About Jennifer’s Path

I didn't take my first flight until I was 25.

I sat in the very back of the plane, ate my chicken and rice, watched the in-flight movie, and thought the whole thing was fantastic.

I had no idea what I'd started.

I'm Jennifer—a pathologist, travel advisor, obsessive trip planner, points-and-miles enthusiast, and the person behind Jennifer's Path. I've now traveled to 56 countries across five continents, hiked the Inca Trail, gone cage diving with great white sharks in South Africa, trekked to mountain gorillas in Uganda, slept underground in one of the world's largest caves in Vietnam, and hung over the edge of Victoria Falls.

I'm still nowhere close to done.

I Wasn't Always a Traveler

I didn't grow up traveling internationally. In fact, I barely traveled at all.

I went to college, then medical school, then residency. Travel wasn't something I thought much about because I was busy doing all the things you're supposed to do when you're becoming a doctor.

Then, during residency, I spent a month in Washington, D.C.

I loved it.

I loved going somewhere new, figuring out the Metro, exploring neighborhoods, visiting museums and realizing there was this enormous world outside the little piece of it I'd always known.

A few years later, I met my husband, Vuong.

We wanted children, but after years of infertility treatments, we eventually realized that wasn't going to happen for us. So we made a decision.

We were going to travel.

At first, travel was almost a consolation prize for the life we'd expected to have.

It didn't stay that way for long.

Travel became part of who we were.

And the farther I went, the more curious I became.

So What Kind of Traveler Am I?

This is where things get a little difficult to categorize.

I'll hike for days, sleep in a cave, take a bucket shower in the African bush, ride a scooter through the dark, eat at a roadside stall and happily wear the same merino shirt three times.

I also really like lie-flat seats, beautiful hotels and champagne.

Fortunately, I have a pathological aversion to paying retail.

I've learned how to use points and miles, travel rewards, smart planning and a frankly unreasonable amount of research to make expensive travel considerably less expensive.

I'm not interested in collecting countries just so I can check them off a list. Some of my favorite places are places I've returned to again and again. I want enough time to wander around, eat something I can't pronounce, talk to people, learn some history and occasionally make a questionable decision that turns into a very good story.

I want the adventure.

I just don't see why I should suffer unnecessarily getting there.