Who is Parallel?
In this month’s episode of “Who is Parallel?” we proudly present: Alice L.!
Alice grew up in the concrete canyons of the Big Apple and now proudly calls the oak forests and grapevine-laden hills of Sonoma, California, home. When she isn’t wrangling her 11-year old twins, she can be found balancing work and play. Outside of her career in energy efficiency and climate policy (thank you, Alice!), she loves to hike, play tennis, ski, and of course… hike in Europe with Parallel. Alice has traveled with us to Portugal and Spain and is joining us in Sardinia this May!
Read on to learn more about this Parallel Universe superstar.
Are you an avid hiker in “real life”?
I love to hike and have some great trails within five minutes of home. I try to hike a few times a week but they are pretty short and only last an hour.
Which Parallel trips have you been on?
I dove right into the Parallel universe last year when I joined the Portugal’s Fishermen’s Trail trip in May 2025 and kept the momentum up when joined the Spain’s Costa Brava trip in September 2025 . Coming up next, Italy’s Wild Sardinia!
Why did you choose to travel with Parallel?
I have known Chad and Susan [Ed note: Chad is Parallel’s director and he and Susan founded Parallel in 2019 after thinking about it for a very long time.] since college and thought that Parallel Adventures sounded amazing. I was so glad I had time to try it out myself and from the first day, I knew I would participate in more trips. Every person I have met and the facilitators have been amazing. I went by myself both trips and left with incredible friends and memories.
Do you have a favorite memory or two from your Parallel trip(s)?
My favorite memory in Portugal was crossing the river on our last hiking day. The tide was coming in fast but I wanted to still cross it. We took our shoes off and waded across to the beachside village on the far side. It was exhilarating and fun!
In Spain, we hiked up to the ruins of a many-hundreds-year-old castle in the national park and got 360-degree views of each town we had visited and were on our way to. It provided a great perspective and helped me visualize the next few days. It was astoundingly beautiful. We also hiked to a restaurant/inn and had a wine tasting of bottles that had been aged in the Mediterranean so each bottle was crusted over with barnacles. It was a unique cool experience and the chef looked us a memorable dinner to accompany it.
