planning tips, travel reviews, and destination information that I’ve gathered along my travel journey it will help others in their own travel discoveries.
The Long Story:
The long version of who I am and why I do this started when I was 16 years old and traveled internationally for the first time to Bali, Indonesia. That trip was transformative both in igniting my love for travel, but also in opening my eyes to everything the world has to offer and how similar we are no matter what our location is on this planet.
My background is in art and teaching and I was an art teacher as well as working artist (still am) for many years while my family was young.
Teaching art classes circa 2000’s
Shifting vacation goals
After getting married and starting a family, focus shifted to family travel and raising our children. International travel was on a hold for a bit and travel revolved around theme parks, beaches, mountains, and other places that were in close proximity to traveling with younger kids. International travel was not an option at the time financially really. It was still fun to travel, and I honed my planning skills for those trips. I also still love Disney, Universal, and any theme park!
Getting back to travel and new destinations
Once our kids got older and became young adults, travel shifted again to further destinations and experiences. When they went off to college, my husband and I became “empty nesters” and our travel focus shifted again. I took a sabbatical of sorts and spent the whole summer traveling abroad.
I also decided to go back to college to work on my graduate degree at about the same time my sons entered college and I finished my MA in Sociology at the same university (they both attended my alma mater). That decision led to some tricky things to work around and I tried best not to embarrass them, but we even wound up taking a few classes together. My graduate coursework all focused on the sociology of travel. I was fascinated by the sociological impacts that travel can have; not just on the individual, but on the place visited, as well as the people who live in travel destinations. My thesis was even dedicated to sociological and business impacts travel influencers experienced during the pandemic. I also fulfilled my dream of becoming a college adjunct professor.
Self-discovery and finding travel happiness
Teaching was what I wanted to do for a long time and I still enjoy it, but I really had to focus on where I was at this point in my life and what truly makes me happy. I did a deep dive into self-discovery and every time I would turn it over and over in my head on what truly makes me happy, it came back to travel. Self-discovery led to the decision to create this blog and hopefully the things I’ve learned along the way can also help other people who are planning their own travels or those who love travel as much as I do. I want to bring the travel resources that I’ve gathered over time and make them available to help others on their journeys.
If you take away anything from this website and my experiences, I hope it is how you really can find happiness in traveling. Laissez les bons temps rouler!
KJ
Travel Makes Me Happy blog
New Orleans, Louisiana, 70119
Travel Resources and Recent Posts:
- I decided to compile all of our favorite craft cocktail bars to visit in New Orleans that are not on the Bourbon St. corridor (well, one is) and put them on a map in a DIY self-guided tour that you can take on if you visit New Orleans. Also, if you don’t have a visit planned and you’d like our version of my favorite Pimm’s Cup cocktail recipe it’s on the latest blog post.
- Travel can be stressful and without planning things out ahead of time awesome things might be missed on your vacation. These 9 travel tips will help you plan and make things less stressful.
- If you want a quick view of what it’s like during the best after-party in town (Jazzfest 2022) this short video of the street party in Mid City after Jazz Fest is part of why I love New Orleans!
email: kj@travelmakesmehappy.com
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