dek516's VirtualTourist Home Page

I was born and raised in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside of Washington D.C. After college and grad school, I moved back up to the D.C. area. I now live in Alexandria, Virginia where I work as a school psychologist. I'm lucky to live near such a wonderful city as D.C. There's always something going on, and I never tire of the museums and monuments. I especially love the National Gallery of Art and have been there countless times.

I'm also lucky to live near my family and so many of my friends. Life is good!

I've always had the travel bug, even though I didn't travel outside of North America until the age of 19. Before that, most of my travels had been with my family to various parts of the US, including trips to the midwest, lots of time in Los Angeles to visit my grandparents, and seeing all parts of the East Coast. I went with my mother, father and sister to western Canada in 1995 and absolutely loved it. If my sister, who is 6 years my junior, had been a more cooperative traveler, we probably would have headed abroad long before we did. As it was, we finally crossed the pond to England in 1999. I fell in love with England, especially London, and knew at that point that I really wanted to see more of the world. So it began!

All of my traveling abroad in my 20s has been done with my wonderful friends from high school, college and grad school. I'm lucky to know so many other travel enthusiasts!

Since 2001, I've been to:

London, March 2001 for spring break. We packed a lot into 4 days but had a great time.
Rome, March 2002, again for spring break. An amazing city. I loved the Vatican and the Colosseum.
Krakow, May-June 2002. I went here with a professor and 4 other undergrads, one of whom is now one of my closest friends. This was my favorite trip of all time. I could go back to Krakow again and again and again.
Copenhagen, June 2002-- I made a brief stop here after my Krakow trip.
Prague, Krakow, Zakopane (Poland), and Budapest, May 2004. I went on this trip with 6 friends and had a wonderful time. I loved Prague, and I was so happy to return to Krakow.
Helsinki, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and St Petersburg, July 2006. Another great trip. Tallinn, Estonia was my favorite spot, although St Petersburg was fascinating.
The Yucatan, March 2008-- so much history here, of a different sort from the European variety. I loved it!

I've had some great experiences, but I have a long list of places I still want to go. Here are many of them, not necessarily in order:

1. Egypt
2. Botswana
3. Zambia (Victoria Falls)
4. South Africa
5. Morocco
6. France-- all of it!
7. Germany, especially Dusseldorf and Aachen, where my grandparents are from.
8. Switzerland
9. Austria
10. Norway
11. Ireland
12. Scotland
13. Ukraine
14. Romania
15. Slovenia
16. Croatia
17. Turkey
18. Moscow (not a country, I know, but I've been to St Petersburg. Now I have to see Lenin!)
16. China, especially Beijing
17. Vietnam
18. Thailand
19. Chile
20. Argentina
21. Peru (Machu Pichu)
22.In the US:
Alaska
Yellowstone National Park
Glacier National Park
The Grand Canyon

There are others, but that's a start, right? And of course I'd love to go back to some spots, like Krakow and London. I don't have big travel plans at the moment, but I'm always thinking of where I might go next...