Why Travel?

Travel has been an essential word to me since I was about five. I traveled between my parents at a young age. I was flying from Missouri to Washington, Missouri to Orange County and then Missouri to San Francisco. The times I felt the most grow up and alive were always the times I was traveling. There is something very tranquil about though you are among so many people, you are essentially alone. Solo travel is an amazing thing.

When I traveled to New Zealand, I didn't know a single person. I just had this crazy idea that since I watched the television show Xena, that New Zealand was where I needed to be. I thought about Australia, Japan and Spain. Don't get me wrong I still want to go to all of those places but New Zealand just felt right. Like when you meet someone and you know that they are going to play a profound role in your life. Yep that was New Zealand, and that was me finding myself in New Zealand.

I would love to weave my long tales of going in the bush, making the most unlikely of friends, and meeting Miss Lawless herself, and perhaps I will at another time. But let me bring you back to Why Travel.

Traveling in my eyes is more than just going to a beautiful location and taking pictures to post on Social Media. Especially solo, it's raw. It's you finding you, it's survival, it's learning how you thrive. You learn about yourself and your culture so much when you travel. You are constantly stimulated with other ideas, that flood your senses and change the way you view the world and yourself. You learn to develop your own culture that is unique to you along the way. And if you are lucky, you never lose that.

That is why I travel.