It has been my intention to start a blog for some time now, and my day has finally come! I had a blog once, about 18 years ago when my daughter was first diagnosed with all of her conditions.  It was a way for me to keep family and friends up to date, but also therapeutic for me, as Emma had a lot going on. The funny thing is that when I was in high school and college, I hated writing.  And now looking back, maybe I just hated to write about the topics that were assigned! Anyway, that was a little unintended  tangent.

If you read my “About” section on my website, found here, you’ve gotten a taste of how I started Elevating Adventures. I credit my love of travel to my parents.  Every summer we went somewhere new, and so I got a taste of how beautiful the United States really is.  Some of my favorite trips include New England, Washington D.C., a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands, and camping (yes, back then I liked camping) in the Redwoods in Northern California. I didn’t actually visit Europe until I was 14 when my Grandparents took me on my first river cruise on the Volga River in Russia! What an eye opening experience for a 14 year old traveling internationally for the first time! I do remember not liking Borscht. 

When I graduated High School, my parents took me to Western Europe for the first time, where I traveled around Germany, France, and visited London, England. From there, I was hooked!  In college, I worked during the school year so I could save money and travel to Europe during the summers.  I’d stay around a month, and visit friends in Germany.  One summer I went to Croatia to visit my college friend who lived there. Dubrovnik and Split NEED to be on your travel list! 

Fast forward a bit to when my kids were in Elementary School.  I knew I wanted to show my kids the world.  And with Emma and her medical challenges and developmental delays, I knew that traveling would have to be on her terms- it already was.  But more consideration would have to be given if and when we took her outside the country. We tested out a cruise when she was 13- a Disney Cruise.  We opted for a 5 day cruise, knowing 3 days wouldn’t be enough, but 7 days might be too long.  Well, we should’ve done the 7 day cruise as the kids were crushed on the day we had to leave! But that cruise shifted my perspective on her travel.  I knew that cruising would be a fantastic option for her.  Unpack once, and wake up every day in a new port. She had the consistency and familiarity of staying in the same stateroom. 

It was shortly after that trip that I decided to look into theme park host agencies- basically Travel Agencies that specialized in theme park travels. It would be just a fun part time gig.  I’ve always loved Disney and I was very comfortable and familiar with booking those trips. 

When Emma graduated high school, I wanted to take her to Europe.  And, with the help of my mom, we decided to look into river cruising for this trip.  It would be special for so many reasons: Emma would be celebrating her graduation and 18th birthday; Brett and I would be celebrating our 20th anniversary; and my parents would be celebrating their 50th anniversary. We had a wonderful time on our Ama Waterways Cruise.  We took a cruise on the Rhine River- one of Europe’s most popular rivers to cruise on. The staff was so accommodating with Emma, and really catered to everything she needed.  She had the freedom to explore the smaller ship (something we wouldn’t allow her to do on the Disney Cruise). The staff knew her by name, and I really think they kept extra eyes on her. On that cruise I met a full-time travel planner and she was generous enough to sit down with me and chat with me about the steps she took to become a travel advisor. The tips were invaluable and I spent the rest of the cruise with my wheels spinning.  I couldn’t wait to really start looking at this a possibility for myself.

That was two years ago- and here I am now! Elevating Adventures, LLC, is 18 months old, and I took the leap and committed full time to this 9 months ago and I couldn’t be more excited to see where this adventure takes me!