Jo

Where: Piedmont/Raleigh-Durham, NC, but with roots all over the northeast. <BR> <BR>Marital status: (Why is this relevant unless this is a place-to-meet singles?) I'm married, in any case, for 30+ yrs. with a son in college. <BR> <BR>Status: An even worse question -- see my dislikes, below. Or are you asking age, gender, etc.? Female, 55 but don't think I look, act, or think that way -- just FEEL that way or older at the end of the day. <BR> <BR>Occupation: freelance researcher, writer, in other words: unemployed Ph.D. I've been an editor, an "event coordinator," an insurance claims clerk, and a teacher. I liked being an editor best, would love to combine it with research, writing teaching -- i.e., need a job! <BR> <BR>Hobbies: Same as my occupation, unless you also want to add travel, foodism (sigh...), and this forum <BR> <BR>Likes: off-season travel (an advantage of unemployment); jazz and classical music; animals esp. dogs, cats, and all kinds of otters; people with humility, sense of humor, compassion, broad horizons, and perspective <BR> <BR>Dislikes: Dixieland jazz and heavy metal/acid rock, raw fish, swimming in murky water; bigots and proselytes, esp. those who protest they aren't; people who care about status/class, particularly those who think that finding themselves with wealth is proof of superiority and entitlement. Worst people in the world to travel with and a lot of travellers fall into this category. I suspect CNLoaf qualifies.

Monica

Where at: Frederick, Maryland (Born in Madrid, Spain). <BR>Status: Married (12 years this October) to Tony (who's a pilot). <BR>Occupation: Contracting Officer for the VA (Government employee for 16 years since May). <BR>Hobbies and likes: travel, travel planning, hosting Fodorite luncheons and get togethers, photography, making wine and liquors, collecting stamps, genealogy, reading, working on my travel page, food, cooking, this web site, Frommer's Budget Magazine (the best!). <BR>Dislikes: cell phones and call waiting, loud tourists (they're not just Americans), children with bad manners, coming back from a trip to Europe and not being able to go again until the next year! <BR>Goals: To get into the travel business and out of the government (but 16 years would be a lot to give up); to travel twice a year instead of one trip a year; adopt a puppy when I'll be home more often; take a photography class to improve on my work.

jackie

Where: Tennessee <BR>Status: Married, happy, loving 39, looking forward to all future years. <BR>Occupation: Photographer/Part-time University Prof/Teacher, hungry but not starving artist; friend, daughter, sister, aunt, wife and dog lover (not always in that order) <BR>Hobbies and Likes: Sketching, painting and writing about my travels (even if just across the street). Good food,shared with good friends. The New AutoZone Baseball Stadium in Memphis. Enthusiastic students. Cool mornings before sunrise. Fresh clean sheets. Lots of coffee. Visiting art galleries, museums, and liking what I like, accepting what I don't. New York City with a group of students. Chicago with my husband. San Francisco, Seattle, Victoria, Vancouver always. The deep cool woods/forests of the Pacific Northwest. The spirit of the Southwest. <BR>Hunting for rocks along beaches, rivers, and creeks. Freedom. <BR> <BR>Dislikes: Impatience, Bigotry, Apathy, the unending financial blunders and abuses in state and national government, pretension, and low low pay for part-time faculty at state universities....

richardab

Where - Studio City, California <BR>What - Male, 39, Single <BR>Occupation - Corporate Retail <BR>Hobbies - Cooking, Web Sight design, Travel (of course), Wine, Eating, Shopping <BR>Dislikes - Hamburgers in Paris, Chinese food in Rome, Pizza in London, Seaweed in Tokyo, the smell of Venice, People who say they love to travel but never do. <BR>Websight - http://home.earthlink.net/~richardab/

Becca

Bob Kennedy and Carol, <BR> <BR>What exchange organization do you volunteer with? I also volunteer with exchange students and I'm just curious. <BR> <BR>I go with AFS.

kk

Dawn, good luck reaching your goals. Your list tugged at my heart.

Karen

Where: Littleton, Colorado <BR>Status: 17 blissful years of marriage <BR>Occupation: Office Manager <BR>Hobbies & Likes: Travel, bicycling, reading, watching the Travel Channel, walks around the lake, talking travel to other travel addicted folks <BR>Dislikes: Cigarette smoke, clothes that come back wrinkled from the cleaners, pantyhose, 'ugly Americans' who give the rest of us a bad name <BR>Goals: travel more & work less

carol

Becca, <BR> <BR>I'm with YFU, which is very similar to AFS. I've been an area rep with them since 1990. I think the program is great and we always have someone to go visit in Europe. Everyone of the kids we have hosted keeps in touch with us. Our Swedish girl from last year is coming back next week already.

Robin

Where at: San Clemente, CA <BR>Status: Little or none, but if you must know, late 30's and just married to my traveling soul mate-- so happy we found each other! <BR>Occupation: Financial services <BR>Hobbies and likes, besides the obvious: Reading, sailing, NPR, photography, open-minded people (in the interesting-life-experience sense, NOT the personals-at-the-back-of-the-magazine sense!) <BR>Dislikes: Local news, excessive fascination with the stock market and money, cell phones in public places, "oh I could never do that", legislation by lawsuit <BR>Goal: To fit in all the destinations, and still have time to go around and go back to my favorites! <BR>

Mark

Where at: Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia <BR> Status: Male. Early 50's(American) <BR> Occupation: Manager-technical school for Saudi Air Force. <BR>Hobbies and likes: Travel-out of here, anywhere! Love N. Italy. Reading, computers, good food. <BR>Dislikes: Wasting my time repeating the same thing over again.

Diane

Where at: Milwaukee suburbs <BR>Status: Female, 16 year old son, in committed relationship to a Scotsman (at least once a year to Scotland to visit family). <BR>Occupation: Manager for an IT Consulting organization. <BR>Hobbies: Planning my next trip, gardening, sailing <BR>Dislikes: Sailing in very rough water, travelers inconsiderate of the culture they are in, or inconsiderate people anywhere.

Meg

Where: New Orleans <BR>Status: married, comfortable, early thirties, 3 teenage step kids <BR>Occupation: former legal assistant; education volunteer at Aquarium of the Americas <BR>Hobbies: many pets (dog, cat, panther chameleon, sea stars, sting rays, sharks, etc.); constant travel; reading; indpendent films; wine and cooking; and islands <BR>Dislikes: scallops; Chinese food; and ignorant, small minded people;

tothe

to the top

kk

These are great.Keep them coming.

J.M.

Where: North Yorkshire, England <BR> <BR>Status: Female, American, spouse of former active-duty military (now civilian gov't employee) <BR> <BR>Occupation: work part-time for both gov't and a bank <BR> <BR>Hobbies: PLAYING SOFTBALL...Hard-core flea-market/car boot junkie...LOVE to travel...Monty Python fan <BR> <BR>Dislikes: people who don't take responsibility for their own actions...white chocolate...grammar and spelling mistakes in school textbooks!!! <BR> <BR>Wish I... : were fluent in at least one other language <BR> <BR>

Caitlin

Where: New York City <BR>Status: Female, early 30s <BR>Occupation: copyeditor <BR>Hobbies and likes: reading, cooking, crossword puzzles, my cats, being lazy in beautiful settings, twentieth-century art <BR>Dislikes: intolerance, misuse and abuse of apostrophes, white chocolate (also), fast food, not having the time or means to travel more often...yet

ClanofScotland

Where at: Perth, Scotland <BR>Status: Male. Employed. <BR>Occupation: Life assurance consultant <BR>Hobbies and likes: Pubs, Football, Curry, Kebabs, Karaoke, Costa del Sol (that's in Spain). <BR>Dislikes: Ignorant sassenacs, foreign places that are expensive and try to rip you off even more, the crap foreign beer and crap foreign food (frogs legs , smelly cheese etc and coffee being served in ridiculously small cups), shopping, having to tidy up after a party. Tipping. <BR>

Jeff

Here's my mini-bio: <BR> <BR>Where at: Cincinnati, OH <BR>Status: Male <BR>Occupation: Psychiatric Research <BR>Hobbies and likes: Travel, sports, reading <BR>Dislikes: Traffic jams, 100% weather, mean people

donna

Where: Burlington, MA (suburb of Boston) <BR>Status: Female, married, two dogs, one cat, no kids <BR>Occupation: art teacher and artist <BR>Hobbies and likes: art,rare dogs, old movies, cryptic crosswords, sushi, making things, planning vacations <BR>Dislikes: rude people, aggressive drivers, bigotry, video games <BR>

kam

Where: SF Bay Area (formerly outside of LA) <BR>Status: Married female, early 50s, empty nesters, two Wheaten terriers <BR>Occupation: Husband attorney with international practice, me a college counselor, parttime from home <BR>Likes/Hobbies Italian art, Renaissance and Medieval history, good food and wines/ Irish music, native American or any other folk art/ photography (though a neophyte, like to travel slowly and really get the feel for a place, developing (trying) some language skills, but it's not easy! <BR>Other: Husband's business takes us out of the country fairly regularly and for this we are thankful. Relatives in Tuscany. Very dear friends in Paris, Toulouse, and UK. Trade our "B&B" here in California for theirs in their home towns and all benefit. Love to take off for long weekends in our state as well as use all our SWA rapid rewards flights. Have a great dogsitter to take care of the canines. As soon as we come home, we start planning the next trip--I guess it's an obsession. There's so much to see that sometimes I almost feel that I'm driven to travel. Anyone else feel that?