Get to know the Discovery Map team: Chris Sands

Chris works with Joslyn in Production and Design.

He is a Vermonter, but spent time in Georgia and Las Vegas.

"I grew up in Montpelier, VT but decided to head south after graduating from high school. I attended to the Savannah College of Art and Design where I received a BFA in Media Design. After four years in Georgia I decided to try Las Vegas before settling back in Vermont. This is where I want to be.

While looking for work my wife pointed out an ad for a map company in Waitsfield that was looking for a graphic designer. Being familiar with the maps, I immediately knew I would enjoy this work. In July of 2016 I was hired and have worked on many maps since then, and traveled to multiple markets to create new maps for franchisees."

He's been to some pretty cool places!

"Traveling is important for me for a couple reasons. I have learned so much while visiting far away places. Not just the history, but the culture. Plus it really makes you appreciate home and the feeling of being back from a long trip.

Apart from the most recent family trips, I have traveled to Hawaii, Canada, Mexico, The Dominican Republic, France, Spain, Gibraltar and Belgium, as well as Austria (Lech), Germany (Frankfurt) and Italy (Milan) on other occasions.

I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to travel many places with my father. Being an employee of a major airline company has great perks and we have taken advantage of that. In the past we have flown to cities on a whim, picking flights with open seats. My three favorite vacations are by far the three most recents trips we have taken with my wife and son.

In 2017 we started our biannual trips across the seas. Part of what makes these trips great is my stepmothers experience with travel and ability to set reservations off the beaten path. We will often stay in small hotels or Airbnb’s, which often times prove difficult to find once we’re walking down foreign streets outside of the usual hotel districts.

Our first trip was a tour around Italy. This would mark the first time my wife and son had traveled to Europe. It was a perfect place to start. Our travel was planned around Rome since our flights only worked from that location. After landing we hopped on the bullet train and traveled north, making a couple stops before settling in Venice. This was the most stop place for my wife, and it was fantastic.

My goal for this trip however was to visit the Amalfi Coast. After a long train ride south, we ended up in the small town of Sorrento. Our apartment was located on the beach, steps away from the ocean. While there we explored some of the other towns along the coast before packing up and heading back to Rome.

Having flown into Rome and jumping on a train immediately, we didn’t get time to hit the sights. This was our chance to see some of the big ones, including the Colosseum, before heading back to home.

2019 would mark the farthest we have traveled by heading down, and across the international date line, to New Zealand. This trip was magical. Of all the places I have been, the people there were the most welcoming. We explored multiple towns on the the north and south islands including Auckland, Queenstown and Wanaka.

The highlight of this trip was the Glowworm Caves. Up until that point I was unaware such a thing existed, but my wife insisted that we travel 3 hours by car to get on a boat and in the middle of the New Zealand wilderness to find a cave packed with glowworms.One of the most bizarre things also occurred on the way back. After leaving our apartment to head to the airport at noon, and traveling over 24 hours back to Vermont, we arrived home at 3 pm on the same day.

For our most recent vacation we managed to time a trip back to Europe amidst a global pandemic. We were lucky to have booked all of our destinations in-between the Delta and Omicron variants. And much to our delight, the Europeans put up no fuss about wearing masks in public and respecting others' space.

This would mark our first multi country visit, beginning in Croatia and heading north through Slovenia and Austria before ending in Germany. We landed in Dubrovnik and I cannot express how amazing this city is. Once again we were welcomed with open arms. We stayed in a small apartment within the old city walls and spent the next two days absorbing as much as we could.

From there we grabbed the ferry up to Split, Croatia for another couple days before renting a car and setting out to go further north. We spent time at Lake Bled, Slovenia where we able to see the largest cave castle in the world. We stopped in Salzburg, Austria, one of my father’s favorite cities. We ended up in Munich, Germany, where we had to check out the famous Hofbrauhaus before wrapping it up and heading home.

Our next venture is yet to be determined."

Chris's Discovery Destination Wish List

"I'd love to go to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It’s the most traveled to destination with a Discovery Map and I have never been there!"