We are Wanderlusters. We aren’t nomads. We don’t home-school on the road. We don’t have online businesses that follow us wherever we go. We are your somewhat normal (because really, who is normal?) family of 4 who lives in San Diego, California. And we love being grounded, building a community, and our kids growing up with the same friends since they were little. So how do we fuel our wanderlust? Well, for starters, we moved to one of the top travel destinations in our country, San Diego, where during the daily grind of school and work, sports activities, and well, just life, we still find daily opportunity to breathe the salty air, catch the sunsets over the beach, and enjoy the palm trees that don’t shed their leaves during the winter. Combine that with taking advantage of weekends (with other amazing destinations so close by) and school breaks…you’ll find us on the road exploring the USA and beyond, a lot. And mostly outdoors, because that’s our favorite place to be.
Why this blog? We started this blog because we are passionate about helping others discover the true beauty and joy that San Diego offers, as well as sharing the other places we explore in the USA and beyond. We found that our local San Diego friends were inspired by our little adventures we posted on our personal Facebook pages, and it helped them break their routines and enjoy the hidden gems all around our city. San Diego locals will really benefit from this, as well as anyone who is interested in traveling to San Diego or the other great places we visit. Over the last 20 years, friends and family have visited San Diego, and my heart breaks a little when they tell me their itinerary is full of theme parks. Not that there is anything wrong with theme parks, but there is SO.MUCH.MORE to San Diego than theme park hopping. I’ve always been passionate about helping people discover what truly makes San Diego America’s Finest City and helping them create memories they will cherish forever! But San Diego isn’t all we are covering…
Here’s the deal. I have a serious case of FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out. This condition causes me to extensively research and explore not only our local area, but any area in which we travel. I make extensive notes of my research, narrow down and prioritize, and finalize full agendas (leaving room for flexibility and spontaneity) so that wherever we go we know we are hitting the BEST places. My FOMO is exhausting, but it’s a WIN for you, as I hope that all this planning and sharing will help you make the most of your travels, save you some research time, and inspire you to keep doing and traveling. Speaking of which, if you’d like us to create a fully custom “best of the best” itinerary for your San Diego vacation – 1, 3, 5, 7 or any number of days, just reach out to us. Let us save you the time and energy trying to figure it all out…we got you covered!
In this blog we’ll share current travels and adventures (in San Diego, USA, and Abroad) as well as past. We hope our posts will inspire you to go to the very places we share, and/or get out and explore more! Along side of that, we hope you get to know our family of 4 a little…we love the outdoors, adventure, and exploring new places, and we hope you’ll have some fun with us along our journey as we all grow old(ish). Here’s a little bit about each of us so you can get to know us!
Madeline (Mom, Trip Planner, Head Blogger)
Growing up in Maryland (Washington D.C. area), travel was a way of life for us. We constantly road tripped (and this was before those handy dandy ipads to keep kids entertained in the car!)…Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, or New England area, Virginia, the Carolina’s, Georgia, and Florida. My birthday is in the summer and I recall celebrating almost every birthday at a service station on whatever road trip we were taking at the time!
After graduating from the University of Maryland (Go Terps!), I picked up and moved across the country to San Diego without knowing another soul. Chasing sunshine, I wanted to live somewhere that I could enjoy the outdoors 365 days of the year. I moved right to the beach area, and have never left! After finishing my Master’s degree, I began my professional career working in hotels, some of the most iconic…Hotel del Coronado, Hard Rock Hotel San Diego, and more. It just thrilled me to see others on vacation and enjoying this amazing city of ours that we call home.
Before having my family, my love of travel continued… The day after I met Chad I hopped on a plane for 3 weeks to tour around Australia and New Zealand (SCUBA diving, bungee jumping, sky diving, caving, sailing, snorkeling, you name it!); Chad and I went to Hawaii together a month after we started dating (literally bought the ticket the day before); we honeymooned in Brazil, including a 4 day stint in the Amazon Jungle fishing for Piranha, Alligator spotting, and hiking (we were even stalked by a Jaguar, but that’s a story for another time). I also spent time in England, Puerto Rico, France, Amsterdam, Italy, Mexico, Brazil and more. My heart is happiest when I’m outdoors in the sunshine, plain and simple.
Chad (Dad, Kid Corraler, Luggage handler )
Chad grew up in small town Iowa, where much of his early travel consisted of camping, fishing, and seeing amazing midwest cities like Chicago, Des Moines, and St. Louis (Go Cards!). Upon graduating from Iowa State University, he was recruited to work at Intel in Northern California. Chad packed up his car and headed out West! He’s our cold weather guru – he developed a love for snowboarding being so to close to Tahoe, Canada, and the Western mountain areas. Having spent a few years in the Bay Area, his job brought him to San Diego where he met Madeline. The rest, they say, is history. He loves that his work commute takes him to one of the most beautiful spots in San Diego, Point Loma, where he admires the views of Mission Bay, downtown, Coronado, and even Mexico on a daily basis. Chad is an “active” traveler…he doesn’t like to sit for long around a pool or at a beach (unless a Lager/Pilsner is in hand) and is all about exploration and adventure! His dream is to one day play golf at St. Andrews in Scotland…we’ll get there someday, for sure.
Sydney (Age 11, Texting Ninja, Champion Irish Dancer)
While she loves her theme parks like any kid does, if you ask her what her favorite vacation was she’ll tell you either Sedona, Arizona or Ireland. She’s a champion level Irish dancer, so her favorite thing to do is find a beautiful spot and take a photo doing an Irish leap! Sydney has the personality that is always up for anything – eager to explore and check things out. We have difficulty keeping up with her social life these days, so if you see her, let her know we miss her! Sydney’s Irish dance competitions are great excuses for us to travel within our region, taking us to Southern California, Arizona, and occasionally other spots as well. You’ll see that she’s the “poser” of our two kids, and will be the most cooperative at giving us a nice smile to reflect how much fun she’s having during our adventures.
Grant (Age 8, Fisherman, Baseball Player, Mathematician)
As with most 7 year old boys, Grant is full of energy! He had a little touch of fame with a Love What Matters post that went viral, and was picked up by news outlets (MSN, etc) across the globe, was featured in the Love What Matters book, and was even on their podcast! His favorite thing to do is fishing (particularly at Lake Jennings), and he’s developed an extreme passion, going most weekends with his Dad. Anytime he sees a lake or a body of water, Grant is eager to peek and discover any fish or sea life that might be visible. Grant plays baseball (his favorite!) and basketball which keeps him quite busy on the weekends. When you ask him his favorite trip outside of San Diego, he’ll tell you Ireland. We aren’t sure if it’s because of Ireland and the obvious reasons why it’s his favorite, or if it’s because he was allowed to eat ice cream every day when we were there. Whatever the case, he’s declared that he’s moving to Ireland when he grows up!
We’d love to hear from you! Say hello, ask a question, submit a blog post idea… Or if you are interested in our San Diego itinerary building service, just reach out! We can design amazing 1, 3, 5, 7, or any number of days perfect itineraries for you and your family!
Please note: Not to be a Debbie Downer, but just a reminder. If you decide to explore any of the places we list in our blog, especially for some of the spots, know your own limits and be careful. We hope you enjoy these activities, and know you are doing so at your own risk. San Diego Family Travelers are not responsible for any injuries, damage, or death resulting from your explorations.
Also – In some of our posts you’ll see affiliate links to products we recommend and love. By clicking these links and purchasing the products, we make a very (like maybe will buy us a cup of coffee once in a while to help with the late night blog posts) small commission. We only, I repeat, we only post links to products we love and that we think you will too. In fact, we only post links to products that are “must have’s” in our mind to enjoy the activity we are blogging about. We hope this makes it easy for you to immediately find what you are looking for.
