I'm a Jersey girl who landed in South Florida by way of Florida State, where I studied international business. I was always the one planning the next trip. When we became a family of five, everyone told us the big trips would have to wait.

We didn't wait. Since then we've taken the kids to Paris and London, Italy and Austria, Athens and the Greek islands, and the sandbars of the Bahamas. We've also done plenty of closer-to-home weekends, from Charleston to Bar Harbor to San Diego.

Along the way I learned what no brochure tells you. Kids rise to the places you take them. They remember the gelato and the Colosseum. And with the right base, the right pace and a few hard-won tips, a family trip can feel like a real vacation for the grown-ups too.

My family comes from Mytilini, on the Greek island of Lesvos, so I grew up believing that travel is how you find out where you come from and who you want to be. Wander & Away is where I share it all: the places, the planning and the moments that make it worth it.

"Kids are better travelers than you think. They just need us to believe it first."