About Passports & Places

My travel journey started when I was a very young man. I was 7 years old and my sister told me we were road tripping to California from New Jersey. So I stuffed a pillowcase full of my favorites toys, underwear and a toothbrush. We only went a few blocks away to the local bank before I realized I’d been tricked. And while I cried my eyes out, it was the birth of the travel bug within me. Fast forward to 18 years old, I joined the U.S. Navy because they promised me that I’d travel the world. They conveniently left out all the hard work that would accompany it, but they held up their end of the bargain in terms of travel. Across 3 deployments, I visited 10 countries, including some hard to reach ones like Eritrea, Papua New Guinea, and Seychelles. I also spent 6 months in the northern region of Japan’s Honshu island and lived in Hawaii for 2 years.

After I finished my active duty service, I bought a one way ticket to South America and had my first backpacker experience. I spent 15 months in Ecuador, Peru, Argentina and Colombia. These were the best 15 months of my life. I learned Spanish in Quito, danced salsa in Cali, rang in the New Year in Buenos Aires, taught English in Cartagena, and collected countless of other priceless experiences, Since then I’ve been obsessed with travel. I studied abroad for a month in China and a month in France. I’ve hitchhiked through the Malaysian Highlands. I traveled for 6 weeks across Europe by train. And one thing that’s always made me proud is my ability to connect with cultures and people wherever I go. So that’s where my inspiration for this blog came along.

Passports and Places will be your cultural guide to incredible destinations around the world. While it’s great to talk about and visit places like the Eiffel Tower, I feel that you’ll have a better experience, and impact, when you support a Parisian boulangerie (bakery) in a local neighborhood and have a fresh baked croissant or baguette. And while people in a lot of the places you visit might speak English, it goes so far when you earn a few words and phrases in the local language. It took me a week to learn “hello”, “thank you” and “I would like…” in Polish, but once I did, I could notice a positive change in even the most brief of interactions.

So with all that said, keep an eye out for blog posts, guides, podcasts and much more! I look forward to sharing stories, adventures, and tips to help you get the most out of every destination!