Traveling is the only drug I know without a comedown, to me, the real world is outside - outside your comfort zone, your routine, your country, your perception of reality. Where new people come in and out of your life everyday, new tastes and smells are everywhere, personal growth is valued more than career promotions and tomorrow is never the same as today
I've been so antsy lately. Being in one place has been driving me slightly insane. Even though I just went on a one week vacation to Mexico I'm longing for something that'll have me escape reality for a little bit longer.
My favourite trips are just me and a backpack exploring a country. Eating where the locals eat, hanging out in the busiest of streets, seeing the hidden spots and diving into the culture. When I'm in a different country I get this adrenaline rush, I can't stop smiling to the point where my cheeks go numb. I want to wake up early and go to bed late, I want to sit in people's homes and learn about how they live, learn their language, see their country from their eyes, I want to see it all.
So why do I travel? I'm not sure where my travel bug came from but when I was 14 I left Canada for the first time, I saved up all my money from working at the local ice cream shop and joined my best friend's family in Cuba. I loved it, stepping off the plane and feeling humidity for the first time, experiencing my first sunburn, being in a place where people didn't speak english, wandering markets and just seeing something different.
After graduating high school, I had not an idea of what I wanted to do next and I knew uni was not the place for me, I suck at school. I just wanted to travel. My mom and dad were world travellers before my brother and I came into the picture so I'd spend afternoons looking at scrapbooks and seeing all the photos from all over the world, listening to the stories and I knew I wanted to do the same.
Australia was always top of my list, something drew me there but it certainly wasn't the dangerous animals. When I was 18 I bought myself a one way ticket with zero plans except my first night booked in a hostel. To save you from the long story I ended up traveling all around Australia for a year and met some of the most amazing people and loved every second of it. (I even went back for another year after being home for 14 months)
While being in Australia, I went to Malaysia and Indonesia on a missions trip and that was the furthest thing from a holiday. We stayed in villages that were in the middle of the jungle where people have never seen a white person before. We'd shower in the rivers downstream of a chicken getting gutted or use buckets over a hole in the ground. We would eat 4 breakfasts, 5 lunches and about 8 dinners daily and I gained about 40 pounds, no exaggeration. We slept on the hard wood, squished in our mozzie domes and had pigs under the house snorting all night. We would be sweating consistently, disgusting amounts. I saw joy from people who had nothing, I tried food I will never want to eat again, I rode motorcycles with families of 5, I spoke in schools and local churches, spent days with kids at the orphanages and saw a whole new side of the world.
I love traveling because I love learning about people, I love being out of the norm and experiencing a new way of life. I've learnt that I'm better without routine and living spontaneously without a plan in place. I like looking forward to the next day knowing it won't be the same as today. I like having my own schedule, not having to wait on anybody; I love meeting new people and hearing their perspective on life; I love swimming in oceans and hiking mountains; I love jumping out of airplanes and zip-lining through valleys. If I could travel everyday for the rest of my life I would.
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