Let’s celebrate spring with some vicarious wanderlust! For the next couple of months, I will feature travel essays from my life and others’ — that is, if you send me something!

My life as a traveler began with a family trip to Canada at age 6, when I realized my first-grade lessons in French actually allowed me to understand old men in a diner, when no one else in my family could. From the moment I was able to translate “Il fait beau ajourd’hui” into “nice day, isn’t it” that beautiful summer morning, I was hooked on the idea of travel—and the pleasures of language. A travel writer was born that day.

If I could, I would dedicate major portions of my life to explorations. But life gets in the way, and my travels are fewer and closer to home than perhaps I would like. Lucky for me, I love to live vicariously through others’ stories. When I’ve taught “Write Your Travel Memoir,” I’ve seen amateur writers transform experiences as diverse as a year in Bali or a simple weekend with the grandkids in Vermont into compelling essays.

So let’s get out of town! Pack up those stories and send them my way. Essays of up to 1500 words accompanied by a photo or two will find a warm welcome here at True Stories Well Told. Find additional submission guidelines here.

-Sarah “Itchy Feet” White