Family travel
is personal
I’ve had wanderlust for as long as I can remember. Growing up in the DMV, I was surrounded by world-class museums and historic landmarks. Even with New York and Philadelphia just a day trip away, it was never enough — I wanted to see more. The world felt too big and too fascinating to stay in one place, so at 18, I packed up and moved to Detroit for a change of scenery. At 20, I joined the Navy — and everything changed.
My time in the military took me across the Mediterranean, Great Britain, and Scandinavia — including two years in San Diego, my first experience of the West Coast. My sons shared that journey, growing up with new cities and cultures as their norm. For our family, the world was never something distant — it was always just outside our door.
After the Navy, domestic adventures kept the momentum going. Road trips, theme parks, museums, and everything in between — travel was never just a vacation for us. It was how we connected, how we learned, and how our kids discovered that the world is far bigger and more wonderful than any classroom could teach.
When my daughter arrived she inherited the same curiosity. She was on a cruise before she could read and exploring foreign countries not long after. At 7, she has stood at the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, visited the pyramids in Egypt, and seen kangaroos in Australia.
That lifetime of experience — across every budget, every season, and every stage of family life — is what I bring to every family I work with at Packed & Present Travel. I know what it takes to make travel work for real families with real lives.
And I can’t wait to help yours see the world.
