I have traveled to five of the world's seven continents, visiting countries across  Asia, Africa, Europe, the Middle East, the Nordic region, and Central America.

Since taking my first trip overseas with my family to Costa Rica when I was 10 years old, I have amassed a lifetime of cultural curiosity about the people and the world around me. I have helped friends and colleagues plan and navigate cities and countries on solo trips and small group tours. I coach independent or first-time female travelers on how to "go someplace else!" by having them travel with me on my own trips outside the typical tourist destinations favored on social media. 

I lived in Okayama, Japan as a summer-term middle-school student when I was 14 and toured throughout the main island of Honshu. I took a college student bus tour of Eastern and Western Europe when I was 18. Since then, I have returned to several European cities including Amsterdam, London, Oxford, Cardiff, Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Paris, Venice, Verona, Split, Dubrovnik, and Zagreb. 

My immediate family took a private charter to Cuba in 2009 before the country was opened to American tourist travel, and toured Santiago, Havana, and Mantanzas. I traveled with family throughout Israel and visited Jerusalem in 2010. With family members and friends who live on the African continent, I have explored several countries in West Africa (e.g., Benin, Senegal, and Gambia), and Morocco. Since 2022, I also have been on small group tours/safaris in East and Africa (e.g. Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, and Zambia) and South Africa. 

I have visited Bermuda at least once annually for the past 20 years. Recently, I experienced a wellness retreat at an all-inclusive vegan resort in Riviera Maya, Mexico, cruised the islands of Croatia on a private yacht, explored Iceland in winter, and took day and night tours of Doha and Dubai while transiting Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

My work in the travel profession started when I became the first and youngest Japanese-speaking concierge at the corporate Hyatt Regency property in downtown Chicago in 1990. I then went to Boston to work at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge and on to the Hilton in downtown Atlanta. Following my love of hotels, I left the hospitality industry to start working for architectural firms that designed some of the most iconic hotels in Atlanta and developed the prototype for Hilton Garden Inns.

I have had the pleasure of staying at the number one hotel in the world in 2015, La Mamounia, Marrakesh, for an anniversary celebration and have stayed at other luxurious 4 and 5+ star properties in Iceland, Israel, South Africa, and Cuba. For business purposes, I have booked corporate meetings at Hilton brand properties in the United States and sent clients to Marriott brand properties.

I always knew I would return to work in the travel industry, and now I am proud to serve as a Cultural Curator and assist my clients to "go someplace else!" through my business, SMPLCLS (pronounced "someplace else"). Being a client of a Luxury Travel Advisor who is part of Trips & Ships Luxury Travel made me confident to join the agency in 2024.