Confession: I have a severe case of wanderlust. I long to roam the world, meet new people, enrich myself in diverse cultures, and bask in the beauty of countless landscapes. This is not a recent desire of mine; it’s a feeling that I’ve had my entire life. In fact, it is my lifelong dream to travel as much as I can to anywhere possible. However, as much as I would love to spontaneously pack my bags and go wherever, there is a great deal of committed preparation, a long list of expenses and some hardcore planning that goes into traveling. With that being said, in all honesty I have not gotten very far in achieving my globetrotting goal. In fact, at age 20 I’ve only journeyed outside of the U.S. on three occasions!
The first time was when my family made a relaxing fishing trip to Canada. The only problem with this trip was that it happened when I was a baby, so I was much too young to remember any of it…
The second time was when three of my best friends and I spent our spring break in Ottawa, Canada. Despite the bitter cold, we managed to have the time of our lives. We found some awesome nightclubs, bars, restaurants and even spent one evening in a casino. We met some interesting characters and definitely had our share of hilarious, strange and startling situations – all of which we will never forget. I would list them all for nostalgia purposes, but at this point they’re basically inside jokes so I will spare you the confusion.
My most recent excursion outside of the U.S. was last summer when I participated in the Rome Travel Course at Pace. I don’t know if I can even begin to explain how much of an amazing learning experience this was for me (especially considering that the final paper I handed in for the course was 40 pages total…what?! I had a lot of questions to answer…okay you’re right it was excessively long). BUT, I do now know the city of Rome almost as well as I know NEPA (Northeastern Pennsylvania for those of you who are not familiar with the area in which I was born and raised) AND I can now say that I have seen all the essential Ancient Roman monuments and then some, became a pasta and gelato glutton, visited more Catholic churches than I ever thought was possible (including the jaw-droppingly-beautiful St. Peter’s Cathedral), and haggled for the first time at a leather market in Florence for my all-time favorite bright green tote bag.
So what am I blabbing on about? All you have to know from this post is exactly what my first sentence said: I have a severe case of wanderlust. Only now, you should have a little insight into how true that statement is. Yes, I’ve already seen some remarkable places and experienced once in a lifetime opportunities, all for which I am eternally grateful. Nevertheless, both times that I’ve reached the end of an expedition, my wanderlust struck again. The more I travel, the greedier I become: take me here, send me there, show me this, I want to see that! Will it ever end? I sincerely hope not. My travels are what this blog is about, so trust me when I say that this is only an introduction. In fact, you should probably prepare yourself because I am absolutely certain that there are an abundance of travel stories to come.
Ohh, the Places I'll Go 