I will start this blog post saying a big THANK YOU to my parents. They were the ones whom taught me the beauty of traveling at an early age. Ever since I was a little girl, I have been traveling around the world. When I was nine years old, my family and I took a trip to the United States. To this day I can remember flying on Aero Peru (back then it was Peru’s most popular airline) and telling my dad, “We are going to the United States!” Since it was my first time going to the U.S., I was extremely excited!

During our first trip, we went to Miami, FL. We did some of the traditional touristy sightseeing at places like Ocean Drive, Bayside, etc. Then, our next stop was Orlando, FL. Where did we go, you ask? Well, of course just HAD to go to Disney World, right?!

After having a blast at the happiest place on Earth, we scooted along to San Francisco, CA, to visit my Uncle Cesar (my dad’s brother). At the time, Uncle Cesar owned a famous coffee shop known as the Tropicana Café. When we arrived in San Fran, Uncle Cesar closed his restaurant for an entire week and came with us to tour Alcatraz, Sausalito and other cities nearby.

After departing from California, we finally arrived to our last destination, New York City. When we got to NYC, I remember saying to my dad, “Daddy, we finally have arrived to the United States, right?!” Being that we have been in the United States this entire trip, of course him and my mom burst out into laughter. I’m sure you all are wandering what I meant by my question. At the time and at such a young age, I was under the impression that New York City WAS the entire United States.

Years later, My mom always teased me about my geography skills because, as a typical “know-it-all” high school teenage I always knew (or seemed to know) everything about European countries. She would often ask me questions like what the capital of Greece was and I would respond with France, or what the Capital of Italy was and I would answer with Paris. To this day we still laugh about it. Little did we know, that was the beginning of my traveling career.

After graduating college, I got a job at United Airlines. The first of two tests was to identify, on a map, all the United Airlines destinations in the whole United States. Not only that, I had to write the three digit airport codes of the cities where United Airlines flew. My next test was to do the same as the first test, but point out on a map ALL the international locations where United Airlines lands. Believe it or not, I got 98 over 100. Oh yeah, and I misspelled BUFFALO. Instead of writing BUF for Buffalo’s airport, I wrote BUL because the night before the test we went to a club called The BULL. Oh well!

One of the most amazing perks of working for United Airlines was been able to travel in business and first class for very little $$.

(picture above) We are flying the Boeing 777 with one my good and long time friends, Fidel Portillo, from United Airlines – El Salvador.

I loved working for the airline industry so much. For my first vacation, I took my mom to Hawaii. On other vacations it was Asia, Europe, the Middle East, etc.

My mom and I on our first long trip (18 hour flight from Lima to Honolulu) but all in first class. Shhh

I also visited one of my closest childhood friends who moved to Japan after we finished high school. Here at Tokyo Disney

Through my trips around the world, I gained a lot of knowledge about ancient history. I also learned to appreciate, understand and respect other cultures, too. United Airlines gave me the opportunity to work in different countries and become immersed in their culture. I learned to love my taco’s al pastor from Mexico, or learn to eat pupusas from my special assignment in el Salvador or learn to eat a feijoada or the famous Rodizzio’s from Brazil…YUMMIEE

At Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico DC  (picture below)

My 1st trip to Chicago visiting the Sears Tower

Traveling the world is a gift that makes you see the world in a different way even your personal problems. Because we may be struggling with our economy but there are countries that live with $200 a month, and so on but that is another subject.

I settled down in Virginia after I got married. I have visited many cities in the United States and for some reason I always loved Virginia. I loved Washington DC and the cultural scene around it. I had to learn about my new city and its surroundings. I worked for a few months at the Tourist Information Office of Georgetown and that helped me a lot.

Even living in the States and visiting another state is different. sometimes the time difference or they may have special cuisine or a special tradition, etc., etc…But to do this you  need to hop on a car and go around the city to find good or bad places. I can not just travel and stay inside four walls. If that will b the case I rather stay home, right? To me is a necessity to continue learning and growing from my traveling experiences. And I hope I can pass this on to my little one.

Left picture above  (Tyler’s 1st trip to Peru at 9 weeks)  Right picture above Tyler and his daddy visiting the Saint Louis Art Museum)

Picture above left & right Tyler with his cousins and his aunt while visiting Panama’s Smithsonian Aquarium

I think I will always try to find excuses to continue traveling, if it is not for pleasure for work. Flying is not as fun as it used to be but I love been in the airports, getting in and out airplanes. Believe it or not….

Now that we are trying to bring Evelyn Brooks Designs to more cities in the United States we have decided to invest more money into the different trade shows. And we started this year in February with Philadelphia at the Buyer’s Market of American Craft, then March at the Boston Gift Show, now in July the Chicago Market and in August we debut at one of the most acclaimed trade shows in the United States which is the New York International Gift Fair.

With my new friends I met during the Boston Gift Show. For Evelyn Brooks Designs the rest of the year continues to be a traveling story; in September, my work will debut at the Mosaic Festival for the Arts in St. Louis. Then we travel to Williamsburg, VA in October to participate for the 1st time of the 144th An Occasion for the Arts in downtown Williamsburg. Then comes my birthday which may be a good excuse to go to Peru’

If you are parents and you can not travel far, travel close and teach your kids appreciate their surroundings. If you can take them abroad even better. Have them explore other countries and cultures.

My son is only 3 years old and we have been lucky to travel to Peru since Tyler was 9 weeks old to visit my family & friends. We have also visited my family in Panama. We hope to continue traveling and make Tyler a citizen of the world.

I will start this blog post saying a big THANK YOU to my parents. They were the ones whom taught me the beauty of traveling at an early age. Ever since I was a little girl, I have been traveling around the world. When I was nine years old, my family and I took a trip to the United States. To this day I can remember flying on Aero Peru (back then it was Peru’s most popular airline) and telling my dad, “We are going to the United States!” Since it was my first time going to the U.S., I was extremely excited!

During our first trip, we went to Miami, FL. We did some of the traditional touristy sightseeing at places like Ocean Drive, Bayside, etc. Then, our next stop was Orlando, FL. Where did we go, you ask? Well, of course just HAD to go to Disney World, right?!

After having a blast at the happiest place on Earth, we scooted along to San Francisco, CA, to visit my Uncle Cesar (my dad’s brother). At the time, Uncle Cesar owned a famous coffee shop known as the Tropicana Café. When we arrived in San Fran, Uncle Cesar closed his restaurant for an entire week and came with us to tour Alcatraz, Sausalito and other cities nearby.

After departing from California, we finally arrived to our last destination, New York City. When we got to NYC, I remember saying to my dad, “Daddy, we finally have arrived to the United States, right?!” Being that we have been in the United States this entire trip, of course him and my mom burst out into laughter. I’m sure you all are wandering what I meant by my question. At the time and at such a young age, I was under the impression that New York City WAS the entire United States.

Years later, My mom always teased me about my geography skills because, as a typical “know-it-all” high school teenage I always knew (or seemed to know) everything about European countries. She would often ask me questions like what the capital of Greece was and I would respond with France, or what the Capital of Italy was and I would answer with Paris. To this day we still laugh about it. Little did we know, that was the beginning of my traveling career.

After graduating college, I got a job at United Airlines. The first of two tests was to identify, on a map, all the United Airlines destinations in the whole United States. Not only that, I had to write the three digit airport codes of the cities where United Airlines flew. My next test was to do the same as the first test, but point out on a map ALL the international locations where United Airlines lands. Believe it or not, I got 98 over 100. Oh yeah, and I misspelled BUFFALO. Instead of writing BUF for Buffalo’s airport, I wrote BUL because the night before the test we went to a club called The BULL. Oh well!

One of the most amazing perks of working for United Airlines was been able to travel in business and first class for very little $$.

(picture above) We are flying the Boeing 777 with one my good and long time friends, Fidel Portillo, from United Airlines – El Salvador.

I loved working for the airline industry so much. For my first vacation, I took my mom to Hawaii. On other vacations it was Asia, Europe, the Middle East, etc.

My mom and I on our first long trip (18 hour flight from Lima to Honolulu) but all in first class. Shhh

I also visited one of my closest childhood friends who moved to Japan after we finished high school. Here at Tokyo Disney

Through my trips around the world, I gained a lot of knowledge about ancient history. I also learned to appreciate, understand and respect other cultures, too. United Airlines gave me the opportunity to work in different countries and become immersed in their culture. I learned to love my taco’s al pastor from Mexico, or learn to eat pupusas from my special assignment in el Salvador or learn to eat a feijoada or the famous Rodizzio’s from Brazil…YUMMIEE

At Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico DC  (picture below)

My 1st trip to Chicago visiting the Sears Tower

Traveling the world is a gift that makes you see the world in a different way even your personal problems. Because we may be struggling with our economy but there are countries that live with $200 a month, and so on but that is another subject.

I settled down in Virginia after I got married. I have visited many cities in the United States and for some reason I always loved Virginia. I loved Washington DC and the cultural scene around it. I had to learn about my new city and its surroundings. I worked for a few months at the Tourist Information Office of Georgetown and that helped me a lot.

Even living in the States and visiting another state is different. sometimes the time difference or they may have special cuisine or a special tradition, etc., etc…But to do this you  need to hop on a car and go around the city to find good or bad places. I can not just travel and stay inside four walls. If that will b the case I rather stay home, right? To me is a necessity to continue learning and growing from my traveling experiences. And I hope I can pass this on to my little one.

Left picture above  (Tyler’s 1st trip to Peru at 9 weeks)  Right picture above Tyler and his daddy visiting the Saint Louis Art Museum)

Picture above left & right Tyler with his cousins and his aunt while visiting Panama’s Smithsonian Aquarium

I think I will always try to find excuses to continue traveling, if it is not for pleasure for work. Flying is not as fun as it used to be but I love been in the airports, getting in and out airplanes. Believe it or not….

Now that we are trying to bring Evelyn Brooks Designs to more cities in the United States we have decided to invest more money into the different trade shows. And we started this year in February with Philadelphia at the Buyer’s Market of American Craft, then March at the Boston Gift Show, now in July the Chicago Market and in August we debut at one of the most acclaimed trade shows in the United States which is the New York International Gift Fair.

With my new friends I met during the Boston Gift Show. For Evelyn Brooks Designs the rest of the year continues to be a traveling story; in September, my work will debut at the Mosaic Festival for the Arts in St. Louis. Then we travel to Williamsburg, VA in October to participate for the 1st time of the 144th An Occasion for the Arts in downtown Williamsburg. Then comes my birthday which may be a good excuse to go to Peru’

If you are parents and you can not travel far, travel close and teach your kids appreciate their surroundings. If you can take them abroad even better. Have them explore other countries and cultures.

My son is only 3 years old and we have been lucky to travel to Peru since Tyler was 9 weeks old to visit my family & friends. We have also visited my family in Panama. We hope to continue traveling and make Tyler a citizen of the world.