Hi, I'm Daniela! :)

See the girl at the top of this page, the one that carries her suitcase and "dreams the journey" all the time?

You guessed it: that's me!

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THANK YOU for stopping by and be curious about the person behind "Dream The Journey".

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To put it simply, I am a travel addict.

Even more, I am a travel-planning addict!

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I am a standard woman in her 30s who just cannot stop dreaming and planning her next trip somewhere in the world!

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During my childhood and teenage years, there was no money for any extra in my family. At that time, I was only able to move between the north of Italy, where I lived, and the beautiful Sicily, where part of my father's family was.

I grew up in a tiny town near the Italian Alps and, since a very early age, I have always wanted to travel.

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This desire grew up in me even more after what I consider my first REAL trip: a 3-weeks studying holiday in London!

After seeing London with my own eyes, I knew inside me that my biggest passion in life was to see new places of the world.

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Unfortunately, that passion didn't actually become a reality until many years later, after I got my first proper paid job and I went to live with my boyfriend (who then became my lovely husband!).

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I have spent a while thinking what to write "about me" in this page and I have realized it's not easy at all! At the end, I have decided that the only important thing is to be clear and honest about who I am and what I am doing here, so here you go...

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• I am a lazy, foodie and travel obsessed Italian born woman, who is looking forward to see this blog-project up and running!

• Even in my mid-thirties, I am so crazy that I "get bored" with my life and try to renovate it every year!

• I am a planner, especially when it comes to travels. Last minute is welcome, too (never say NO to a trip), but not my favorite!

• Budget is my mantra: I always search for the best way to get me where I want in a comfortable and affordable way!

• I am a city-lover; I usually avoid too much contact with nature (especially because I have an annoyingly insane insects phobia)!

• Comfort is a must: I can only sleep on a bed… no camping or couch surfing, thank you!

• I love my 4-wheeled suitcase… backpack only for my laptop.

It doesn’t matter how many things one city has to offer (museums, parks, castles, tours…) I always spend most of my time slowly wandering around the streets, looking for great food to eat, enjoying the freedom of having nothing to do and imagining how life must be in that specific corner of the world!

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My Story (short!)

Few personal information, to help you understand what created the person that I am today!

• 1988 - When I was about 6 years old, walking hand in hand with my dad around the empty street of our small town in the north of Italy, I probably gave him the very first disappointment since my birth, when I innocently said

"Dad, as soon as I grow up, I am going to go away, I don't want to live here anymore"!

• 1998 - I was studying foreign languages in high school and, at 15, my amazing parents saved every possible penny and realized my biggest dream: 3 weeks in London with a study-abroad program! My life has never been the same since!

• 2000 - At 18, I moved to Torino to attend Uni: this 1 million inhabitants city seemed a huge improvement, coming from my sad, boring, 4000 people town!.

• 2006 - After graduating in Human Resources Management and doing some internships, I realized that the job market was very poor, so my first paid job was actually as a Buyer in the famous Fiat factory.

• 2005/2009 - In the meantime, I had met my special person and, thanks to a more stable income, we started traveling here and there around Europe: Prague, Amsterdam, Brussels, Edinburgh,...

Hey, wait a moment! Did I say Edinburgh?

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• January 2009: 1-week holiday to Scotland changed our lives forever. We felt at home. Much more than where our actual home was.

• 2010 - Overwhelmed by the need of a fresh start, I left my job and I moved to Scotland as an Au Pair for an amazing family with 2 young kids. It was extremely hard, especially living far from my boyfriend  for a long period of time! But I am grateful to myself for enduring the situation and for proving to myself that if I had something in mind, I could do it!

• 2011/2013 - I moved back to Italy, deciding to give my hometown another chance. This worked only for a while, until, together, we decided it was our time to do what we wanted: moving to Scotland!

• 2012 - This is also the magical year when we got married on a beautiful beach in the Whitsundays Island in Australia!

• 2013 - When my husband prepared his resignation, his boss at the time proposed him to keep is job in the Company and move to Brazil instead, working in South America for a while. Needless to say, crazy as we are, we accepted!

• 2013/2014 - We moved to Brazil, we stayed some time in Argentina, we learnt Portuguese, we made new friends, we saw Rio's Carnival, we ate "pao de queijo", we wore flip-flop every single day. Then we moved to Scotland!!!

Dream The Journey

I have always had the "travel-bug" inside me, but it has really exploded in the last 10 years or so, when I got the opportunity to visit 23 Countries within 5 Continents, relying on my travel-planning skills and realizing TRAVEL IS MY AIR!

The logo and the name I have chosen for this blog, represent me 100%.

I am always dreaming about my next "journey".

And I mean journey in the widest way possible. It can be traveling somewhere new, a new job, moving to a new Country, buying a new house, creating a family, fighting a battle, getting to know new people. I don't like to be still in the moment!

In this blog, I want to talk with you as if we were having a cup of coffee together in one of those lovely cafés in the south of France: a slow-paced, relaxed, unpretentious and interesting conversation, where I open up to you my little world and I give you friendly advice!

For the moment, I have not given up my life to travel full time around the world and I don’t have advice for you to start a successful “working from anywhere” career path, but I do want to say that if you are dreaming about something all the time, maybe it’s time to actually do something and MAKE IT HAPPEN!

I love thinking and talking about travels all the time, I like to share my knowledge and I want to learn something every day! For more and more updates, follow me on Facebook and Instagram and please do comment my posts with loads of ideas! I look forward to hearing from you :)

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Daniela