Introduction…

I’ve had this thought for more than a year, but I didn’t know where to start. Maybe I was a bit nervous to even figure out how to start my own travel blog. Thoughts like who will read it? Do I have something compelling to say? How much time will it take? What will it be about? Then I thought to myself, I LOVE to travel, capture moments from my travel and share those experiences with whoever wants to see and hear. I’ve had enough cool experiences that I believe my perspective could be a welcomed breathe of fresh air.

I’m so appreciative of my travels because it’s something I never thought was possible growing up. I’m from Cleveland, Ohio and the inner city. Where I’m from, I didn’t know a single person who actually traveled the states, let alone the world. Unless you were in the Military, maybe. My family never traveled even to a neighboring state – maybe another city close by like Akron (home of Lebron James), but that’s about it.

As I got older, international travel wasn’t exactly on my radar. For some inexplicable reason, I assumed you needed to have tons of money to take a trip out of the country. However, when I was 8 years old something very cool happened. My cousin who was in the Navy and stationed in Chicago, Illinois was getting a visit from his mother, my aunt. My grandma being the brilliant lady she was suggested I go with her. I had never been on a plane and was extremely excited. Not only was I the biggest Michael Jordan fan (played for the Chicago Bulls) on earth, it was just exciting to think about leaving Ohio and going some place else. Since we didn’t have a ton of discretionary income, we were only able to get me a standby ticket. This meant if the plane wasn’t full I could potentially get an available seat, which would allow me to make the trip. The other issue with standby is other people are hoping just like you for an available seat. A good portion of my family came to the airport to see if I would make it to Chicago — my grandma was even praying in the airport for me (bless her heart). Once the last person got on the plane, the stewardess called me over and gave me the last ticket for the flight. That moment opened my curiosity to travel my country and all the beautiful states in the US.

Traveling abroad didn’t come until I was in my early 30’s (2015). Seeing one of my close friends travel to Europe each summer gave me the idea that I could and should as well. That’s a pretty late start in life, but for the past 3 1/2 years, I’ve been trying to make up for it. I’ve visited 18 countries and 4 continents (North America, Europe, Asia & Australia) in that short period of time. I’ve already well exceeded my goals of travel and that’s why this blog is called “All A Dream Travel” because I didn’t see it coming in real life – only as time went on did I start to dream about it.

This blog is dedicated to sharing my travel experiences, where I’ve been, stories of what I found interesting, some tips pertaining to travel, and having a great time showing you some beautiful places through pictures. My main goal is just to spark your interest and make you either want to travel for the first time or commit to traveling more. Also, as I keep traveling I’ll continue to share – I’m nowhere near done yet. I hope it’s a lot of fun and it gets better and better as I go!

My first picture is of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. This was taken on my very first trip out of the country. It was so magical to see it in person. It’s honestly sort of mesmerizing to be near it, you can’t help but stare at it and take pics -— I have many! More to come on Paris as we get going, but for now enjoy a few pictures from different countries I’ve visited around the world.