Hi there! I’m Julie, the main author and photographer of EarthTrekkers.com.
First, I want to welcome you to our website. EarthTrekkers.com is a family run website that has evolved quite a bit over the years. I, along with Tim, Tyler, and Kara, started EarthTrekkers.com to share our one year trip around the world with friends and family. Once home, our travels continued, as did our writing, becoming the site that you see today.
Our goal is to help you plan the perfect trip. We write detailed itineraries, city guides, trail guides, and travel guides, based on our travel experiences.
A Little Bit about Julie
I grew up in Maryland and attended the University of Maryland, earning a degree in Biology. I was a triple jumper on the University of Maryland track team, and this is where I met Tim, who was also an athlete on the track team.
After college, I spent a few years living in New Jersey, where I went to graduate school to become a physician assistant. For 15 years, I worked as a physician assistant in Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, right up to the point where we started our one year trip around the world.
I traveled very little the first 35 years of my life, taking some road trips on the east coast, quick trips to Canada, Colorado, and California, and visiting a few Caribbean islands.
Getting the Travel Bug
It wasn’t until 2008 when Tim and I took our first trip to Europe, spending 7 days in Amsterdam and Paris. It was eye opening and instantly we became enthralled with international travel.
For the next five years, we took several more trips (French Riviera, Central Europe, Peru, Turkey, and Norway) and the more we traveled, the more obsessed we became. During this time, we were also balancing careers, triathlon races, and parenting (Tyler and Kara were very young kids at this time).
In 2012, we took Tyler and Kara on their first international trip to London and Paris. They handled the jet lag like rock stars, loved the experience, and then we began to wonder, how can we do this full time?
Taking a Trip Around the World
I had heard stories of other families who quit their jobs and spent 6 months, a year, or longer, traveling around the world. At first, that sounded insane. Give up our careers? Sell our house? Who does that?
But the more we thought about it, the less crazy it sounded. We wanted to spend as much quality time as possible with Tyler and Kara while they were children. Why not spend that time traveling the world?
2014 was one of the most exciting, nerve-wracking times of my life. We sold our house, put our things into storage, sold our cars, and quit our jobs. June 29, 2014, we flew from New York City to Copenhagen to Rome, the first leg of our huge adventure traveling around the world.
The Evolution of Earthtrekkers.com
During that trip around the world, we visited 35 countries on 5 continents. Our website, Earth Trekkers, was born and I embraced travel blogging. The more we traveled, the better our articles (and my photography) became. We slowly but steadily acquired new followers.
Once home, I had the job to turn our little travel blog into something bigger. I worked part time as a surgical physician assistant in a local hospital while learning website design, SEO, and how to manage a website, all things that I knew zero about before making the leap to travel around the world.
Year by year, our website grew…both in size and by our website traffic. In 2018, we were making enough income that I could quit my part-time job as a physician assistant and dedicate all of my time to this website.
Now we are one of the highest traffic travel blogs on the internet.
Our story, and some of our photos, have appeared on online publications such as National Geographic, Matador Network, GQ, the Voice of America, and Outside. We have also had an appearance on NBC about our trip around the world and several articles in the Baltimore Sun.
I love being able to share our experiences to help you travel better. The memories that you will make while traveling will last a lifetime. We want to help you plan extraordinary trips, so you have some truly unforgettable memories.
To be able to do this is a dream job and every day I am thankful for it.
A Few More Interesting Facts About Julie
Education
Bachelor’s Degree in Science (Biology) - University of Maryland at College Park – 1996
Master’s Degree in Science (Physician Assistant Studies) - University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Rutgers University – 1999
Professional Career (Both as a PA and a travel blogger)
1999 – 2014: Physician Assistant in Orthopedics & Sports Medicine
2014 – 2015: One year trip around the world
2015 – 2018: Physician Assistant in surgery
2014 – present: Author and photographer for Earthtrekkers.com
So far, I have visited 72 countries on 6 continents. On our Destinations page, you can learn more about most of these countries (some countries do not have entries because we either visited them before the founding of this website or we have limited experience there).
I have extensively traveled through Europe, Asia, the USA, and New Zealand and this is where you will find the vast majority of our content. We have a wealth of information about Italy, Portugal, New Zealand, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, and the USA.
Personal Achievements
1992 – 1994: Division I Triple Jumper at the University of Maryland College Park
2009: Ironman Triathlon Finisher (IRONMAN Florida 140.6)
2009: U.S. Open Triathlon Amateur Division qualifier
2010: U.S. Open Triathlon Amateur Division qualifier
2017: Ironman Triathlon Finisher (IRONMAN Italy Emilia-Romagna 140.6)
My Favorite Travel Experiences & Trips
My favorite 10-day trip was to Peru in 2012. We visited Cusco, Machu Picchu, and the Amazon. While in Peru, I broke my hand mountain biking in Ollantaytambo and had to visit a clinic in Cusco for X-Rays and a cast. The entire trip felt like an amazing, wonderful adventure and I can’t wait to return someday.
Hiking rim-to-rim across the Grand Canyon in one day. Tim and I did this to celebrate our 20-year wedding anniversary. It is a simply incredible experience to cross the Grand Canyon on foot.
The view from our first hotel on our first trip to Paris. In 2018, on our first trip to Europe, we booked a hotel room in Paris with a view of the city. We stepped out onto our tiny balcony and saw the landmarks we had only ever seen in TV or in movies, like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Arc de Triomphe. It was a thrilling, unforgettable moment. There’s just something about your first real view of Paris…
Traveling around the world. To spend 13 months with Tim, Tyler, and Kara while traveling around the world is the #1 experience I’ve had. To be able to spend that time as a family and live those adventures is something I am thankful for every single day.
Hiking in the Dolomites of Italy. The Dolomites is my favorite place in the world to go hiking. The landscapes are jaw-dropping and the hiking trails range from short, sweet hikes to full day efforts.
Exploring the US National Parks. I am on a quest to visit all of the US National Parks. In fact, we have an entire section dedicated to the US National Parks, which contains information about the parks plus itineraries to help you plan the perfect trip.
Norway and New Zealand. We have taken multiple trips to Norway and New Zealand, and these remain two of my favorite countries in the world.
The White Rim Road in Canyonlands National Park. On this epic adventure, we spent two days in a 4x4 driving around the Island in the Sky mesa. The number of vehicles on the White Rim Road is limited, the campsites are spaced far apart, and we drove for miles without seeing another person. It is one of my favorite US national park experiences.
The Walker’s Haute Route. You’ll see this pop on Tim’s, Tyler’s, and Kara’s bios as well, but this was an incredible family/travel experience. Over the course of 13 days, we trekked from Chamonix, France to Zermatt, Switzerland, crossing 10 mountain passes in the Alps. It was an extraordinary journey.
Becoming a Foodie
I have recently become obsessed with food. There’s nothing like sitting down to a good meal, trying a new food, or randomly picking “mystery foods” in a country where you can’t speak or read the language. Exploring the local cuisine, whether it is street food stall or a Michelin-starred restaurant, is one of my favorite things to do while traveling.
In fact, the perfect day for me starts on a hiking trail and ends with a very nice dinner, usually with a glass or two of wine.
My love of food has also made its way to our kitchen. I now dabble in food photography and in recreating dishes we have had while traveling. In particular, I love Indian and Italian food.
More About the Earth Trekkers
I’m not the only one with a bio! You can also read Tim’s, Tyler’s, and Kara’s story and learn more about our family and our mission on our About page.
If you want to know where we have been, take a look at our Destinations page.
If you need some inspiration and ideas for your next trip, our Travel Itineraries page has sample itineraries from around the world.
Learn more about what it is like to travel around the world and how to plan an around the world trip on our How to Travel Around the World guide.
We donate 5% of our net income to charities that focus on environmental conservation issues.