What’s a blog about travel doing on a site about working from home? Well, many of you already know that besides co-hosting this site, I have another full-time business: Freelance writing. I get to report about inspirational entrepreneurs and do-gooders, and family and parenting topics for national magazines. And one of the coolest perks of that job is that I do a lot of travel writing. That means I get to visit fun places (often on complimentary press trips—full disclosure here), and tell about where I’ve been.

My first travel stories were inspired by family vacations to Disney World and Hawaii. I’d already been writing on general parenting topics, but wanted to share what I’d learned from vacationing with my kids. So I pitched some ideas to editors I’d already been working with, landed the assignments…and my travel-writing career grew from there.

On this site, we talk a lot about pursuing your passions and creating business opportunities that bring you profit and happiness. Don’t be afraid to speak up and let people know you are an expert in your field. If I hadn’t told my editor how many times I’d been to Disney with my kids, she never would have considered letting me write my “Disney World for Every Age” article, all those years ago. Now I get to combine my two great loves—writing and traveling with my family—into one dream job. I’m no Samantha Brown, mind you, but it’s a pretty big deal for me, considering that I rarely ventured out of the Bronx as a kid.

When I was growing up in New York City, my family didn’t start vacationing regularly till I was in my teens. So the extent of my traveling was a trip or two to Montauk Point in Long Island (still one of my very favorite places). Any additional sightseeing came from reading my dad’s National Geographic magazines, and spinning his black Starlight globe and imagining what it would be like to visit Africa…Australia…Tahiti. Not that I’ve been to any of those places yet. But I have explored many family vacation spots throughout the U.S., including every major Hawaiian island. And I’ve seen a fair amount of Mexico and the Caribbean too.

So, I thought it would be fun to share some of my journeys with you. I’ll give you the inside scoop on great places to vacation with your family, and share deals that will make it easier and more affordable to take a break from your home office. I’ll also introduce you to some of the cool entrepreneurs I’ve met along the way. The mom who runs a surf school in Huntington Beach, California. The family who leads hikes through the rain forests of Hawaii’s Big Island. For any of you who have ever wondered what it would be like to work in paradise, these inspirational business owners reveal exactly what goes into livin’ the dream.

So stay tuned for Ellen’s excellent adventures. First up: Hawaii: The Big Island.

Aloha!