About

Welcome to TravelWanderGrow! This site is here to educate you on Smart Travel by providing you with information in three areas: (1) Travel, (2) Wander, (3) Grow. (More details on all three of these below!) We focus on mid-tier travel with a bent towards local, historical, and authentic experiences.

Travel

Travel focuses on those travel and language tips that will equip you for any destination. You'll find packing tips, airport tips, and more in this section of the site. Click here for all travel tip posts, or select from one of the posts show below: 

Wander

Wander provides short travel guides to help you make the most of your vacation time in destinations across the U.S., Europe, Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. Click here for all travel guides, or select from the list below: 

Grow

Grow is where you'll find personal finance tips to help you grow your money and travel more! Get budgeting tips, money saving ideas, money mindset inspiration and more. Click here for all personal finance posts, or just click below: 

About Christen

So why does my site have a few different focus areas? Let me break that down for you...

The Travel Side

My love of travel began when I studied abroad in Spain back in 2008. During this time, I was able to visit several other countries in Europe and Northern Africa. And let me tell you, I've had a bad case of wanderlust ever since. Travel can be transformational and offers such a rich experience to those who are open to learning new cultures, meeting new people, trying new foods, and experiencing unique activities.

Over the years I have had the chance to travel to over 25 countries, most recently Lebanon, Iceland, Kuwait, Cuba, Greece, Thailand, and Croatia. Nothing inspires me like travel does, and I hope to help you experience the same on your travels too! 

The Language Side

As you may have guessed, the reason why I studied in Spain during undergrad was to learn Spanish - it was my minor concentration in college. I am a language and linguistics nerd and try to learn at least a little of the local languages when I visit a new country for the first time. On this site, I share all my favorite tips to help you do this too.

The Personal Finance Side

In addition to holding a B.S. in Finance and an MBA, I genuinely nerd out about all things personal Finance. By paying close attention to my finances, I am able to travel outside the country several times a year and maintain a credit score in the 800s. This is all while working to pay down a substantial amount of graduate student loans, building a positive next worth, and living in a high cost of living area (Washington, DC). I love sharing tips I've learned along the way and I hope they're helpful to you. 

Let Me Know How I can Help

If you have questions on anything relevant to the topics of this site, feel free to drop me a note, either in the comments below or via email - [email protected]ow.com.