About

“If you’re not doing what you really want to do, you don’t really want to do it.”

Ellen DeGeneres

I’m Cynthia, and I moved across the world in 2012 for a supposed one-year adventure (and to live abroad). I guess that’s why the name ‘Adventurings’ has stuck through all iterations of this blog since then — from vagabonding in Great Britain, to studying to become a teacher, to moving in Prague and thinking this would be it, to the unexpected move in early 2013 to the capital of Czech Republic’s South Bohemia region, České Budějovice — population 100,000, plus myself, my husband Alex, and well, I guess our little dachshund Ferdinand doesn’t count, but he counts to me.

In June 2022 we embarked on perhaps our biggest adventure of all when our son was born right here in the Czech Republic! (For all those wondering – he is 100% American and is not a Czech citizen by birth) Mamahood here in the Czech Republic has been a wonderful experience so far.

I have an intense love of life, culture, and education which I guess drew me to Europe in the first place. I celebrate every new month on the calendar or holiday and am an eternal dreamer and schemer. (Which has worked out well because Alex is the enabler to all of my harebrained-but-just-might-work plans) Travel has been a pretty high priority for us, even though it’s slowing down these days, but we almost always bring our pejsek. #havedogwilltravel

This space is many things: part travel blog, part musings on living on a new continent, part every-day life in the Czech Republic stuff. Add in a sprinkling of recipes, sustainability and minimalism practices, photos, travel tips, and sharing some pretty important life moments has all found a home here over the past several years.

A little more about me…

I met Alex working at a Starbucks in downtown Seattle. We got engaged at Christmas 2013 and married in the summer 2015. We are really best friends.

Born Alaskan, but grown in northwestern Washington State, USA on an island in the Salish Sea near British Columbia where boating, the arts, & nature are very important to us and increasingly feel more and more that this has played a big part in the person I am today. Alex is from the “thumb knuckle of Michigan”.

I studied abroad in both Berlin, Germany and Bernese Oberland, Switzerland at university. I can credit my several month stint in Berlin as the reason I wanted to move abroad at all.

I have about a hundred different hobbies and twice as many interests. My favorites are reading, language learning (currently: Czech and German), singing (in any and every capacity, although I’m currently in a choir), music (playing/listening/participating), herbalism, yoga, writing, being outdoors as much as possible, vegetarian cooking & all things DIY health food-related.

I love any kind of culture or arts festival, but especially small music festivals and film festivals. I’ve been a long time volunteer and intern with SIFF, and now attend KVIFF annually as I’m here in Central Europe.

I have no idea how I’ve found myself in a landlocked country so long as the ocean makes me feel whole. My favorite places in the world (besides my hometown/island) are Berlin, Iceland and Scotland. Anywhere northern, close enough to the sea and full of culture, isolation or mystery floats my boat.

I’ve gone through many travel phases, but now in my thirties and with a toddler in tow I prefer “slow travel” — spending a week or longer in a single place.

I’ve been making my own websites since 1997, starting with a Beanie Babies fansite on GeoCities. It achieved moderate success in its niche field.

Contact

If you’re looking to reach me, general inquiries, or just say hi, you’ll find me at hello at adventurings dot com.

(Please note, I do not accept pre-written posts unless part of a planned collaboration with someone I know, and you will get no reply. More about this here).

Some photography by SarkaPhoto & Jan Pirgl.