The first picture of the Vieux Port (old harbor) of Bastia, Corsica was taken this past summer. My sister Paola and I traveled to explore our ancestry in Sicily and Corsica, and the last stop on this beautiful island was two overnights in the eastern coastal city of Bastia, full of charm, history, and stunning seascapes.

My passion for travel started relatively late as I took international travel a bit for granted as I grew up around the Mediterranean and country-hopped often as a child. It's not until I moved to the United States and that the Mediterranean basin suddenly fell out of easy reach  that I started missing that side of the world.

Teaching French to high school students helped open the travel doors for me... I have thoroughly enjoyed organizing and leading groups of students to the motherland of this beautiful language many times since 2005. Student groups were followed by adult groups and there grew my passion for designing itineraries and researching sites, cities, villages, and everything in between. I find that the fun is in the details. This type of work, where every minute of the day has to be thought of, is quite exciting because it makes me live and relive trips day by day, hour by hour, as I run them through my mind to be sure they are feasible, they flow well, and include a variety of interesting sites and engaging activities.

Well, there is so much to say - I'll leave you with this for now as I plan a possible structure for my blog. There may be some randomness in this plan as I prefer things to be creative and not necessary follow a strict path. After all, the trick to successful travel is being flexible and open to just about anything.

This is only the beginning. A presto!