For years now, friends have been asking me whether I had a blog. I’d always resisted. As a freelance writer, I wasn’t sure I had time for non-paid writing, even if it were a passion project.

Now, in 2014, it’s hello world! Along with this new website, my blog starts here. Now you’ll be able to see in any given week where on the globe I am. (Consider subscribing by email—you’ll receive 1-2 posts per week.)

This spring, the setting will largely be our current home of Notre Dame, Ind. (Today, a fresh 70-degree day that’s the warmest one  here in six months, feels like an auspicious day to launch. The sidewalks of downtown South Bend are being walked by everyone from panhandlers to college girls in breezy skirts as I look out from a favorite coffeehouse.)

By June, the blog will follow me to our soon-to-be summer home of Cape Town, South Africa. Rumor has it we will be living in an apartment somehow situated within a shopping mall, so I’ll let you know what that’s all about! I’m hoping it’s at a farmer-trader-artisan market like Neighbourgoods, where we can smell raw honey and craft beer. But we’re lucky enough to be living in South Africa—I doubt we could be quite that lucky.

Every so often, I’ll also review travels from Chile, where my husband, Matt, and I closed out the last three months of 2013. The parks and the smog; the fresh seafood and the limp sandwiches; the majestic Andes and the brown river—we sampled the full range of Santiago. Weekends also took us to wine valleys, lake districts, Machu Picchu, Patagonia, Uruguay, and Argentina, so there are plenty of South American experiences to share.

Come behind the scenes on my travels and interviews. This blog will provide a sneak look at the places, dishes, people, and stories you’ll see in newspapers and magazines months later. When I write about destinations, I’ll go beyond vapid scenester-ing to look for the people and organizations making places better. And those places will include humble Midwestern towns as much as glamorous world capitals. Cheers!