Travel section - Valises & Gourmandises

Welcome to the Valises section of the blog, dedicated to sharing my travels and inspiring you to see the world as well.

For me, it all started in April 2013, when I treated myself to an all-inclusive trip on the pacific coast of Panama with a friend. Naturally, it left me hungry for more. I immediately started planning a backpacking adventure through Costa Rica and Panama with my boyfriend. Those plans were slow to firm up however, so when our friend, who was living in Munich at the time, invited us to come visit him and celebrate THE Oktoberfest, we just couldn’t say no!

This was the long-awaited opportunity for my first visit to Europe… ever!

I had been dreaming about this for years, unable to imagine the day it would finally happen. Yet there I was, excitedly organizing my very first eurotrip. At the top of my list was Paris, followed by Hallstatt and Munich.

What I couldn’t have predicted, however, is that this trip would be a turning point in both our lives…

As translators, we have both always had a strong interest and affinity for languages. While in Austria and Germany, it was the first time in our lives that we were truly disoriented on a linguistic level, utterly incapable of understanding the words around us, barely able to order at a restaurant or ask for directions. But in only a few days time, we picked up much basic vocabulary, and that progress was exciting.

While in Munich, out of the blue, it dawned on us that, if we were willing to come live in this part of the world for a few years, there was no reason why we could not learn German fluently, and benefit from such an experience personally as individuals and professionally as translators. We could even travel throughout Europe and the rest of the world while living there.

It’s a decision we made in the spur of the moment, and we have never looked back since.