My name is Karen, I’m in my 30s and Taiwanese-American.  I was born in Alabama (GO WAR EAGLES!) and moved around a bit growing up from Wisconsin to Massachusetts to North Carolina before heading to Los Angeles, California for college (GO BRUINS!) and pretty much settling down.  I’ve been in LA for over 10 years now and love the weather and easy access for travel.

Growing up, my parents used to take my younger brother and I on various road trips around the United States and to Canada.  Every few years we would also fly to Taiwan to visit my grandparents and other relatives.  I am forever grateful to my parents for all the trips they took me on as it has really opened my eyes to the world around me and planted the seed for my love of travel.  But I still think my parents were crazy for taking two kids on long road trips (I’m sure we drove them crazy in the car).

Nowadays, my family still has the traveling bug.  I spend my time plotting how to maximize all my vacation days while my younger brother chases frequent flyer status and various airplane configurations.  My parents recently bought a National Parks annual pass and have been trying to hit various parks across the US while adding in international trips here and there (and they’re not yet retired!).  In essence we tend to drive each other to travel more because hearing about each others’ trips makes us want to travel even more.

Recent places I’ve been to include Singapore, Taiwan, Sydney, New Orleans, Beijing, etc.