A New Home for The Wonder of Wandering

Five years ago, when Carla and I first created The Wonder of Wandering, we really had no idea what it would become.

At the time, we simply wanted a place where we could share our travels with family and friends. We were beginning a very different chapter in our lives by traveling for months at a time and carrying considerably less with us. We were interested in finding out what it would be like if we stopped rushing through places and stayed long enough to actually get to know them. The website was a place to collect the photographs, tell a few stories, and invite people to come along with us.

We kept traveling. And I kept writing.

Five years later, The Wonder of Wandering has become something much larger than we originally imagined. There are now more than 150 blogs, thousands of photographs, travel videos, stories from countries and cities all over Europe and beyond, and a growing collection of reflections that often begin with travel but then wander off into something else entirely - love, aging, kindness, beauty, children, gratitude, poverty, curiosity, human connection, and this strange business of being alive on this planet.

And as it’s grown it’s also become a little unwieldly, so we decided it was time for a new one.

We’ve designed the site to feel a little more like the way Carla and I actually travel. You might arrive knowing exactly where you want to go, or you might simply begin wandering around and see what catches your interest. Perhaps you came looking for information about Crete and twenty minutes later you’re reading something about why children still know how to wonder at the world. That would feel entirely appropriate to us.

Suppose you’re thinking about going to Portugal. You can go directly to Portugal, then find the particular cities or towns we visited - Lisbon, Lagos, or wherever else we happened to wander - and from there quickly find the stories, photographs, and videos connected with that place.

The same is true for Greece, Italy, Spain, Croatia, France, Türkiye, Mexico, and the other countries we’ve visited. Instead of searching through years of blog posts trying to find something I wrote about Chania or Bologna or Dubrovnik, you can simply go to the destination and find everything gathered together.

Country. City or town. Stories, photographs, videos. Even I can find things now, which feels like a significant technological breakthrough.

We’ve also done a much better job of telling our story - how Carla and I arrived at this somewhat unconventional life in the first place. People often ask us about that. How did you decide to travel this much? Why did you sell your home and most of your belongings? How do you choose where you go? What does slow travel actually mean? How do you live for months with what fits into a couple of carry-on bags?

Those questions are a big part of The Wonder of Wandering because this has never really been a website about collecting destinations. It’s about a way of experiencing the world.

We travel slowly because we want enough time for a place to stop feeling new. We like returning to the same cafe, walking the same streets at different times of day, shopping in neighborhood markets, learning enough of the language to be polite, and talking with people who actually live there. We want to know something about an ordinary Tuesday afternoon, not simply what the town looks like during the three hours between the tour bus arriving and leaving.

Those experiences have become the real heart of the website. The photographs show where we’ve been. The stories try to explore what being there taught us.

And that brings me to something else about The Wonder of Wandering: you don’t have to be planning a trip to enjoy it. Some of my favorite blogs began as travel stories, yet have morphed into something much different.

A morning beside the sea can turn into a reflection about change. An ancient ruin can get me thinking about aging. Watching children in a town square can become an essay about curiosity. A conversation with a stranger may lead somewhere completely unexpected. Travel gives me the setting, but life has a delightful way of becoming the subject.

That’s why the new site also makes it easier to find our Life & Reflections stories - the pieces that aren’t really attached to a particular destination. You may have absolutely no desire to spend six weeks in Crete, although I would personally challenge that decision. 😊  But you might still enjoy something I wrote there about love, simplicity, growing older, seeing beauty, or learning to pay more attention to the life we already have.

And I want to be very clear about something else. We aren’t selling anything.

There are no hotels paying us to say wonderful things about them. No tour companies slipping envelopes beneath the table. No restaurants offering us free meals in exchange for enthusiastic adjectives. We’re not trying to become influencers, and there is no secret plan to corner the international market in comfortable walking shoes.

When we love a place, we tell you. If something disappoints us, we may tell you that too. What you’re reading is simply our experience - our photographs, our observations, our mistakes, our discoveries, and my reflections about what all of it means. It’s personal. And I hope that’s part of what makes it useful.

We’re also not claiming to know the “ten best” anything. We’re simply saying, Here’s what happened to us. Here’s what we loved. Here’s something we noticed. Perhaps it will help you on your own journey - or simply give you something interesting to think about over your morning coffee.

That is also why we would genuinely love for you to subscribe to the blog.

Subscribing simply means that whenever I publish a new blog, you’ll receive a short email letting you know there’s something new to read.

I love it when someone writes to say that a story brought back a memory. Someone else decides to visit a place because of something we shared. A reader tells me that a reflection made them think differently about their own life. People we have never met begin exchanging stories with us, and suddenly what began as two people wandering through the world becomes something more communal. That means a great deal to us.

So please come visit the newly redesigned The Wonder of Wandering. Click around. Pick a country. Wander through a town. Watch a video. Look through some photographs. Read a story that catches your eye. Get a little lost. We’re actually quite fond of getting lost. And while you’re there, we hope you’ll subscribe and continue wandering with us.

Carla and I feel incredibly fortunate to live this life, and sharing it with all of you has become a huge part of what makes it so meaningful.

We love seeing the world. And we love bringing you along.

* And if you like the design, flow, and overall feel of our website, I’d also love to introduce you to Jeramie Ibarra. The writing and photography are mine, but the design, layout, SEO, and all the technical magic behind the site are Jeramie’s work.

He created our original website five years ago and has now completely updated it, and I truly  recommend him whole heartedly. Jeramie is talented, thoughtful, thorough, kind, and - just as importantly - very easy to work with. He communicates clearly, meets deadlines, and makes the whole process feel remarkably smooth.

I’ve worked with several website developers over the years, and I would choose Jeramie every time.

If you’re interested in reaching out to him, you can contact him at: 

jeramie@e-jiffy.com