My name is Dan. My friends call my Dannyboy. I love to travel.

I grew up in a quiet suburb of Los Angeles, California, with my parents and two brothers.  We were an active family.  My parents both had successful careers, hobbies, and social lives -- and encouraged my brothers and me to follow suit.  That led us through Boy Scouts, Indian Guides, AYSO soccer, music lessons, family game nights, computer games/programming, neighborhood shenanigans, and much more.  My parents frequently planned weekend outings, road trips, and family vacations - which is the inspiration for my own love of travel.  

I graduated from Occidental College with a BA in Economics, and lived in Newport Beach in my 20s.  To this day, I cannot think of a better place to spend my 20s.  I lived one block from the beach, with two great roommates, and enjoyed a circle of close friends.  I bicycled, rollerbladed, and/or boogie-boarded every day either before or after work.  My roommates called me "Low Drag" because I was constantly on the go.  

I earned my Masters of Business Administration at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, during which time I also completed a 4-month internship in Warsaw, Poland, working for a startup mobile phone company.

After business school (and Poland) and a brief stint back in Los Angeles, I moved to San Francisco in 2000 to work in financial planning and analysis for a video game software company, Electronic Arts.  I bought a house in a small community near the office, and for the next decade my life was pretty routine.  I worked hard, played hard, and traveled frequently on international trips with close friends.  As the years wore on, I watched many of those friends find different travel partners (i.e., wives, husbands, and kids).  My trips soon became solo adventures.

In 2013, I left EA and joined OpenTable to lead their financial planning group.  In 2014, OpenTable was acquired by The Priceline Group, and I found myself working at a large company again.  I grew tired of commuting nearly 3 hours a day, and further questioned the direction my life was going.  

So on April 15, 2015, I resigned from OpenTable, deciding to take an undetermined amount of time to travel, to sail, and to reinvent myself.

Sailing has become a big part of my life over the last 3 years.  In 2013, a friend of mine bought a 36' sailboat, and I joined his crew for weekly races and weekend practice.  I got hooked immediately.  (I had done some sailing as a kid on my grandfather's Lido 14.)  I joined the sailing club OCSC in Berkeley, California, and sped through the rigorous coursework and sailing classes.  

By the end of 2015, I had certified with U.S.Sailing as Bareboat Skipper as well as Coastal Skipper.  I had over 80 charters under my belt as day skipper on the San Francisco Bay, on boats anywhere from 24' to 40' in length.

In 2016 and 2018, I put my Charter and Coastal skippering skills to the test and skippered 42- and 48-foot boats in Croatia for two 2-week long vacation charters.

In 2017, I certified with U.S. Sailing as a Keelboat Instructor.   I started working as a part-time Sailing Instructor at OCSC Sailing. I initially taught students on the J24; most of my students had never stepped foot on a sailboat before!

I soon up-leveled my U.S. Sailing certification to Cruising Instructor, qualifying me to teach aspiring skippers who want to charter boats in places like the Caribbean or Mediterranean.

During these years, I also helped good friends sail their boat across the South Pacific, a whopping seven times, accumulating over 10,000 ocean miles and many fabulous memories.

By the end of 2019, I earned my U.S. Coast Guard Captain’s license. Officially, it’s a 50-ton Master Inland and OUPV Coastal certification.

In between sailing, I’ve found time to pursue volunteering projects in Thailand, Chile, and California while living with a local family for an extended period of time, usually many months.

I'm thrilled to be pursuing my passions - traveling, sailing, and volunteering.  I appreciate how lucky I am to be able to do this.  I don't have a master plan; I have no idea what the future will bring.  But that's part of the fun!