Meet Your Travel Guru, Cindy Maka

When I was a child, my mother took us to Canada and Mexico, and I have been traveling ever since. I started studying French in college before switching my major to Japanese and Honors Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. My year abroad in Japan during that time cemented two things, my sense of self as an American and my love of travel.

Professionally, I continued travel in my role as Asia coordinator and assistant executive director for Sister Cities International. I visited countries like Japan, China, and Brazil during my tenure with SCI. I also began planning and guiding trips for family and friends as my international experience and passion to share that with others grew. For example, I have six nieces and nephews, and every one of them gets a trip aboard as their high school graduation present.

Now, I want to share that passion with you and show you the joys of experiencing a different way of life and viewing the world. I want to open your eyes to the natural beauty of the big blue ball we call home. Whatever your travel dreams are, I want to make them come true, because there are no mountains too high or rivers too broad. As William Shakespeare said, let’s travel together “to unpath’d waters, undream’d shores, most certain.”