"Cheers, y'all!" DrewV's Profile

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Villers-la-Ville in my adopted country, Belgium

When you're on stage, and someone's requesting Freebird like it's the last song on Earth, just run screaming. Or else smile, enjoy life, and have faith that although your travels and travails may throw you halfway around the world, eventually you can always find your way home. Wherever you make it.

A Little about Andrew

I'm a 27-year-old marketing consultant in suburban Chicago. Which makes me a Tennessee Redneck in King Richard's Court. The less you know about Chicago's inner workings, the better off you are, believe me.

Originally, I grew up in Nashville, Tennessee (with a small two-year detour in Memphis). Following four years of university in Atlanta, Georgia, I started my professional career in financial services marketing in Richmond, Virginia, followed by moves to Charlotte, NC, and back to Atlanta.

Eventually, I decided to change careers and so moved to Washingon, DC to get an MBA at Georgetown University. In the course of getting my degree, I spent time living in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium and Saigon, Vietnam. And now, I've somewhat settled down in the outskirts of the Windy City.

When I was 23, my family decided to take our first trip abroad to celebrate my mom not having cancer. We went to France, where I, as a French major in college, was expected to translate everything as we ran up one bank and down the other.

Still, that trip set off a spark in me. I had always loved traveling, but before that trip, I had only visited other states in the US (and Canada and the Bahamas, but those are just extensions of the US anyway *wink*). Since that trip to France, I've been to 23 countries from Mexico to Cambodia. And I'm completely addicted to travelling.

In my spare time, I read, try in vain to work out, play guitar, and ponder the mysteries of the universe. I speak French, so feel free to comment en francais. Anything else you'd like to know?

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Andrew's Theory of VT

I have a very particular style in my pages. In my opinion, my VT pages serve three purposes:

1) I give a little historical and cultural background. Too often people travel without truly understanding the contexts of what they're experiencing. Although I keep things brief on these pages, I'd like at least to get you thinking.

2) I love photgraphs. I'm a camera junkie, so I try to take and use a lot of pictures. At the same time, though, I feel that photos should only serve to illustrate the point being made. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words -- while that may be true, without a context, those thousand words could be wasted.

3) This site is supposed to be fun. That's why I make it a point to put a little humour into my pages. Some call it witty -- I'm flattered, really. I want you to read my pages and feel like you've learned a little something. Maybe you'd want to travel to someplace you'd never considered; maybe you'd want to revisit some things you'd missed; maybe you just nod your head and say Yeah, he's right. Ha-ha. Whatever. And please comment -- I love all criticism, because I do take this seriously.%c*

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I'm a fairly old-school VTer. I've been here for a long time, and most of my pages were created when I lived in Atlanta in 2000. Then I moved to DC to go to graduate school. In 2001, I moved to Belgium and two whammies hit: 9/11 and the addition of pop-up ads on VT. The one made me less enthusiastic about writing about where I had been and more interested in going and living and seizing the day. The latter made me leave the site completely. It has only been now, two years later, that I have thought about coming back to the site and adding my recent travels (Belgium, Dublin, Cheshire, Pomorsze, Vietnam, Cambodia).

My pages aren't as good as they used to be. They were written according to the old format. I have been editing them little by little, but it doesn't seem to be working much. By some miracle, I'm still ranked in the top 200, so thanks, y'all for that!

Of course, pleaseremember to click on the travelogues on my pages. With my style, I find it easier to break my pages up so that you're not faced with everything on the front page. So take a look -- some of my best stories are in the travelogues, including Cotswolds at Night which is a classic that some people miss when they look at my Oxford page.

Intro Updated Aug 4, 2003
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Comments (21)

Sharrie Feb 15, 2009 at 8:20 AM Report Abuse

Great to see u back last year! Yes, I do agree... it's tough to work on the new format & to reedit all that's been done in the past. Hope to read more from you when you're inspired! :-) All the best!
maryinutopia Jan 24, 2006 at 5:43 AM Report Abuse

It's your birthday, we gonna have a good time! You have a great birthday. I'm loving what you're doing with your pages! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Graceful Nov 12, 2005 at 7:34 PM Report Abuse

Your Potsdam pages are amazing! thanks for all these amazing tips :) hope my pages will be almost as good as yours someday :)
kiwi Sep 4, 2005 at 1:59 AM Report Abuse

Hey Drew, it's been a long time! Well VT doesn't have popups for members any more, so if you read this, maybe you'll consider returning and telling us what you've been up to. big smiles, Pam ;-)
Voyageuse30 Mar 8, 2004 at 4:22 AM Report Abuse

I absolutely love your pages... they're some of the best I've ever seen on VT!!
chris_i79 Feb 25, 2004 at 4:28 PM Report Abuse

Loved the wonders list.....I scored 14 as well. I would say accomplishing that list is very full lifetime of travel. Nice job
karenincalifornia Feb 25, 2004 at 3:58 PM Report Abuse

Only 11 wonders for me, too! I need to get cracking!
Jacquelynn Jan 24, 2004 at 8:25 AM Report Abuse

Bon anniversaire! Hello from Maryland!
beautyinheart Jan 24, 2004 at 12:13 AM Report Abuse

Happy Birthday.Very informative homepage you have here.Be happy always.
kasandra_et Jan 5, 2004 at 10:27 PM Report Abuse

I loved your pages and pictures! Great job! Thank you for sharing :-) Greetings from Arkansas :-)