Nancy D. Brown King Salmon Fishing in Alaska

This week I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Jessie Voigts, publisher of the Wandering Educator's blog.  The website suppports a global community of educators and offers a place to share travel experiences.  The site has lots of information to offer including a food section and traveling with children.  When I clicked on the  'Best of' category, my interview came up.  You've got to love that!

WE: Please tell us about your site, What a Trip

NDB: What a Trip is about travels from Northern California and beyond. On the blog I share my travel adventures, as well as interviewing Californians about their travels. The site is evolving. I also plan to review travel books and products.

WE: What led you to start this site?

NDB: As a freelance travel writer, I launched the blog as a place to showcase my 'What a Trip' newspaper column that I write for the Contra Costa Times Lamorinda Sun. As a journalist, I'm finding my way around the blogosphere and enjoying the sense of community that comes with a blog. I also appreciate the immediacy of a blog. Some magazines have such long lead times that the story is no longer fresh when it appears in print. Blogs provide such timely content.

WE: What is your travel background and philosophy?

NDB: My junior year in college I went on a student-oriented European vacation. In Wengen, Switzerland I was struck by the majestic beauty surrounding me. In fact, I vowed that I would return with my future husband to that same Swiss village. (Coincidently, I wasn't dating anyone at the time.)

Several years later my boyfriend and I quit our jobs and back packed through Europe for two months. I recommend traveling with a potential life-mate. If you travel well together, I think that says a lot about your relationship. That boyfriend is now my husband of 22 years. We celebrated our one year anniversary in Wengen, Switzerland.

WE: Where are you headed next?

NDB: I'll be Lisbon, Portugal and Seville and Madrid, Spain early this Fall. With the dollar not as strong as the Euro, I'll be traveling by Eurail. I look forward to sharing my dollar stretching tips with my readers.

WE: I see that you and your husband have two teenagers. How is it traveling with teens?

NDB: Packing snacks is still important! (Laughing) If you can afford to purchase a digital camera for each of your children, it is a wonderful gift to your teen. We recently traveled to the Grand Canyon and my 16yo daughter took some amazing photos. The kids love taking pictures of their travels and putting them up on Facebook to share with their friends.

    Evan, Kendall, Cory and Nancy Brown

WE: What sorts of resources are available on your site?

As I mentioned, my blog started with my newspaper columns, so I tagged them by geographic regions. The point of the column was to interview people about their travels so that readers didn't need to re-invent the wheel for their trip. If someone liked their adventure travel company, I would include a link. One family traveled with their teens to New Zealand and I wrote about that. It's all about sharing travel information. I love talking travel!

WE: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

I enjoy getting to know my readers and fellow travel writers. For those new to reading blogs or new to What a Trip, please feel free to leave a comment and tell me what you like about the blog or leave me suggestions.