So a huge part of my life is travel. Every year, I get to travel.

When I was in my early 20s, I remember being SO broke that travelling was something I just didn't think I'd ever get to experience in my life. Or, maybe I did believe that it would happen to me someday, but I was terrified that it wouldn't because it's something that I dreamed of doing. Who doesn't want to travel?

As I grew up, got my shit together(ish, let's be real), and I made travel an actual priority. In the last 5 years I've managed to do some incredible (and diverse trips) and hit some amazing spots. Naturally, I have A LOT of photos of these trips.

Here's my problem - I almost never post the content. I haven't really found a place for the images, I've felt, that works to show in a way that I feel an audience will be interested. But, again, in an effort to be bold, and to open myself up to, and be vulnerable to the world (and my sweet clients!) I've decided to make a real effort to show my work, and put out a series related to my travels.

So, originally, my family is from Greece; my parents were born there, and I was born in Canada (don't ask me why my name is "Pam" - my mom apparently wanted me to have a normal name - but it's too normal, seriously. My Greek name is Panaiota; hence aiota). Sadly, just over a month ago, one of my uncles passed away. He was 80+ and he lived a long life, but it really made me realize that it was time to go "home" to the Motherland, to see my family, and to document some of my deep roots and family history, before it's gone! Before it's gone! Now, more than ever I see the importance of understanding where my ancestors came from, how they lived, and how totally awesome and wonderful my family is. Time to go to Greece.

And I want to document this and post it online. BUT

I still have last year's California road trip photos that I've barely shown to anyone.

So, I've got to start now. Even if it's late, I have to talk a little bit about California last year, and some of the stops we made on our 6000 km trek across the Pacific North West. The trip lasted 13 days, and we toured through a variety of different landscapes and geographical features in my Toyota. We slept most nights in my Rav4, where Alex built a platform which we could set up our sleeping bags at night, and sleep on. We had our camping gear as well, and about 50% of the time we slept in the tent. The other 50%, was the good ol' Rav4Bed. The crazy thing, is that I have location history turned on on my phone, and I allow Google to track my location, so I can literally see everywhere I've been in the last few years on Google Maps, anywhere where I have access to data. Some people find that insane, but I have a deep love for Google, so I allow it.

Y'all ready for this? I've got to start somewhere...

Which is the morning we left from my patio, in East Van. I live on the water, near the port, and when the moon hangs over in just that perfect spot, early mornings from my home can be so peaceful that, because it is a city in which you expect so much noise, the silence is almost shrill.

We wanted to go as quickly as possible, so we took the I5 down, stopped for a pee break in Seattle near the CenturyLink field, and carried on until Vancouver, Washington, where we stopped for food and refreshments at the Taco City food truck. The drive along the I5 was exceptionally unscenic, but I did get this photo of balloons wailing in the sky attached to a car dealership; "stars" of American capitalism! From there, we took the long-route, and avoided the I5 until we came back up to Washington State at the end of our trip. Taco city, BTW, was definitely worth the stop, and its colourful truck on that grossly hot August day was the perfect way to kick off our bohemian, low-budget vacation/adventure along the Pacific Coast and into the Joshua Tree Desert. Sadly, because we were in a rush to keep our timeline, and get to Oregon with enough time to find a spot to camp for the night, we didn't get to stop for a beer at the brewery next door.

Oh well, the burritos, the heat, and the total freedom of road tripping made up for it!

If this was a fun read for you, subscribe for updates below, as I'll be posting an update with a few photos every week for the next 8ish weeks or so, about our crazy wild west road trip! I will keep you in the loop!