I’m Tom.
And I’m not 28. I’m 35.
I was born in England to English parents and moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, when I was about 3. New Canaan is a suburb of New York City (a short 45-minute ride on the Metro North), and I spent all of my childhood there. It’s a great town - beautiful, picturesque, great families, etc... It’s also where the Stepford Wives was filmed - both versions. I was lucky to grow up there and, like Stephanie, I have a lot of great friends who still live in New Canaan and love it. But, also like Stephanie, I can’t imagine living in my hometown ever again. We both seem to be city people, at least for now. I have two older sisters, Melanie and Zelda. Melanie lives in Colorado with her husband, Brian, and my two nephews, Simon and Zachary. Zelda lives in Alaska with her husband, Jacek, and my two nieces, Iza and Zosia. My dad lives in New York City (Manhattan), and my mom lives in North Carolina. It may seem like we’re not a close family since we all live so far from each other, but we are. We just also like our space and independence.
Growing up with European parents, travel has always been a part of my life. We took great vacations when I was a kid to Italy, France, England and throughout the United States. They even sent me to Hong Kong one summer to stay with a friend. Travel was so important to me that I chose to take a gap year between high school and college to visit Australia and New Zealand. After this trip, I went to college at Kenyon College in Ohio, where I earned a degree in History - that I’ve not used once since graduation. On summer breaks, I took trips and found odd jobs to fill my time. After college, the adventures didn’t stop. My regular schedule was: move somewhere, work hard for 6 months, leave to travel, and repeat. Before Stephanie and I met in March, 2004, I had taken a 4 month trip backpacking with friends through Eastern Europe, visiting Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany. I also spent 6 weeks in Southeast Asia in Cambodia, Thailand and Burma/Myanmar. Traveling wasn’t just my hobby, I made it my job. I worked on a ranch in Wyoming, a salmon boat in Alaska, and setting up snow ski and sporting events throughout North America. I picked apples in Australia and worked for spring break tour groups in Jamaica. I’ll share some of my travel stories in later posts.
Though Stephanie hadn’t traveled much when I met her and the concept even seemed strange to her, it’s become one of the pillars of our relationship. We love exploring together and looking ahead to our next destination. This will certainly be our biggest adventure yet - as a couple and as individuals.
And I’m not 28. I’m 35.
I was born in England to English parents and moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, when I was about 3. New Canaan is a suburb of New York City (a short 45-minute ride on the Metro North), and I spent all of my childhood there. It’s a great town - beautiful, picturesque, great families, etc... It’s also where the Stepford Wives was filmed - both versions. I was lucky to grow up there and, like Stephanie, I have a lot of great friends who still live in New Canaan and love it. But, also like Stephanie, I can’t imagine living in my hometown ever again. We both seem to be city people, at least for now. I have two older sisters, Melanie and Zelda. Melanie lives in Colorado with her husband, Brian, and my two nephews, Simon and Zachary. Zelda lives in Alaska with her husband, Jacek, and my two nieces, Iza and Zosia. My dad lives in New York City (Manhattan), and my mom lives in North Carolina. It may seem like we’re not a close family since we all live so far from each other, but we are. We just also like our space and independence.
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| I'm the little guy in the blue jumpsuit. This is me and my family, somewhere in England. |
Growing up with European parents, travel has always been a part of my life. We took great vacations when I was a kid to Italy, France, England and throughout the United States. They even sent me to Hong Kong one summer to stay with a friend. Travel was so important to me that I chose to take a gap year between high school and college to visit Australia and New Zealand. After this trip, I went to college at Kenyon College in Ohio, where I earned a degree in History - that I’ve not used once since graduation. On summer breaks, I took trips and found odd jobs to fill my time. After college, the adventures didn’t stop. My regular schedule was: move somewhere, work hard for 6 months, leave to travel, and repeat. Before Stephanie and I met in March, 2004, I had taken a 4 month trip backpacking with friends through Eastern Europe, visiting Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany. I also spent 6 weeks in Southeast Asia in Cambodia, Thailand and Burma/Myanmar. Traveling wasn’t just my hobby, I made it my job. I worked on a ranch in Wyoming, a salmon boat in Alaska, and setting up snow ski and sporting events throughout North America. I picked apples in Australia and worked for spring break tour groups in Jamaica. I’ll share some of my travel stories in later posts.
Though Stephanie hadn’t traveled much when I met her and the concept even seemed strange to her, it’s become one of the pillars of our relationship. We love exploring together and looking ahead to our next destination. This will certainly be our biggest adventure yet - as a couple and as individuals.
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| Steph & Me - Outside Ubud, Bali, Indonesia - 2010 Goa Gajah, Elephant Cave - 9th Century |
Update 5/31/12: Since this post, I turned 36. Yikes.
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