Wanderlust Challenges discussion

Introduce Yourself

We can't wait to get to know you. Please jump right in and tell us a little about yourself!!

Let me introduce myself! My name is Jan and I am your mod for this new group. Like everyone else here I love reading and challenges. But I also love to explore new places and sometimes find I get just as much enjoyment planning my trips as I do taking them. I actually have a secret dream of becoming a travel planner one day but haven't figured out how to pay the bills doing it. So I decided to share my joy in a Goodreads group.

I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone and hope you have as much fun taking my trips as I have had planning them.

Happy Reading & Traveling!!

I love to travel, especially to France and my husband and I have cruised many times. I must admit that airline travel is no longer a favorite of mine. Lately there have been almost no trips for pleasure, as my husband and I both have mothers with dementia and they are wheelchair bound. So travel for me has been mainly to Kentucky and my husband mainly to New York.

I do enjoy reading about travel, so this should be a fun book club.

Welcome Jackie!! I'm so happy to see you here :)

Sounds like you have your hands full with caring for family members - bless your heart. That can be hard on a family. But thank goodness we can travel virtually through our books! Looking forward to traveling together.

Hi, Jan!

I love your new group and am looking forward to your creative challenges! I stay busy homeschooling my boys and reading when ever there is spare time. I love visiting fantasy worlds but am known to venture into reality too.

Hey Jillian!! So glad you are joining us!! Your fantasy worlds will fit in here too. I will try to make sure there is something for everyone.

I'm looking forward to being part of this new group. Of course, I love to read ! Mostly historical fiction, mysteries and non-fiction. I have had a couple setbacks in life regarding travel but hope to find some solutions within the next year - I love visiting and exploring new places and getting to know new cultures. The challenges look like fun - I hope we get a word search challenge as those are my favorite.

Hi Denise! I don't get to travel in real life as much as I like but its still fun to explore. Hope you enjoy the challenges and YES - a word search is planned. You will see the first one in December.

I actually planned on starting the group in December but just couldn't wait!!!

Jillian wrote: "Hi, Jan!

I love your new group and am looking forward to your creative challenges! I stay busy homeschooling my boys and reading when ever there is spare time. I love visiting fantasy worlds but a..."

Hi Jillian, nice to see you here too.

Hi everyone, I’m excited to join this new group and getting to know everyone better! I’m not a big challenge reader but will jump into them when I can, I love traveling as well, I haven’t been on a trip yet this year but will be going to Houston probably in December, I’m single, no spouse or kiddos so I pretty much do what I want when I want,

Linda wrote: ... pretty much do what I want when I want"

Welcome to the fun Linda! I absolutely love that last line you wrote...that's how I need to view things. Go girl!

Hi everyone, so excited to be here I stepped away from GR for a bit I hope this gets me back into checking in everyday!! Have books will travel.

Cant wait to get to know you all better.
Let the challenges begin.

Yay Joann!! "Have books will travel" would have been a great group name! So glad you are here :)

Jan wrote: "Yay Joann!! "Have books will travel" would have been a great group name! So glad you are here :)"

That is good, Joann.

Jackie wrote: "Jan wrote: "Yay Joann!! "Have books will travel" would have been a great group name! So glad you are here :)"

That is good, Joann."

Thanks :)

Welcome to the group Dee! So glad you joined. Hope your hubby is recouperating from his surgery! Taking it easy sounds like the thing to do. I had never heard of a Huntaway dog breed before so I just googled it....sooooo cute but I bet the puppy keeps you busy.

FYI - the group is going to be visiting New Zealand in January for our Capital of the Month Challenge. How far are you from Wellington?

Hey new Challengers!!!

Excited for my girl Jan and of course for all of us new groupies!! I don’t get to travel much...the furthest I usually go is my dad’s house 25 minutes away lol. But I’m off to explore!!!

Hi Allie!! Thanks for being one of the groupies! You don't need to be a traveler to play!!

Have fun exploring :)

Hi everyone. Thanks for the invite Jan, I can see how hard you've been working on these challenges! :)

Like Allie, I don't travel much, if at all. I have my own business called Sit & Stay Critter Sitter, and have been doing this for 4 years. Basically, I pet sit, as well as house sit while other people travel..lol! For those who might not be familiar with it, I actually stay in the person's home and take care of their dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, or whatever pet they have. I love what I do. It allows me to set my own schedule & all of my clients and their furbabies are wonderful.
The best part, other than my love for animals, is that I sit and READ. It's awesome...getting paid to love on the furbabies and read. :)

Looking forward to getting to know everyone.

Hi all. Good to see so many old friends as well as new!

I hardly travel at all these days as I have mobility issues. I love to listen to audiobooks and I love challenges! I am hampered in reading physical books as I have been dyslexic for the past 12 years. I read a few ebooks but thank goodness for audio!!

I don't work. I live with hubbie, son (who is 21), mother and currently my uncle. My uncle is unwell and we are taking care of him.

Oh, I nearly forgot the most important member of the household - our dog Max. Actually he's kinda in charge lol

Jan!!! I'm so glad to be here in your new group! It's awesome, and I can't wait to get started.

Thank you for inviting me!

Hi, Jan!

I have always been curious about other countries/cultures and their history. This group combines that with my addiction to challenges - what a great combination!

Jan wrote: "Linda wrote: ... pretty much do what I want when I want"

Welcome to the fun Linda! I absolutely love that last line you wrote...that's how I need to view things. Go girl!"

You can totally do it Jan!

Hi everyone! I'm excited to be a part of this group! I love to travel, although I haven't been out of the US that much. I've been to Cozumel (on a cruise), The Bahamas, and Scotland. I'd love to see the world a bit more if I can get away from work. I've been around the US, but I always say I want to go to every single state! Anyway, I'm looking forward to being part of this group and getting to know everyone. Also, shout out to Jan for all of your hard work in getting this cool new group going! And a shout out to my new friend and "neighbor," Jackie - HIGH FIVE FOR TEXAS!! :D

Welcome everyone! I'm so happy to see you all and really appreciate the support with you all joining!!

AND real travel is not required for membership at all!! I do most my traveling through books and travel shows on TV - one of my addictions!!!

Hope you all enjoy the group!!

Hi All! I've been noticing these challenges posted on the boards so I checked out the group, and here I am! So glad to see many friends here already. (And of course I haven't been able to resist adding some challenges to my already-overburdened list!)

Hubby and I took a cruise to Alaska last June along with our youngest son and his wife. Although we weren't in love with the cruise experience, we had a great time with them. Our next big vacation will hopefully be a visit to Germany (for the wine) and Italy (for the food), sometime in 2018.

Welcome Connie! So happy to see you :)

Germany and Italy in 2018 sounds wonderful!!! I'm quite jealous.Be sure to keep us updated on it.

I'm curious about why you didn't like the cruise experience?

thank you, Jan, for inviting me, I love the idea for this group :)

I'm 35 and live with my teenager daughter and our two cats (one adult, one baby) in Vienna, Austria.

I love to travel and used to do it a lot, but in the last years (due to a major income reduction ;) ) I'm not able to travel as much as I want to.

Obviously, my travel destinations are mostly in Europe, and I'm very happy about that, because, even if I would love to see Bora Bora or something like that, I'm a huge fan of European destinations. I love Great Britain, Ireland, Greece and Croatia...
and there are a lot of cities I would like to see (first time or once again) - Prague, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Barcelona... and one of my dream vacations would be a road trip through France.

My last holiday was in the summertime, swimming and sunbathing in lovley Croatia, and this weekend a friend from work will take me to her hometown, Krakow, Poland. We won't have a lot of time, but I'm pretty excited because if you can believe the photos, it's an amazing city :)

Hi Rosa! I'm so glad you are embracing the idea of the group! There is so much to see in Europe it would keep you busy for a life time.

I remember your trip to Prague and loved your pics you shared - was that just last year? And how exciting to see Krakow. Be sure to share your pics in the Traveler's Blog. Everyone would love to see them,

When I'm reading a book from another area, I always go online and check out the pics. Even you haven't already figured it out by the challenges, I LOVE photos of different places...LOL.

thanks, Jan!

Prague was at least two years ago... but I'm still in love :D

I promise I will post some pics - probably me drunken in some alley because they gave me wodka for breakfast, Poles XD

Two years!! Man time flys!

can't wait to see the those pics..hahaha!

Yay Tia!! Thank you for coming on board!!

Hope all is going well in Florida for you two (four ^.^). I thought of you during Irma....did you get any damage?

*waving hello to the group*
Jan, I love the travel theme and can't wait to check out the challenges to see where we might end up :)

Like most of you here, I love to travel, although we haven't been able to do much of it lately. Next month, though, we're going to Texas (Daughter and I from our home in PA, hubby from his office in FL) to celebrate Son's graduation from the Air Force's flight school. It will be good to see him and his wife, but it will be even better to see him finally achieve a goal he's been working toward for years .

Cruising is my favorite way to travel, but we can't do that as often as we'd like. At the top of our cruise wish list is a trip to Alaska, but that's several years away, for our next "milestone" anniversary.

**Waving back Barb** Welcome to the group & hope you enjoy the challenges.

Congrats to your son! What an accomplishment! I bet it will be great to have everyone in the same state to celebrate!

Alaska in my wish list too....that list of mine just keeps growing.

Jan wrote: "I'm curious about why you didn't like the cruise experience?"

There are just too many people, both on the cruise ship (lots of lines for everything) and at the stops (too touristy). It's definitely a gorgeous and comfortable way to travel, though.

It's been years since I've been on one and the ships keep getting bigger and bigger making for more and more people. So I completely understand that!

I'm sorry your gram was hit so hard! But it sounds like she had help getting things cleaned up. And yes, I would be weirded out too about the weird critters in your house. That is so very strange!

I saw that this was a group for those who love traveling AND reading challenges and I just could not resist!

About me, my name is Lena, I am a wife (sorta, we currently are separated but hoping we will some how work things out) and mother. I have an 8 (almost 9) year old daughter and four fur babies (2 cats & 2 dogs) and 5 fish. We all live in the Texas panhandle. I work full time outside the home as a legal assistant. Obviously, I love to read and I read pretty much all genres as long as the book peaks my interest. I love to cook and collect cookbooks. And of course, I love to travel and explore new areas and different cultures.

Welcome to the group Lena!! We are glad you found us!

I love cookbooks too and have a large collection. Have you ever heard of Eat Your Books? It a great service that has indexed thousands and thousands cookbooks and cooking magazine. You type in ingredients or a dish you want to make and it tells you where in your cookbooks you can find it. It has really helped me use the cookbooks I have more and more. There is a yearly charge of like $30 but I find it is worth it.

https://www.eatyourbooks.com/

Jan wrote: "Welcome to the group Lena!! We are glad you found us!

I love cookbooks too and have a large collection. Have you ever heard of Eat Your Books? It a great service that has indexed thousands and tho..."

What a wonderful website! I have never used it so thank you for sharing! I would love to put my cookbooks to some better use.

April wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm excited to be a part of this group! I love to travel, although I haven't been out of the US that much. I've been to Cozumel (on a cruise), The Bahamas, and Scotland. I'd love to se..."

April-Maybe someday we can split the distance and meet for lunch or a drink!

Hey everybody!

A lot of you already know me BUT here it is.

My dad was in the Navy and retired when I was 15. We lived a bunch of places. So I have traveled some.
I am married (32 years) and have two daughters, 27 and 18. We also have two 11 month old pitbulls, Max and Daisy. I live in North Carolina, just outside of Charlotte. I help my husband run his business but mostly I read A LOT- LOL!

Hope to make some more friends and have some fun!

JoAnne is here...yay!!! Thanks for joining the fun. And what cute names for your puppies - but they sound like a quite the handful. Bet it was like having two new babies.

Jan wrote: "JoAnne is here...yay!!! Thanks for joining the fun. And what cute names for your puppies - but they sound like a quite the handful. Bet it was like having two new babies."

Yes, it was like having 2 babies. We got Max at 3 weeks and Daisy for days later.
I posted this photo in my group so some have seen it. Rosa loves it! HAHA They look so stern in this. Daisy and Max - they are sitting on the barstools.



Daisy has on her Kimi Raikonnen face!

They are so precious!!

Hi! My name is Patrizia and I'm Italian. I love to travel and to read so this group is a dream for me.
I read English books (cozy mysteries and romance), but I don't write it very well...

Piacere Patrizia!

Welcome to Wanderlust Patrizia!! It's a new group so we are just starting out getting to know everyone. More challenges will be coming as we progress...I've added some upoming challenges in the Master Challenge list.

So glad you found us :)

Hi, everybody, I found this group through Jackie and saw that it combines books and travelling, two of my favorite hobbies!
I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you.

I'm 34 and from Denmark where I live with my husband. I love travelling. This summer we've been a week in Greece and a weekend in Brussels and in a month we're going to Northern Ireland to visit my husbands family.
Normally we only travel once or twice a year but I would love to be able to travel more often. Some of my favorite places so far is Scotland, Berlin and Barcelona.
Next on my wishlist is New York, Austria, Iceland and New Zealand.

I always bring a good book while we travel. Ohh well, sometimes I bring four books if it's a relaxing summer holiday.
I read a lot of different genres but my favorites are probably historical fiction, contemporary, chick-lit and fantasy.

I love a fun and creative reading challenge, so I look forward to explore this new group!

Hi Marina! You sound well-traveled and have been to some exciting places. Berlin would be so interesting to visit. And yes, a book is the first thing I pack - though in my case it my kindle. Though I find that the most reading I do is on the airplane and rarely get to them while actually at our destination...lol.

We are so glad you are joining us and thank you Jackie for sharing about the group !!!