Taylor Callaghan is one of my closest friends, roommate and on top of all of that, an avid traveller. Out of anyone I know, she has been to the most places, so I knew her experiences would be a perfect addition to my blog about traveling. She also loves taking pictures, and I knew she would have some amazing pictures to add. She travels somewhere new with her family, which includes her dad, and four siblings. Her dad plans all of the trips and makes it a priority for her family to travel together every year.
You travel a lot with your family?
Yes, we travel to a different place in Europe every summer and every December we go to the same resort in the Dominican Republic.
Can you tell me some of the places you have been?
I have been to Italy, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Croatia, Greece, Spain, Germany, Prague, Budapest, Portugal, Turkey, England, Morocco, basically most places in Europe. I don’t remember them a lot but when I was little we traveled to a lot of islands in the Caribbean.
If you had to pick, which was your favorite and why?
Greece, by far. We went to Santorini, Mykonos, Crete and Athens. It was just beautiful. It was a great trip because we saw not only the beauty of Greece but also the historical background of the country. We did a lot of sight seeing in Athens, the Parthenon and the other ruins. We went to Mykonos first and saw the picturesque island with the white buildings and clear blue water. We went to Santorini next and took a Catamaran around to the other smaller day islands and saw the blue cave. It was just beautiful. Oh, we went to the hot springs, that’s what we did, we went swimming in the hot springs, which was actually kind of gross but really beautiful. We finished up in Crete and it was just another beautiful island.
Why do you think your dad thinks its important that you guys travel?
It all started when I was 13 maybe, and my sister went to Sweden and Denmark for a soccer tournament and my family chose to follow them and visit Europe. Ever since then my dad has brought us to Europe every summer. He think its important to understand different cultures and he is a huge history nerd and loves learning about each city we are in and teaching us the history of how the world came to be what it is today, with all of the different traditions.
Have you had any scary or negative experiences while traveling?
When we were in Italy, we had someone come up to us and kind of curse and gesture in Italian about us being American. He approached my dad, and my dad quickly pushed us off to the side and tried to get us quickly around him. It was scary to see someone have a negative opinion about America, and that was something I had never experienced. I noticed especially they had problems with our politics.
So you decided to study abroad, where have you decided to go?
Bologna, Italy.
What made you choose Bologna?
I chose to study abroad in Italy because it was one of my favorite countries in Europe. It is also a business program which will help me with my major. I just love the feel of Italy, it is the most similar to the US out of a lot of other countries I have been to. Their traditions, food, culture is just very friendly, open and accepting. Bologna is a cute little quaint town, it’s a good place to actually experience living there versus a large city.
What are you most nervous about?
The duration of the trip, it’s a four month trip and that seems like a very long time to be away from home. I think I will get homesick and miss my family, but my excitement right now is much higher than my nerves.
