Travelling has always been an essential part of my life ever since I can remember. It´s a true passion of always developing as a person, seeing new places and gaining a greater understanding for the world. For me this is a driving force never settling and always looking for a new place to see. No destination is like another and every part of this earth is unique. 

I wanted to share my story of why I love to travel and where I believe my passion comes from. I could start from way back in time and show how even my ancestors loved to explore the world but I’ve decided to start from my grandparents youth. My grandmother grew up in England and during World War II she was sent to boarding school in the countryside where she developed her independence. After completing her nursing degree she moved to work in Finland where a relative lived. Thinking back on this today I feel such a connection to my grandmother for having the courage to travel on her own and live in a foreign country. This was during the 1940`s and a quite rare occasion. In Finland she met my grandfather who also had moved from Norway to study theology. After getting married in Gothenburg, Sweden, my grandfather was offered a PHD-position at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. They packed up their lives and took the boat to the other side of the Atlantic and were met by the Statue of Liberty as a warm welcome to their new home country. A few years passed and my grandfather once again was offered a new job in Norway. So once again they were not afraid to leave their current happy life in America for another adventure. During my father´s upbringing my grandparents weren’t that well off to be able to show him the wide world as they maybe wanted. However they did live in England for a year and every summer was spent camping all around Europe. 

The story of my own parents is a book on its own and my passion is also widely inherited from them. My mother also loved travelling as a child going on adventures with my grandparents who had their own little light aircraft. They took day- and weekend trips in the plane and explored different parts of Europe. My mother´s passion for exploring more parts of the world grew stronger and by the time she was 19 she headed to America to be a tennis coach at a summer camp. When the camp weeks were over she wasn´t ready to go back home so she travelled round the states all by herself. A few years later when she had finished law school she once again went to America, but this time to follow her family´s footsteps and take her pilot’s licence. During her first day at the flying school she met my father who turned out to be her instructor. My father had, a few years, before left the marines to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. He had left Sweden for America and dedicated his life to flying. By the time my mother had achieved her pilot’s licence they were a couple and a new adventure was about to start. After some time my dad was offered a job as a rescue pilot during the war in Chad. He worked in Africa for two months flying between six different countries and lived with my mother in England the month he was off. I admire my father for risking his own life to help others . I also believe that this experience of working in a war zone, in a very poor country has made him the most caring and unselfish person I know. When the war ended my father got a teaching position in Sweden and my mum moved with him, leaving her lawyer career behind. During their new life they were always longing for a new adventure and saved up to travel. They took trips around Europe and were longing to see the world. In 1997 they had finally saved up enough money to go on a trip around the world. This trip I have heard so much about during my upbringing and inspired me as a child to want to see the world for myself. Every day of their trip was a new adventure and they were always on the move to the next destination.           

I am the luckiest person to be able to say that I’ve been gifted with the most wonderful upbringing you could imagine. My favourite time of year has been the summer holidays as those have been the times when we as a family have travelled. I would always make lists of places I wanted to travel to. As I got older I started to help out with the trip planning and bookings. I started to wish to visit certain places and always looked forward to the next trip. It is thanks to my parents that my passion for travel has grown so big and I´m truly grateful for all the places around the world they have taken me to.

My family is such an inspiration to me. I know that they are the amazing people they are due to their experiences in life. They are also the most compassionate souls I know. This is probably due to the fact that they’ve seen how other people around the world live and function. That is why I have the biggest passion for travel and want to inspire others to see the world for themselves.

o