My oldest memories from my childhood involve trekking through mosquito-infested jungles, rafting on bamboo shoots, my parents voluntarily taking me searching for crocodiles in the wild, and incessant long airplane rides. My name is Hannah Marsala, I’m 24-years old, originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, now calling Boulder, CO home. Traveling has been a part of my life since the day I was born. With a Mom as a flight attendant and a Dad who lives part time overseas, traveling has always been in my blood. 

As an adult I made my first solo trip traveling to Madrid in 2010 at the age of 19. I spent four months living in Spain with a Spanish family as an Au Pair. There my days were filled teaching English to two Spanish-speaking children, Carmen, 7, and Rafa, 5. After this time in Madrid I realized going home was going to be the most grueling challenge of all. I was completely in-love and obsessed with the idea of learning about other cultures and being completely submerged in a different cultural setting other than my own.

I graduated college at the University of Colorado with a degree in Political Science and a minor in History in 2012 and spent the next year filling up my piggy bank until I felt like it was the right time to go. Over the past year I have been traveling virtually all over the world. I started in Peru, and ended in Spain. In this time I have traveled to over fourteen countries, four continents and written over a hundred travel-related articles and posts on specific locations, suggestions, stories, advice, etc. My personal travel blog is heelstohikingboots.tumblr.com and it defines me perfectly. I do it all when I travel. I experience the finer things around the world but I’m also not afraid to get my hands dirty and try anything and everything at least once. When I go back home to Boulder now I’m known as “World Traveler”, my name Hannah has since been replaced.  

I am dedicated to make a life traveling and sharing my knowledge and love for travel with the world. My goal is to inspire and get people out of their comfort zones. I hope to encourage people further with my personal travel inspirational video I made after my last few months traveling through South America, South East Asia and parts of Europe. https://vimeo.com/103378977

I will be writing a weekly travel column sharing some of my favorite travel stories and advice with Boulder and all those who want to track me on my newest travel ventures. I’ll be posting some of my favorite blog posts as well as my current travel adventures!

Over the course of the next three months I will be living in Barcelona, taking an intensive Spanish course and spending my days writing, writing, and writing. However, before I start my classes I have a two-week trip coming up in the end of September that I’m overly excited about! Being Sicilian trips to Italy must be taken at least every few years. We’ll be starting our trip in Venice and then be road tripping through Tuscany over the course of a few weeks. Stay tuned to read about my upcoming Italian tour…I can already taste those sweet and perfectly ripe tomatoes. Yum!

Hannah Marsala