An Introduction

Hi! My name is Juliet Carnell and through this blog I would like to share my adventures traveling around the country and the world. I hope you'll join me here often, but there are a few things you ought to know about me before we get started. I think you’ll soon discover I’m not your typical travel blogger, I just hope that turns out to be a good thing!

I live in Annapolis, Maryland, USA, very near the place where I grew up. In the past I've done most of my traveling in the United States east of the Mississippi River. Back in the 80's I went on a long cross country train trip with a group of friends. I’ve been on two cruses to the Caribbean and one trip to London with my mother. I like flying, but hate airports. My favorite way to travel is by train and I’ll go out of my way to ride a train rather than get there any other way.

I’m a computer software engineer by trade. I’ve worked for NASA and the now defunct Digital Equipment Corporation. For the last half dozen years or so, I’ve worked at a small company developing self-ordering kiosks for the food industry. You may have seen my work at convenience stores, grocery deli counters, or cafeterias around the country. Recently we were acquired by a large multi-national conglomerate. This means I now have the resources to travel more often and to more exotic places, but at the cost of a more stressful job.

I've been a vegetarian since 1983. I don’t eat any sort of meat, including fish or poultry. I do eat eggs and dairy products in moderation. Being a vegetarian presents a whole slew of interesting problems when traveling. Since you're dining out most of the time you often don’t have many choices and little control over what goes into the preparation of your food. Part of the adventure of traveling for me is finding ways to eat well and still avoid meat. Most cultures have traditional foods that fit into a vegetarian diet, but they're often considered ‘peasant food’ and are difficult to find on restaurant menus.

I like traveling alone. I find I can be more adventurous when I’m by myself, but I like to meet new people wherever I go. You can learn a lot more about a culture by meeting its people. The Internet is a wonderful way to discover new friends all over the globe and getting to meet them face to face for the first time is one of my favorite things to do on a trip. I do sometimes travel with a companion, most often my mother, and I enjoy the different sort of experiences that creates. Another set of eyes often turn up things I would have missed.

I do hope you enjoy my travels. Please let me know what you think either by commenting here or dropping me a line at jcarnell-travels@usa.net