I Stopped Waiting for Someday.
And it changed the way I think about travel—and life.
I've always loved travel—the anticipation, the adventure, the people you meet, and the memories you bring home.
But over the last few years, travel has come to mean something different to me.
It's become less about where I can go next and more about how I want to spend the life I have.
That's the story behind VBS Travel.
Travel Was Always Part of the Story
Long before VBS became what it is today, I was the person researching the trip, finding the hotel, comparing the options and dreaming about where to go next.
Travel has always made me curious.
Sometimes that means an extraordinary resort or a beautiful cruise.
Sometimes it's discovering a tiny restaurant, meeting someone whose life looks completely different from mine, playing golf somewhere new, or sitting around a table with people I care about.
The trips I remember most aren't necessarily the ones with the longest itineraries or the most impressive hotels.
They're the ones where I felt something.
Joy. Wonder. Connection. Perspective.
That's what I want more of—and what I want VBS travelers to experience too.
Then "Someday" Changed
There was a time when someday felt almost unlimited.
Someday I'll go there.
Someday we'll take that trip.
Someday I'll have more time.
Someday I'll do the things I've been putting off.
Then life changed.
I was diagnosed with cancer. And while I was going through treatment, I unexpectedly lost my husband at just 49 years old.
There are experiences that divide life into before and after. For me, that was one of them.
But what came from that wasn't a desire to live fearfully.
Quite the opposite.
I started paying much more attention to how I was spending the life I still had in front of me.
Where do I want to go?
Who do I want beside me?
What do I still want to experience?
What kind of work do I want to do?
Where can I make a difference?
And what am I still postponing because I've convinced myself there will always be a better time later?
I don't believe we have to live every day as though it's our last.
But I do believe we should pay attention to how we're spending the life we have.
Then Came Kenya
Travel had already been part of my life.
Kenya showed me something more.
My time there wasn't meaningful simply because I went on safari or because Africa is extraordinary—although both are true.
What stayed with me most were the people.
Seeing how families live in the village. Spending time with the children. Learning more about the work being done through OVI Children's Hospital. Hearing stories of resilience. Seeing people use what they have to make life better for someone else.
It gave me perspective that couldn't have come from reading about Kenya or seeing pictures of it.
Travel can do more than show us somewhere new. It can change the way we see the world—and our place in it.
I came home thinking differently about connection, service, gratitude and what it means to truly experience a place.
That experience became another piece of what VBS was becoming.
Eventually, three words kept coming back to me.
They weren't originally meant to become a travel-company tagline.
They became a framework for how I wanted to live.
VENTURE.
Experience more.
Go.
See the place you've wondered about. Try something you've never done. Return somewhere you love. Be curious. Take a chance. Say yes occasionally.
And take the trip you've talked about for years.
Venture is about choosing experience over someday.
BELONG.
Connect deeply.
The places matter.
But the people usually matter more.
Travel with your spouse. Your family. Your friends. Go by yourself and meet people you would never have encountered at home.
Share a table. Hear someone's story. Learn about another culture. Become part of a community, even temporarily.
You don't have to arrive belonging. You belong because you arrived.
SERVE.
Give meaningfully.
Service doesn't have to mean traveling halfway around the world to volunteer.
It can mean giving your time. Sharing your expertise. Supporting a locally owned business. Contributing resources to an organization doing meaningful work. Being generous. Paying attention.
Leaving a person or a place a little better because you were there.
For me, Serve isn't something we tack onto every itinerary.
It's a way of moving through the world.
THE NEXT CHAPTER
And VBS Began to Change.
I already had a travel business.
But somewhere along the way, I realized I didn't simply want to rebuild the business I'd had before.
I wanted to build something that reflected the way I wanted to live from here.
Not simply a company that books vacations.
But a travel company built around experiences, connection and intentional living.
Today, that idea is taking shape through different ways to experience the world with VBS:
BOOKING SERVICE · SIGNATURE DESTINATIONS · SIGNATURE JOURNEYS
Different ways to travel. The same belief that our time and experiences are worth being intentional about.
What's On Your Someday List?
I started thinking about all the things we say we'll do someday.
And I realized most of them aren't really bucket-list items.
They're often much more ordinary—and much more important.
See Italy →Take my parents somewhere→Learn to golf→Go back to Africa→Bring the whole family together→Volunteer→Take the month off→Start the business→Spend more time with my friends→Do something just because I've always wanted to→
That's what I call the Someday List.
Your Someday List isn't a checklist of things you need to accomplish before you die.
It's a reminder to pay attention to the experiences, dreams and possibilities that could make life richer now.
FROM HERE
What I'm Building From Here
I'm still building this next chapter.
And I actually like that.
There are places I haven't seen yet—including some I've spent years helping other people experience.
There are people I haven't met.
There are Signature Journeys we haven't created yet.
There is work I still want to support, communities I want to learn from, tables I want to sit around and stories I haven't heard.
I don't want VBS to be a company that pretends I already know everything or have been everywhere.
I want it to be an invitation to experience more of life together.
Sometimes I'll be your travel advisor.
Sometimes I'll be your host.
Sometimes I'll be experiencing a place for the first time right alongside you.
And sometimes I may simply be the person in your inbox reminding you that the thing you've been talking about doing for five years isn't going to put itself on the calendar.
I'm building a business—and a life—that makes room for more of what matters.
And if that idea resonates with you, you're invited along.
