It Started With the Hula Bowl
and a Dream

I was 17 years old when travel changed my life.

Growing up in Montreal and later settling in Ontario, I was a dancer — passionate, driven, and very determined. When my dance troupe earned the opportunity to perform at the 1995 Hula Bowl halftime show in Hawaii, I didn’t hesitate for a second. I fundraised every dollar I needed to get there. And the moment I stepped off that plane into the Hawaiian air — warm, and impossibly far from everything I knew — something shifted permanently.

I was obsessed with travel from that moment on. I have been ever since.

The Career That Made Sense —
For a While

Straight out of college I did what felt natural: I became a travel agent. I spent a few years helping people plan the trips of their lives, learning the industry from the inside out, understanding how airlines, hotels, and tour operators really work — the parts tourists never see.

Eventually I moved on. Life took me in a different direction — into finance, where I’ve built a career that I’m genuinely proud of. But travel never left me.

Years later I came back to the industry part time as a home-based travel sales agent, curious whether the passion was still there. It absolutely was. But something had clarified: selling travel was never the part I loved. Sharing my travel knowledge and experience was.

The perfect travel benefits card recommendation at the right moment. The insider tip that saves someone $600. The honest breakdown that turns “I could never afford that” into “I’m booking it this week.” I’ve been down so many travel related rabbit holes, it seems wasteful not to share those experiences or what I have learnt. That’s the part that lights me up.

Patti With Passport is where I finally get to do that — on my own terms.

Who I Am When
I’m Not Working

I’m a proud Montrealer at heart — a die-hard Montreal Canadiens fan who will never fully let go of that identity no matter how long I’ve lived in Ontario. These days I’m based in the beautiful 1000 Islands area, which — if you haven’t been — is a destination worth its own article.

Over the years I’ve travelled as a couple, with girlfriends, or with family — and sometimes I’m planning the next trip before the current one is even finished! Ok — I have probably always done that. I’ve visited 20 countries across the globe (sometimes revisiting the same country multiple times) and I’m nowhere near done.

My ideal trip? Warm climate. Beach. Palm trees. Adventures and making new friends. Relaxation and fun with intention — the kind of travel where you’ve thought carefully about every dollar and every day so you can be fully present when you’re there. And yes, some trips are pure beach and swim-up bar — I’ve had plenty of those too, and I have zero regrets.

What Patti With Passport
Is Really About

Here’s what I’ve noticed after two decades of travelling and years of working in the industry:

Most Canadian travel content falls into one of two camps — budget backpacker (hostels, budget hotels, instant noodles, 14-hour bus rides) or luxury fantasy (private jets, $800/night resorts, content that exists to make you feel inadequate).

There is very little for the traveller I actually am — and the traveller I suspect you are too.

That’s who I’m writing for. That’s who this site is built for.

No fluff. No paid placements disguised as recommendations. No “10 Best Hotels in Santorini” lists that were clearly never visited. Just real trips, real numbers, real strategies — from a finance brain who has seen the travel industry from both sides and genuinely loves every minute of this.