Hi guys! And welcome to CircaWanderlust, a blog for history loving travel junkies with a penchant for old brick buildings and adventures. We blog about where we go, what to do, travel advice and tips. We are a husband and wife duo who love road trips, hole in the wall BBQ joints, and everything in between. Circa Wanderlust is a product of this thirst for travel and a love of history.
I’m Stephanie, one-half of the CircaWanderlust duo. She is an avid reader, historic marker finder, hole in the wall and street food loving kinda gal. From the aqueducts of Rome to the forests of Mississippi, I am always ready for adventure with my journal in hand (and snacks)! I do do most of the writing and Instagram-ing.
I’ve been traveling the world since I was a little kid. My mom’s side of the family is from South America so I started my summers at the airport with my passport in hand, ready to explore the motherland, Colombia.
Tim, as you guessed it, is the other half of this dynamic duo! A chill out, relaxed, nothing really stresses him out kinda guy who is always ready to detour when his wife spots a historic marker or old cemetery to explore. He does the fancy camera photography.
Tim, though he was born in Germany when his parents were stationed there with the Army, hadn’t done much traveling until I came into his life. If you ask him he will tell you that one of the first things I asked him when we started dating was if he had a valid passport – and it is true!
We met in college and have been traveling in some form of fashion since! In fact, CircaWanderlust was born on one of our epic road trips to his family’s home town in Ohio… Since we were two broke kids in college, we decided early on in our relationship that road trips and seeing the world a little a time was doable. We were both itching to jet set to Europe, spend time in Africa, and explore the world but we quickly realized that doing that is expensive! Though we were a little disappointed, we decided to take road trips to visit family instead. We would try to find the best road side joints to eat at, stop at National and State Parks for picnics, and make the most of our small travel budget.
Fast forward a few years later, we’re married and still having some pretty amazing adventures! We often take our two dogs (Rocketman and Kona Pop) on our one-weekend- at-a- time explorations. You can find us on cross country road trips in search of the best hole in the wall (hopefully vegan) BBQ joints and scenic back roads when we aren’t traveling abroad. We’ve moved a few times, we’ve started new jobs, changed careers, and done so much since that first road trip!
Which brings us to present time. We live in Chicago in a 250 square foot micro apartment. I work in digital marketing and advertising while Tim works in account management – we both have normal people 9 to 5 jobs so our travel plans are built around PTO, just like you! We try to go somewhere once a month and if that isn’t do-able we explore Chicago and see what the city has to offer!
We run this blog helping as many people as I can follow their own dreams to travel. CircaWanderlust has always been about sharing our adventures with our friends and families with the hopes of inspiring others to go out and explore.
I hope that this blog inspires whoever reads it to stop putting their travel goals off because there will never be a perfect time to travel. And more importantly, I hope to show you that traveling doesn’t always have to be across the globe or dishing out thousands of dollars to do it.
We hope that you’ll keep you wanderlust near and that our blog inspires you to travel (in your own back yard or across the globe) through our stories and pictures that chronicle our travels. You can follow our adventures on IG by following @StephMckn! And if you ever have any question about traveling (or just life in general) do not hesitate to email me!
Photos by: Sadie and Kyle Photography
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