About Me

Aloha! My name is Melanie and  live in Hawaii on the island of Kauai. I am originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but I moved to Kauai about five years ago. I left PA for an adventure and had planned to move back to Philly after about a year. That did not happen! Instead, I created a life and a new home for myself on Kauai. I spent a couple years teaching Special Education and then switched to regular education teaching kindergarten. Teaching kindergarten had been a dream of mine since I was six.

My love for traveling began when I traveled to Thailand when I was 16. I attended a hippy, private school and a group of us went on a five week trip to Thailand. We volunteered at alternative schools and orphanages as well as stayed in various hill tribes villages and with different families. This trip not only changed the way I saw the world but also opened me up to my love of travel. I have since traveled back to Thailand two more times and have stayed in contact with many of the people and organizations from my original trip. During undergrad, I also spent 6 months in Europe studying in Rome as well as traveling to various countries. Throughout my travels I will carry my father’s ashes with me and sprinkle him in each country I visit. My goal is to one day have him reach every continent.

I plan to combine my love of teaching and children with my passion for travel. Parts of my trip will be spent volunteering with children and schools. I am interested in service learning based education as well as alternative learning. I hope that teachers will use Miles With Melanie as a way enhance the learning and student engagement that takes place in their own classrooms. I hope that I might be able to show students a different way of life, as well as share my stories and adventures with my friends and family.