Part I: An Early Explorer My now husband and I were tucked between two lumberjack (err, gentlemen’s) clubs and an empanada food truck on SE 82nd Avenue when he realized without a doubt he wanted to marry me in 2012. We had found our way to a Vietnamese travel agency in East Portland thanks to our building handyman, Binh Nguyen’s…
When we left in July 2018, we thought our "world trip" was going to be a two year and done situation. And, the hospitality bar was set extremely high right off the bat when we opened up our trip by staying with the amazing Ek family in Kullavik, Sweden, about an hour southwest of Gothenburg. The Eks, whom Mandy knew…


