About SWeeT

A Bit About Us

Spiral Whirled Travels, SWeeT for short, (The "ee" in SWeeT can stand for either "explorative, excursionary" or "expletive, expletive" depending on our mood!) was co-founded by us, two writers and world wanderers named Chris Podbielski and Malayna Dawn.

We are not a travel agency, but instead offer information and inspiration to encourage world travel and imaginary journeys. We'll also refer you to our friends and favorite things to help you have the best possible experiences.

With two headquarters half a world apart--one in Los Angeles and the other in Colombo, Sri Lanka--we've got the whole world covered!

In the Beginning

We met during a brief span of time between our world travels, when our professional lives overlapped and we both found ourselves working at that factory of dreams--Warner Bros. Television.

Working on The Warner Bros. studio lot, it wasn't long until the atmosphere of mixed fantasy and reality allowed us to recognize each other as kindred spirits who shared a love of the "imaginareal."

What We're About

We share a passion for creative writing and storytelling in general, a taste for travel, Victoriana and Steampunk, and the magic of having mixed ancestry.

Between the two of us, our combined heritages cover Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and our travels have taken us across those lands and beyond. (See our travel lists in progress, below.)

We are writers who travel. We are storytellers, explorers, seekers and philosophers. We are also geeks who love to play in the toy boxes of history, pop culture and the imagination.

First, we put our love of writing and travel to use in the creation of an adventure novel, Echoes Across Time (Chris edited, Malayna wrote). Then Chris enlisted Malayna's help in a travel blog for chicks, Women on World Excursions, (WoW for short, or "WoW-E" when we're feeling particularly effusive). Together, they constitute our new, and growing, WoW, SWeeT! Travel Network.

Places We've Been

Malayna has been to:

England, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Holland, and Germany... Sri Lanka, The Maldives, India, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan, Korea... Australia, Mexico and many places across the U.S. (with soft spots in her heart for New Orleans and San Francisco). She has taken two around-the-world trips, and claims two home bases: her hometown of L.A. and her marital love nest in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Next places to check off her travel list: Machu Picchu, the Pyramids in Egypt.

Chris has been to:

Australia, The Bahamas, Czech Republic, England, Guam, India, Italy, Nepal, The Republic of the Philippines, Turkey--has lived in Pennsylvania, Miami, Indianapolis and Los Angeles--and has driven across the U.S. more times than she cares to recall.

Lima and Machu Picchu, or possibly Moscow, are next on her list of places to visit, though Morocco or Bhutan may throw her off schedule.

We hope you'll accept our invitation to join us as we share our vacation ideas and the juicy SWeeT stuff we've gleaned from our travels.

Leave a comment and join our conversation. And maybe one day, we'll all travel together! Field trip!

Happy Journeys!

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