Kinderdijk Windmill

Our eternal career breaker and co-founder of Briefcase to Backpack is at it again; she’s traveling.  Sherry Ott is spending her August in Europe house-sitting in Brussels.  However she first detoured through the Netherlands to do some photography and eat cheese!  This photo is from the UNESCO World Heritage site, Kinderdijk.  This small village is home to over 19 windmills built in 1740  still in operation today.  Don’t let the rainy weather intimidate your photography, this typical brooding Netherlands day provided a nice backdrop.  By using a wide angle lens and filling your frame with sky, it provides an even darker feeling to the photos.

Not only is Sherry the ‘other half’ of Briefcase to Backpack, she also can be found at Ottsworld.com where she blogs about her travel and life experiences, or at her photography site – Global Photography where you can view more of her photography.  If you want to meet Sherry in person and learn how she has traveled for 4 years since leaving her career in NYC, come meet her at Meet, Plan, Go! NYC and get started on planning your own career break!

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Maps, Loose Wine, and Nudity – Adventures in Venice!
After traveling with David for 7 days – we have fallen into our travel groove. I think everyone we meet thinks that we are a couple as we are constantly bickering about things. Don’t get me wrong…the fun kind of bickering…not the ‘ball and chain’ bickering. So – we kind of fell into the acceptance of people thinking that we were a couple and didn’t really try to explain things unless people asked. So there was no better person to experience Venice, the most romantic city in the world, than with my gay boyfriend. Read More

Honeymoon Crashing – Rome
I’ve done many strange things in the last 8 months, had some great adventures, met some wonderful people, but I think I have reached the apex of unusual last week. I actually crashed a honeymoon. I’ve always said that I dislike attending weddings…but maybe I should give the honeymoon a shot. Read More

Hitting the Pause Button – Sorrento, Italy
I am molto happy…for many reasons. But the primary reason is that I’m on ‘Pause’. I arrived in Sorrento last week, drug my bag down the cobblestone narrow streets and arrived at my home for the next 4 weeks. Sure, it was fun to meet Signor and Signora Bandi, my hosts, but the real fun was getting to fully unpack all of my bags in my little room. Seriously, unpacking was practically orgasmic. I have a closet that is all mine – with hangers! I have drawers, I have a vanity , I have a desk. Never in my life would I have thought that I could get this excited about simple accommodations and a room that is probably about 100 square feet. Read More

Perche Parlo Italiano? Because I want to…
There are few times in life in which you simply get to do something which there is no ulterior motive except for pure pleasure. The thought of taking language classes in Italy seemed adventurous, exotic, and glamorous – like riding the Orient Express, riding a camel in the Sahara, or sailing around the world. Read More

Graduation Day
After spending 4 weeks attempting to learn the language I have experienced a mixed bag of emotions – happiness, humor, stress, anxiety, stupidity, and elation. There was certainly a stage where I was so frustrated that I wanted to walk out – I never thought that I would be able to learn all of the exceptions, the irregular verbs, the tenses, and hundreds of new words. I felt like an idiot and was completely stressed out that I didn’t get it. Read More

4 Courses, 6 Nights a Week, for 4 Weeks: My New Italian Diet
I joke around about being out of shape, however I after 8 months of travel, minimal workouts, and food from all over the world – I have still been able to fit into my same clothes. Compared to the rest of the world, I feel generally fit and athletic….until Italy. My month in Italy at cooking school has produced a whole new level of body image anxiety. I have many names for it – spare tire, pasta pooch, i rotoli, muffin top, fupa…that extra weight that I’m carrying around my middle – it should have a little tag on it that says “Made in Italy”. Read More

Le Miei Famiglie Italiani
The title roughly translates into my Italian Families…that’s right – plural…I have many of them! I have to admit it – I have always been fascinated with all things Italian – the food, the wine, the mafia, and the family lifestyle. It is no surprise then that the Godfather movies top my favorite movie list. The opening scenes that have these huge weddings and confirmation celebrations are my favorite. Read More

Come Sail Away
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Arrivederci Italia!
Italy makes it into my travel ‘record book’ – it is the country in which I’ve stayed the longest amount of consecutive time. I arrived in to this pasta haven at the end of April – so that makes 2 months in Italy. I had grand expectations of Italy as prior to starting on this world adventure it had been my favorite country to travel to and I never seemed to want to come home. In fact, I had dreams of living here one day. Read More

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Swiss Roll
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Addicted
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Gut Decisions – Montenegro
My best travel moments are the unplanned ones. I spent most of my corporate career planning…budgets, delivery dates, resource needs, tasks on a project plan, and I even planned what I was going to say – my work life revolved around planning. So when my taxi river in Dubrovnik suggested that he can take me and my friend on a day driving tour of Montenegro – I was intrigued. Read More

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Greece – Ego Boost
I arrived in Europe with a short layover in Dubai. I was exhausted since I haven’t really experienced jet lag since October! Arrival in Greece also exposed me to something I hadn’t experienced for a long time – there was no arrival card to fill out.  At first I thought maybe I had too much wine on the plane and some how I missed the flight attendants passing them out, but as I looked around I noticed that no one else had one either. Strange – no visa, no arrival card – I felt cheated! I have spent the last 7 months memorizing every bit of data on my passport – I now consider it a special skill that I could put on my resume!  Read More

Mykonos Interview – Tass
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Getting Fresh in Croatia
The first thing that struck me was the smell when the taxi dropped me off at my hostel in Dubrovnik. It wasn’t a fowl smell – quite the contrary – it was a beautiful spring flower smell – completely stunning. I went for a brisk morning run along the water – the air was cool but perfect for running. While I was running someone was out cutting grass…and it smelled so fresh – flooding my brain with memories of spring! It’s a weird feeling to experience spring when you never had a winter – I felt like I was cheating in a way…but it was a welcome feeling as spring and fall are my favorite times of year in the states. Read More

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