Today we’d like to introduce you to Emma Aceto-Goldberg.
Hi Emma, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Travel has always been one of the things Jeff and I enjoy most together. We met in Houston in the fall of 2014 through Match, and about eight months later we took our first trip together to the UK. That trip set the tone for a big part of our relationship.
We both work full time, so our travel has always had to fit around school breaks, vacation days, and long weekends. Over the years, we kept doing the same thing: researching hotels, finding restaurants and coffee shops, figuring out what was worth our limited time, and then sharing it all with friends and family when we got home. Eventually, we realized we were already making travel guides for the people around us. We just weren’t calling them that.
That became The Adventuring Goldbergs.
We started this in our 50s, with careers and routines already in place. I had to learn photography, video editing, social media, and brand outreach from scratch. Jeff became the very willing on-camera half of the team, and his barbershop visits around the world are one of the things people remember most about us.
We’ve since worked with tourism organizations and brands, and we’re still figuring out where this will lead. We didn’t wait until retirement or until we knew exactly what we were doing. We just started with the life we already had.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, and I don’t think starting anything new ever is.
The biggest challenge has always been time. We both work full time, so content gets made at night, on weekends, and during school breaks. A week-long trip can turn into weeks of editing once we’re home. After a full day of teaching, there isn’t always much left to give.
Learning everything from scratch was humbling too. I had never edited a video or pitched a brand before. Most of it has been trial and error. Starting this in our 50s, surrounded by creators half our age, there were definitely moments I wondered if I’d waited too long.
Growth has been slower than I expected. It’s discouraging to put hours into a post and watch it go nowhere, and not every pitch email gets an answer.
What keeps us going is that we still love doing it together. And every time someone tells us they used one of our tips to plan their own trip, it reminds me why we started.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve spent my whole career in education in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. I was a high school athletic trainer for 12 years before moving into the classroom full time, where I now teach Health Science and prepare students for careers in healthcare. Jeff works on the IT purchasing side in oil and gas. Teaching is a big reason The Adventuring Goldbergs looks the way it does. Every trip we take has to fit around the school calendar, so I know what it’s like to want to see the world without unlimited time.
That’s who we make content for: people who love to travel but also have full-time jobs. We share where we stayed, where we ate, what was worth the time, and what we’d skip. Our content centers on real stays, local food, coffee shops, and exploring on foot, along with plenty of Houston and Texas favorites close to home.
The series people seem to remember most is Jeff’s barbershop visits. He gets a haircut at a local barbershop in the places we travel. It started as a fun idea and became one of the most recognizable parts of what we do.
What I’m most proud of is building something new without walking away from the careers we already have. We’ve worked with tourism organizations and brands, and hearing from people who used our recommendations to plan their own trips never gets old.
What sets us apart is that we’re honest. If a place wasn’t our favorite, we’ll say so. We’d rather people trust us than think everything is perfect. We’re also not twenty-somethings traveling full time. We’re a couple in our 50s building this in the time we have, and a lot of people see themselves in that.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
If you’ve been waiting for life to slow down before you take that trip or start something new, our advice is not to wait. It rarely slows down on its own. We didn’t have it all figured out when we started, and we still don’t. We just started with the time we had.
You don’t need months off or a big budget to travel well. A long weekend, a well-chosen hotel, and a solid plan can go a long way.
If you’re a busy person who loves to travel, we’d love for you to follow along. You can find us at @theadventuringgoldbergs on Instagram and TikTok, and as The Adventuring Goldbergs on Facebook. If you’re local, tell us your favorite Houston spot. We’re always looking for the next place to try.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @theadventuringgoldbergs
- Facebook: @theadventuringgoldbergs
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@theadventuringgoldbergs?si=wOCYUyS1Hxtr2hr7
- Other: TikTok- @theadventuringgoldbergs
