Hi, I'm Michelle, founder of Pursuing Seven Travel Advisors - a travel agency built around helping people achieve bucket list travel dreams across this planet.
My travel experience spans all seven continents, 35 countries, and counting! I've traveled solo, with many styles of group travel, and on polar expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctica. I'm still exploring and I periodically organize "join me" trips. If you have a group travel idea, let's talk!
I especially love planning Polar expedition travel - think icy and spectacular places like Alaska, Antarctica, Iceland, Greenland, and Northern Europe. I leverage my extensive experience in these regions to help people achieve their Bucket List travel dreams of seeing polar bears, penguins, whales, glaciers, the northern lights, and more.
If you have bucket list goals, let's get the conversation started!
I was that kid who grew up experiencing the wonders of people and places on our planet through the yellow-framed pages of National Geographic magazines. I had absolutely no illusion or dream that *I* could actually become a world traveler. Other people did that, proper explorers pursuing scientific curiosity and global discovery, dressed in fancy gear.
I'm sure I got the adventurous gene from my mom, who set off to London in her early 20's with friends on a whim, then jumped at the opportunity to take a job in northern Manitoba for a couple years. Here we are, at my mom's first airport lounge experience in London, on our way to explore the Republic of Georgia.
Living in remote northern Canada and the oldest of 7 kids, our adventures consisted of piling into the van my dad custom built with bunkbeds, and setting off to visit family and perhaps a new adventure every summer.
Family friends were instrumental in piquing my curiosity about the world. They always brought back trinkets from their travels. I loved the cuckoo clock from Germany and I still have the ice skater figurine from who knows where. They left such an impression on me.
Fast forward to a couple years ago, my parents bought me Epic Journeys by National Geographic as a gift. When I open the pages of this yellow-framed book, I often know exactly where the photographs were taken because I've stood in that same spot or it's a place that's ranking really high on my travel list. Honestly, it's pretty surreal - living out my real life that I could only dream of as a child.
Life is a wild ride. Where do you want to go?
The origin story of Pursuing Seven began when I taught World Geography in Alaska. Students wanted to see photos from the international study tours I was doing in the summertime, so I created an Instagram.
Then came the year it all changed, and Pursuing Seven became more focused. I started a particularly challenging school year with a different feeling - maybe this was my last year of teaching? I wasn't sure, but I started taking steps towards achieving my goal of visiting all seven continents, seeing the seven wonders of the world, sailing the seven seas, and other travel lists of seven.
So many of my educator friends know the feeling - do more with less, and that school year was literally that. One more teaching section added and one planning section subtracted. As they say, the math was not math-ing and it felt like it was the right time to make the leap.
Spoiler alert: I got there, I experienced the things, and I still pinch myself.
Pursuing Seven has since transformed into the idea of pursuing goals, seeking adventure, and continuing to push past the edge of my comfort zone.
What's your list of seven?