Welcome to the podcast! The combination of travel and sports have been a part of my life dating back to my earliest family vacations growing up outside Boston. Summer holidays frequently consisted of seeing the sights and catching the local pro team on the diamond, or, like an eight-day baseball road-trip when I was 14, solely seeing some Major League action across the Northeast in my father’s silver Windstar.

 

But I had yet to leave North America until being stationed in Sasebo, Japan, in late 2015, where, between the shoes-off, cross-legging fan experience of sumo halls and the non-stop noise of drums and trumpets at a Nippon Pro Baseball game, I experienced firsthand how we can become part of the local culture through sports. We might not have the same customs or speak the same language as the locals do but we love sports and in those moments, it can be all that really matters. It’s a beautiful thing. 

 

Seven years laters and I am stationed in Napoli, where I work as a media specialist in the United States Navy and, of course, have become a big fan of Gli Azzurri (not the Italian national football team, but SSC Napoli…you know, where Maradona played). And being stationed in such faraway locations means I am fortunate to travel to many, many awesome locations. Having been to over 30 countries and experiencing live sports in many of them, the idea for this podcast was born, learning to travel for sports!