“Investment in travel, is an investment in yourself.” - Matthew Karsten

We tend to hear people ask us, "what do you want to be when you're older? What kind of person do you see yourself as?"

Well, to answer those questions; I am a 20-year-old girl who just happens to be from one of the tiniest, secluded towns in the smallest state in the United States. I have no idea what I want to do or who I am. Who truly does? I have grown up imagining what could really be out there in the world and it just seems so foreign to me. What would my life really be like if I wasn' t born here, in Rhode Island? I do not want to continue my life in a place where my options are so limited. My only dream right now is to travel the world, and what is so bad about that? Absolutely nothing.

It is crazy how little we know about the life outside of our own culture or even the person we really are aside from what we were raised to know. To believe we are who we are and that is it, is just arrogant. I do not want to settle and cut myself short; I want to learn from people in cultures all over. I crave for the teachings I cannot gain in a classroom.

Adventure is out there, so don't be afraid to experience it.

I have discovered my passion for traveling; for learning about the different places and people that are out there somewhere. I would love to just drop everything and write about my findings, but my mother will certainly kill me if I hopped on a plane and ventured off. For some reason I have always been too afraid to pursue this dream of mine, to explore the depths of this world, but why?! What am I so afraid of? I keep reassuring myself, "do not wait until 'one day' when you can do it today." It is time to book that flight and explore the places I have always wanted to travel to. Here are 20 places I wish to travel to, that I hope you will wish to travel to one day as well...

1. San Francisco, California

2. Dallas, Texas

3. Chicago, Illinois

4. Grand Canyon, Arizona

Fun Fact #1: Direct spending by resident and international travelers in the U.S. averaged $2.6 billion a day, $108.1 million an hour, $1.8 million a minute and $30,033 a second.

5. Hawaii

6. Alaska

7. Paris, France

8. Rome, Italy

Fun Fact #2: Travel can help improve your problem-solving skills.

9. Florence, Italy

10. Athens, Greece

11. Barcelona, Spain

12. Lisbon, Portugal

Fun Fact #3: One out of eight jobs in the U.S. depends on travel and tourism.

13. Beijing, China

14. Tokyo, Japan

15. Bora Bora

16. Sydney, Australia

Fun Fact #4: Taking a vacation can lower your risk of heart disease.

17. Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

18. Amsterdam, Netherlands

19. Cairo, Egypt

20. Costa Rica, San José

Fun Fact #5: Benefits of traveling are almost immediate. After only a day or two, 89% of people experience significant drops in stress.

This is just the beginning...there are 196 countries in the world today. In my life I want to experience each and every single one, that may seem a little crazy to some, but to me, it is a dream.