For all those interested in the WanderingWalkers, here’s a little background on us. The first question we get is where the name came from. Well, our last name is Walker, and we’re wandering around the world - thus the WanderingWalkers were born.

We live in our favorite city on earth, San Francisco. Joy is originally from the Bay Area, growing up in Marin her entire life. Jason was born and raised in Cleveland Ohio, and moved to Arizona when he was 16 to finish high school and then attend University of Arizona. Joy attended UC Santa Barbara for her undergrad years, and then Dominican University to earn her Masters in Counseling Psychology.

We met each other 7 years ago at our friend Paul’s 21^st birthday party, and we got married in January ’04. (We celebrated our 3 year anniversary while in Auckland, New Zealand). We’ve been living in SF for the past 6 years together, and currently reside in our home in Japantown (Post and Webster Streets). Luckily we were able to rent our pad out for the year, so that has been a huge relief.

Some of the things we love… First and foremost our dog Hank, who we miss so much. It was a difficult decision to leave him, but figured we had to seize this time in our lives for this travel experience. He’s in a great place with his “bitch” Sydney (a female ridgeback) and our friends Dave & Belinda. We also really enjoy playing racquetball as much as possible, can never get enough of walking the streets of SF, we love entertaining family and friends at our home, and of course food and drink are major passions of ours. Our friends and family, which goes without saying, are of utmost importance to us. (well, I guess we just said it.) We miss them above everything else the most!

A lot of people are fascinated by the fact that we are American’s traveling the world, since it seems that traveling for extended periods is less common for “yanks” then other cultures. We have always had an interest in travel and exploration. Jason spent 6 months backpacking through Europe in his college days, which was life changing. He often reminisces back to those times on our current travel, since we certainly aren’t backpackers anymore and he can’t believe how he used to do the travel thing backpacker style. Joy spent a total of two years living in Israel, one year on a post high school program called Young Judaea and the other year studying at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She got the opportunity to travel to Europe as well to some other Middle Eastern countries while in the region. These abroad experiences left lasting impressions on both of us.

Many are curious as to how we chose this period in our lives to embark on our travels. Life as we all know is about timing, and this moment was perfect for us to pick up and leave. Joy just earned her Marriage Family Therapist license in October 2006, a process that took 3 years of graduate school and 3000 hours or 4 years of internship training, plus a grueling exam process. She was certainly ready for a break! Jason has an internet company which he created 4 years ago, and this gives him the flexibility to work from anywhere in the world. We don’t have any children yet, minus our dog, so there was nothing really tying us down.

We always enjoy meeting new people and having exciting experiences so if you happen to be traveling to any of our destinations please be in contact so we can try and rendezvous for a drink. Lastly, we hope that everyone gets a chance to do some travel in their life, whether to a new city or state, or a foreign country if you’re able. There truly is nothing like getting out of your comfort zone and having a taste of life from other people’s perspective.

Best Wishes and Happy Travels to Everyone!