Blog Meets World

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

Something about opening my inaugural blog post with a quotation from, arguably, the world’s first travel writer strikes me as a bit presumptuous. It’s possible only my father, my closest friends, and maybe my dog (we’re working on his ABCs) will even read this first post. Still, it is preferable to, “pssst, Internet, here I am! I like to travel. And tell stories. Nobody in the history of the world has ever said this.”

If you’ve just happened upon this page, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Caroline, and I am an avid traveler, enthusiastic wordsmith, and lifelong history nerd (also, devotee of adjectives). I thought it was time to put those passions together and see what comes of it. Plus, I have travel tales to tell. You can find one here. I hope you find them enjoyable, or informative, or at least an entertaining alternative to checking your work email.  

I am a professional historian and, as this blog’s title implies, I tend to look at the world from that perspective. That doesn’t mean I only visit historic sites and chase after famous dead people (though there’s that, too), but rather that what I know about the past shapes a lot of my curiosity about the world, and that includes how I travel. I love to delve into backstories of cities, buildings, memorials, local cuisine, art, street names, and so on. I’m fascinated by how people today understand and present their histories to visitors and to themselves.   

Food provides important insights into any culture. That’s why I made a point of eating this beignet in New Orleans. It was for research purposes only. Really.

These days I do most of my traveling solo, which apparently makes me…..not in the least unusual. The number of female solo travelers is growing every year, though it seems that conventional travel wisdom has not yet caught up to this fact.

Solo female travel isn’t unusual anymore, nor is it scary. Sure, you have to be prudent, but, honestly, the only real downside is that you’ll end up taking a lot of selfies. And a lot of them will look like this.

I’ve met several (well-meaning, not sketchy) men who express concern that I’m on my own. More troubling, I’ve also met a lot of women who tell me they aren’t brave enough to or just can’t imagine traveling on their own. While this does, temporarily, make me feel like a bit of a badass (a feeling I do not experience often; see following paragraph), the reality is that with a little bit of caution and a thickish skin, solo travel is very doable for women.  

Perhaps that’s a good segue into talking about about the kind of travel stories I won’t be telling. Hardcore, outdoor adventuring is not likely to feature heavily. I am not very athletic (read: I’m surprised I don’t walk into walls more often) and, unless my feet are planted firmly on solid ground, I am not wild about heights. While a part of me does want to try bungee jumping (one day, maybe), skydiving and hang gliding are nowhere near my radar.

My kind of mountain climbing: Surviving the car ride to the top and then triumphantly scrambling up the nearest big rock.

What is on my outdoors radar? Walking (part of) the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, learning to snorkel, and going white water rafting again. Yes, Adventure TV, I am sure, will be calling me any day now.

So what kind of stories do I plan on telling? The idea behind Through History-Colored Glasses is of a travel blog with a historical/cultural twist, but also a historical/cultural blog with a travel twist. That explains everything, right? Alongside a more traditional travel blog approach, I’ll also write posts focusing on the histories of places I’ve visited, or the cultural power invested in anything from flags to food to national treasures. Sometimes I might investigate the people behind a particularly cool (or weird) thing I’ve come across. And sometimes I’m just overwhelmed by the awesomeness of things I’ve seen that I just have to share!

All right, enough of introductions. Thank you for reading. I hope you’ll poke around the site a bit and enjoy what you find!

If you liked what you just read, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the blog’s focus or suggestions for future posts. Just think, you could change the course of (one person’s) history (blog)!