Hello, my name is Krissi Pearson, and here's a little bit about me:

Travel wish list: Greece, Turkey, Japan, Morocco, The Netherlands, Taiwan, Lebanon, Mexico City, Portugal, and Argentina. Honestly, really anywhere. One of the main requirements: good food!

Favorite places to travel: Spain, Italy, Paris, San Francisco, NYC, Vancouver BC, London, and Portland OR.

Travel strengths: Languages - I speak English, Spanish, enough Italian, and a little French. I’ve found that speaking even a little of the language can make a world of difference when interacting with locals. Americans have a bad (yet often deserved) reputation around the world as being monolingual and expecting everyone to speak perfect English, and I go out of my way to break that stereotype. I also really like flying, and will happily wander around an airport during a layover looking  for something interesting .

Travel weaknesses: I cannot really sleep on a plane, no matter what tricks I try. It drives me nuts. I have absolutely no interest in driving abroad; I love taking public transportation and I tend to get annoyed if I can’t make good use of it.

Favorite travel tool: Google Maps – for every city I visit, I make a map with all the places I’m planning to go – where I'm sleeping, restaurants, museums, the airport, shops, and markets. It makes it so much easier to get directions, plus find a great restaurant nearby, without whipping out a guidebook and a map, and consulting your phone for directions doesn’t make you stand out as a tourist. The GPS location dot is a great remedy for my less than stellar sense of direction.

My travel style: I’m a planner, mainly because I love reading and researching different places, which gives me more time to look forward to what I get to do on my trip. Sorting out travel logistics is my idea of a good time, and I’d rather spend my vacation enjoying it than hauling my bag around town hunting for the next hotel. I prefer to rent an apartment to feel like a temporary local, and to be able to shop at the markets, my other travel obsession. I also will have researched the best bakeries and chocolate shops in town and will make a point to sample as much as I can so that I can have an informed opinion on which is the best.

Go-to travel advice: Don’t be so hard on yourself when you’re traveling. So what if you’re in Rome and after an hour at the Vatican Museum, you’re done? Or you decide to skip it all together? It’s your trip, and one person’s “must see” can bore the pants off the next person. Along the same line, if you’re feeling run down, give yourself a break. Sure, you have a finite amount of time in any given destination, but dragging yourself to three museums in one day when you’re jet lagged and fighting off a cold is definitely not a recipe for a good time. Sleeping in and/or giving yourself an easy day will help you get into the swing of things faster than continuing on a death march through all the great museums of Europe. And pack light!

About Me

Traveler. Photographer. Reader. Music lover. Sweet tooth-haver. Animal lover. Farmers' market shopper.