Meet Kev & Melissa
“And lo, they fell upon a journey!”
That’s a phrase I have typed countless times at the beginning of social media posts, usually accompanied by a selfie of Melissa and I (and others) as we embark upon a new adventure.
Travel is in our DNA. But before we talk about our DNA, we should probably introduce ourselves. We are Kevin and Melissa, a couple of fun-loving empty nesters from Tennessee. We first met at age 14 in high school and took to each other right away. But being know-it-all teenagers, we went our separate ways after high school, only to have a failed marriage and two kids apiece before reuniting in 2007. In 2008, we married and united our “Brady Bunch” style family into one cohesive unit.
Part of that process was travel. Being a couple of Gen Xers, we learned everything we know about travel from two men, Rick Steves and Clark W. Griswold. Rick taught us why we travel and how to do it the right way. Clark was more of a cautionary tale. Equipped with their knowledge, we took the kids on adventures that included Caribbean cruises, week-long campouts by the lake, New York City at Thanksgiving, and vacation rentals in destinations like houseboats on Norris Lake and beach houses in Seagrove, Florida. We tried to give them a good variety of experiences they could build upon as they got older.
Eventually, they did get older. Somehow Melissa and I haven’t aged a bit. Or at least we are unwilling to admit we have. But as the nest became empty, we broadened the scope (and budget) of our adventures. I spent over 30 years working in radio, and one of the perks of the job was going to music festivals and concerts all over the country. But after a while, we ended up seeing most of our bucket list artists and hundreds of other popular bands. So decided to set our sights on the great beyond.
We had been binge watching Rick Steves’ Europe for months dreaming about our first European trip, learning about all the amazing destinations and trying to decide where our first journey would take us. But the decision presented itself at the most unexpected time. After my Dad passed in January of 2025, I was going through old photos for his funeral and came across an album from his time in the Army. He was stationed in Ansbach, Germany in the late 1960s. I looked at his photos of the town and thought to myself, “I bet a lot of these buildings and landmarks are still there. And I want to find them”.
And that’s where Rick Steves comes in. Through his television show, his books, and his website, we learned a lot about how to travel smart, slow, and with purpose. But we were still a little nervous about how to go about it on our own. We decided to begin our trip with a Rick Steves’ Europe Tour. This way, we could travel with confidence knowing our professional guide would lead us through the uncertainty and show us the ropes of European travel, and so much more! Then, after the trip, we would take the lessons we learned on the tour, spread our travel wings, and learn to fly on our own.
But even with a destination and tour company decided upon, there were still so many packages to choose from! After thoroughly researching each of Rick’s tours that included Germany, we picked the Best of Munich, Salzburg & Vienna in 8 Days Tour. It checked several boxes of dream destinations we had seen on Rick Steves’ Europe, as well as the many other shows and YouTube videos we watched as part of our extensive research.
With the tour booked and our bags smartly packed, we boarded our flight and fell upon our journey…