As our name suggests we’re two women traveling the world together. A mother (Gail) and daughter (Becks) learning about other cultures, sights, histories and ourselves in the process.

Gail’s story

I’ve always loved travel. My dad was an air force pilot so we lived in Okinowa when I was young. We also took lots of road trips around the US and Canada when I was growing up in Delaware. In all, I’ve been to 48 of the 50 states.

My first non-family trip was a five-week study abroad to Israel. We lived on a Moshav and traveled into Jerusalem every day on the city bus. After that I knew I wanted to see and experience as much of the world as I could. I spent a summer in Swaziland and another summer in Turkey before finishing grad school. From these experiences, I learned the value of plunking down in one spot and spending time to immerse myself in the culture.

I now live in Austin, Texas and I’m a single mom to three kids: Matt, Tim and Becks. All three are grown now. When they were young (and I was broke) we did a lot of camping and long road trips around Texas and the Southern US.

There came a point when I needed to travel overseas for work and my ex was unavailable to take the kids. Matt and Tim weren’t keen on going with me so Becks became my travel companion.

Becks and my first international trip together was two weeks in Spain in 2009 followed by three weeks in Cambodia a few months later. Since then we’ve traveled to more than 15 countries and we’ve got plans for many more. We generally don’t do “tours.” Instead, we cobble together our own itineraries.

In 2015, I was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to work with Cambodian universities on much needed educational reforms. Becks went with me for the first 6 1/2 months but she returned to Texas to finish high school while I finished out my year in Cambodia. I’m back to Cambodia for another year (academic leave from my university) so I’ll be blogging about that here.

Becks’ Story

I started traveling with my mom on what she called “Once in a Lifetime Adventures” when I was in 7th grade. My first trip was to Spain and I hated it. I was a picky eater, not used to cold weather (thanks to being Texan born and raised), and got terribly sick halfway through the trip.

Despite the rocky start I stuck with her as she continued pulling me out of school in order to travel. I was gone for weeks at a time throughout all of my middle school and high school years. She justified it by saying I would learn more abroad and experiencing cultures and history first hand than I would in a classroom. Whenever my friends saw me at school they always joked, “Wait, do you still go here?” I couldn’t have asked for a better way to grow up.

A few years ago, my mom let me plan my first trip – to the Philippines. I wanted to learn SCUBA so we spent a week in Boracai where I earned my SCUBA certification. We got stuck in Segada after a monsoon hit and washed away the road but we made friends with some Philippino women who got us back to Manilla. That’s what travel is for me – making new friends, experiencing new things.

I still travel with my mom but I’m also branching out on my own. Join me on my adventures around the world!