Welcome to my Suitcase Full of Stories

Hi, I’m Allyson.

A Texas girl with a suitcase always half-packed, a book always half-read, and a dachshund at home who’d prefer I stay put (sorry, Bailey).

I once moved to Spain for a season, learned how to order coffee like a local, and fell in love with a language that rolls off the tongue like poetry. These days, I’m back in Texas, living somewhere between library shelves and departure gates—reading, writing, wandering.

I’m a Library Media Specialist by trade, Pilates loyalist by choice, and firm believer that the best stories usually start with a wrong turn, a delayed train, or a street that didn’t exist on the map.

I travel with my husband, Robert—the calm to my chaos, the spreadsheet to my flighty daydreams—and we chase moments that feel like magic: open-air markets, early-morning pastries, strangers who feel like friends.

This blog is part travel diary, part book club, part love letter to the art of paying attention.

Welcome—make yourself at home. (Bailey says hi.)

My Favorite Things

Footnotes that bring me joy.

• Airports before sunrise, when everything feels possible and nothing is expected
• Bookstores I stumble upon by accident
• Packing Light and still forgetting something
• The ritual of coffee—brewed slowly, strongly, and preferably sipped near a window.
• A well-placed semicolon
• Foreign grocery stores (because they tell you more about a place than any guidebook)
• Pilates, because it teaches strength without noise
• Saying “Thank You” in a local language to show gratitude.
• A husband who carries the heavy bags and never rushes me through museums (and triple checks that we do, indeed, have our passports).
• A dachshund who believes she runs the house (and might be right)
• The quiet of early morning in a city I don’t know yet
• Local wines and shared wisdom
• Being understood—in English, Spanish, Catalan, and in between