I'm Alaa! I'm so glad you found my site and want to learn more about my journey. I am excited to share my life and travel experiences with you, in hopes it can help you in any way possible with any choices or decision you need to make in your own life, to LIVE your DREAM life.
But first, let me tell you more about myself...
I grew up in what I thought was a "normal" household, to a smart surgeon dad and a creative teacher mom. I am the youngest of four children. I have two older brothers, who are way older than me, and a sister who is about two years older than me. My sister and I were, and still are, very close. So close that so many people think we are twins (I will never understand this since we look nothing alike, but hey I'll take it as a compliment).
I say I thought it was a "normal" household in quotes, because it wasn't until I was older that I realized my parents never really got along, even though they loved each other. I was 10 years old when I witnessed the Gulf War (don't try to do the math on my age, I am eternally 29 as I tell my children), and I had to leave my childhood home in the middle of the night shortly after I turned 11. My life has forever changed from that point on.
Life changing is not necessarily a bad thing, it can also be a rewarding thing in the long run because it shapes us into the people we are today, depending on how we let that change impact us. I write more about these life changing events in my Life Blog, make sure you check it out - trust me there are a lot of stories and valuable life lessons there. What I can tell you now is that these life events have turned me into the person I am today, and I am thankful for it (not counting the bad days where I just question it all). Hey, I'm also human, and the main promise I will make here is that I will always be as honest as I can be with you.
Back to my story. Moving countries and starting over, learning new slangs and a whole new language was my norm until I was in high school. Then life 'stabilized' a bit and I called Canada home - I still do. I then graduated from University with a Combined Honors degree and I started working right away. I worked really hard in my career and I moved up pretty quickly, and became a Manager at a young age in my field and a Director as part of Senior Leadership not long after.
But somewhere along the way, my perspective on life changed. I questioned a lot of things, especially where I was in life and whether I was really happy. That phase kickstarted my transformation journey which I share in more details in my Life Blog. Among many changes, I started doing more of what I was passionate about - Travelling. I started travelling more, and let me tell you it wasn't easy to manage with having two children, a husband at the time, a career, and family responsibilities to my aging parents. Travelling consisted of traveling solo, with my kids and husband at the time, and with friends. It was not easy with a full time demanding job, but hey, I managed somehow and a few crazy stories came as a result of that which I talk about in my Travel Blog.
My dream is to make a living out of Traveling the world, and write about it! I know it is not a unique dream, since I know so many people want (and have successfully managed) to do that. What is different about this is, this is not a "normal" way of making a living from where I come from. Not just from my family setting, but from a cultural background where such dreams are not as common as being a doctor, an engineer, or a pharmacist for example. I mean doing a Chemistry and Computer Science degree was considered outside the norm, so this gives you an idea of how far fetched this dream sounds like with my upbringing. But I have always been lucky to have a supportive dad who always encouraged me to be my own self. He always loved how independent I was, how "outside the norm" I wanted to live life, and he encouraged me with lots of advice and life lessons. I believe his soul is still with me smiling, and encouraging me to follow my dreams and make them happen.
I am still thankful and feel lucky to have a day job, to help me pay my bills and support my current lifestyle. But I am at this point in life where I need to make a huge shift, to focus on something that is SO outside my comfort zone, yet feeds my soul - Travelling and sharing my experiences with you! This is where Life Travel Discovery comes in. I am teaching myself so many things about starting this Travel and Life Blog, and will continue to make it my focus and grow it into the most popular and inspiring Blog you come across. This is still the early stages, so my hope and goal is to update this section regularly with my progress and journey so far. I look forward to taking this journey with you, and hope you can join me with your own thoughts, tips, lessons learned or just how my blog hopefully resonated with you in a way that helped you take the right steps towards the life you deserve.
This is such an amazing, open and authentic introduction to you and your blog. I can’t wait to keep reading about all your adventures and insights.
Thank you for the kind words Paul. I am excited to share my adventures and experience with you and all my readers.
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Absolutely excited to read and follow this blog and all your travel insights!!
I am so glad to see you excited about my blog, I look forward to sharing my stories and insights with you!