Having lived and worked in Seattle, WA for the last 10 years, practicing anesthesia in the heart of the city, I'm taking a break to travel for a while. 

The squishy face in the upper photo is my nephew. We were visiting a taffy factory in Gatlinburg, TN, and I got to introduce him to the old wooden machines that roll and wrap the taffy before dropping it into a laundry-sized wicker basket. They give you samples while they're still warm. That candy shop was one of my favorite places as a kid, and we went there every time we visited the Smoky Mountains. I learned the sweetness of travel.

I chose many of the destinations on this journey because they felt like places truly distant from anywhere I've been and I'm curious to discover them. My shirt says Made in Cambodia. What is life like there? Where exactly is Sri Lanka? I had to find it on a map. Other destinations, like Berlin, were chosen because several friends have moved there in the last few years and it's a great opportunity to live abroad amongst people I know. How is Berlin now, a city once divided by WWII? 

This website is a record for myself, and a way for family and friends to travel with me. The next 3 months will involve half a dozen different countries. I'll be in a new place every couple of weeks, and I want a way to look back in detail when I'm home and see the arc of it as a whole. I want to take you with me! I'm bringing one small backpack and no checked bags. I'm not buying souvenirs. This is the place where I'll collect my memories of this trip. Please enjoy them with me. Thanks for coming along!