My first travel experiences were not vacations. When I was 10, my family moved to England to live with family and what I remember most is that they called me a yankee and I fell off a horse. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 But I also remember that we ate from a school garden and I had never had food in school that was that good! 🇸🇪 I spent a year after high school in Sweden with my relatives and I remember feeling lost and lonely until I learned Swedish, and that my aunt shopped every single day at the market to cook. The layered cream and fruit dessert was incredible. Plus I learned you don’t have to refrigerate cheese! 🇧🇷 After college I went to Brazil where I taught English partied harder than I ever have since. I don’t even have any photos of me there. I remember the acarajé in Bahia, fried delicious balls of black eye peas, and the best black beans ever. And the drumming. As soon as I set foot in Brazil, I knew I wanted to go to Africa. 🇬🇾 From there I spent two months working in Guyana, where bot flies made a home in my foot and I had to get water from a well. We ate dried cassava and fish every day. I had to bike 40 miles to use a phone in Brazil. My parents heard from me once. After that I worked in Mexico, then finally, in 1996 took my first trip to West Africa. I spent 3 months in Cameroon, then made my way to Guinea and Mali, where I studied dance and sustainable development. 🇨🇲 🇬🇳 🇲🇱 The food in Cameroon was my favorite in West Africa, but there is a beef and bean dish in Mali that I can’t let go of. 🇲🇽 🇧🇿 🇵🇦 🇮🇹 Since I’ve had kids, I’ve returned to Mexico and Brazil, and Mali, then found my way to Belize, Cuba and Panama, Puerto Rico and Italy. The diversity of food in both Panama and Belize still amazes me. The precision and passion with which Italians cook and make wine is unparalleled. Even though I now sometimes travel for vacation, I still travel for work and I always travel for food. What do you travel for? Have you ever lived or worked abroad? Would you? . . . . #travelglobe #travelforfood #adventurer #travelagent #otehliatravels #womenwhoexplore #explore #exploreourearth #exploreourplanet #travelwithkids #travelblogger #glowupchallenge