ABankerMU's VirtualTourist Home Page

I just joined VT recently, when researching my next (second) trip to Costa Rica. What a cool site! Since then, I've gotten hooked on putting my trip info into the various areas. I'm realizing that I need to be much more diligent with names, locations, etc, for the little unique places that I find. I have so many places that I'd like to recommend, only I can't locate them to an exact city or town. I'll be so much more prepared this next time...

Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, my first taste of foriegn travel was to Cancun, Mexico my senior year of high school, in 1998. Not very well-traveled at the time, I thought Cancun was great. What a crock! Since then, I've discovered something called culture...

I started college at Marquette University later that year--majoring in Biology, pre-dental. No further trips out of the country until spring break, junior year. Sixteen of us headed down to Negril, Jamaica for some fun-in-the-sun relaxation. I'd love to get back to Jamaica at some point, but to different areas. I loved the people.

In the fall of 2001, I started dental school at Marquette. That year during spring break, a buddy and I headed to Europe--Munich, Innsbruck, Florence, Rome, and Venice. We stayed in hostels and took the Eurorail everywhere--I couldn't get enough of it. Traveling was becoming a passion.

In August, I had the opportunity to participate in a medical/dental mission trip to El Salvador. I spent a week in both San Miguel and La Union, extracting tons and tons of teeth. This was my first experience with Central American culture. I was instantly fascinated by the spirit of the people there. They had so little in comparison to our country, yet were so happy. Amazing, really...

Guatemala was the destination of choice in March of 2003, for another mission trip (solely dental this time). I spent one week in Guatemala City doing much of the same stuff as before. Our hosts were less than willing to let us out to explore the city, so I'll have to get back there at some point to catch up on all that I missed.

In August of 2003, I was back to El Salvador again, with many of the same individuals as the earlier mission trip. Each and every time that I go back, I fall a little more in love with the culture.

In March of 2004, I decided to take a trip for myself again, heading to Costa Rica with four friends. We rented an SUV and drove all over the country. You can check out the details of this trip in my travel pages. Costa Rica is hands down my favorite country that I have traveled to. The people are amazingly friendly and helpful, really making you feel welcome there.

This brings me to the present. I graduate in May from dental school, and I'm planning on going back to school for another six years. Hopefully, in an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery residency is where I'll be!

My girlfriend and I have bought tickets to go back to Costa Rica this March. I'm heading back to the Caribbean side for a couple days to start things off. I want to further explore the trails extending south out of Manzanillo, and I'd like to spend a little more time in Puerto Viejo. Later, we're off to the Pacific coast, gradually working our way along the ocean from Tamarindo down to Playa Carillo. We'll probably spend the last day or two downtown in San Jose, hopefully near the Central Market so the GF can do some shopping. I'll for sure be posting more on that trip when I get back.

My theme, "In Support of the Little Guy," means just what it says. When I travel, I like to stay in small, family-run establishments and to eat in places run the same way. I feel very strongly about doing everything possible not to contribute to big business commercialization--such as Hiltons, Superclubs, and the like. As we all know, you don't find a lot of culture in these resorts, and they tend to take away from the feel of the surrounding areas. Okay, off the soapbox...