Why I Travel

“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” ~ Lao Tzu

Why I travel

People ask all the time why I travel. There are many reasons as to why. I am a wanderlust soul always searching for that next adventure. I love to eat good food. Any place that has a beach, also owns my heart. I love learning about new cultures and interacting with the locals. It makes me aware that there is a bigger world out there and it doesn’t revolve around me. (why the heck not?) And the biggest reason? It makes me happy and why should we not do the things that make us happy, especially if it teaches us and helps us grow and be more compassionate.

Untraditional Childhood

I didn’t have the typical college experience, and if I soul search deep enough, I am honestly at my core okay with not pledging a sorority and getting schnackered every night. Some things, such as life and travel, can not be learned in a class room. They need experience and I got that wanderlust bug at an early age.

I grew up in a small town. It isn’t a bad thing, but the farthest most people went was to Boston which was three hours away or if they were lucky enough, to go to Disney World. 

While I have never been to Disney, I grew up going to New York. My Mom was originally from Joisey and I had and have a ton of family in the tristate area. My oldest sister even settled down an hour and a half outside Manhattan. From a young age I saw and explored and experienced places, so very different from my neck of the woods. 

When I finally made the move to New York at the ripe ole age of 21, I knew I would be a small fish in a churning ocean, as opposed to the big fish in a puddle I had been in my home town. And I was okay with that.

In fact I embraced it.

New York has many stereotypes, including people thinking of it as being the cultural universe of the world. In many ways it is. It is a melting pot, and it DOES have many diverse neighborhoods melded into one city. 

But it is one city. New York in a nutshell is New York. Paris, London, and Hong Kong are not New York. Even Charleston and San Francisco aren’t New York. New York is its’ own city much like the cities I mentioned above have their own distinctly unique traits. 

That is why I travel.

Each city I have visited, even right here in the United States, are so incredibly different. People, mannerisms, culture, politeness, architecture, it is all unique to the city I chose to visit. While their are similiarities, like DC and Philly are compared to Boston often, they are still uniquely their own and with it the people who live there. 

I travel to connect. To experience. To learn. While we are connected more then ever with social media, we are very fastidious in who we surround ourselves with. Gone are the days where we can have honest debates and conversation, instead we are all alike in our thoughts, actions, and discussions. 

I want to be challenged. I want to learn. I want to know what makes people tick and why. I want my own ideas and knowledge flung upturned on its head and to grow. I learn that not from reading a textbook, but exploring, not just the world, but even my own country. 

Knowledge is power, and not only have I learned so much from traveling, but I have also grown as a person. My world is so much bigger and richer, my comfort zone has expanded and so too has my compassion.

And that is one of the most important lessons. To realize we are all the same. We are all humans attempting to live our best life day to day. For us to learn from each other and have tolerance and most importantly, love.

That is why I travel

Why do you?