I've only ever been out of my home country twice in my life.
To those who've never been out of their homeland, that may seem like a lot, but it's not as much as I wish it would've been by the time I hit 20-years-old. If I'm being honest, given the funds, I would've opted to travel out of the U.S. more than just twice.
My first time out of the country was the summer before eighth grade when I went to the Dominican Republic with my church youth group. The youth pastor was fairly new to the church and he'd done a few trips like that before, so everyone was excited. I was too, but I was scared more than anything. I knew I wanted to go, but the last time I'd been on a plane, the turbulence was so bad I was convinced I was going to die and I was also worried about all the diseases websites warned about (I know, I was a very worrisome middle schooler).
Anyways, flash forward through all the planning and fundraising, and even the series of flights and the ten-day trip itself. That was honestly the best ten days of my life. I came back with so many memories of all the people we met along the way and all the food we ate and the immense culture. I told anyone who'd listen that I'd go back in a heartbeat.
So, flash forward several more years and I'm a 19-year-old working a summer job at a daycare and dreaming of vacation. Of course, when my sister brings her laptop downstairs and shows me an all-inclusive deal for a Costa Rican getaway, I'm all in.
Now, it's been about half a week since we got back and I can say it wasn't all that grand. Nothing to blow the Dominican Republic out of the water, but a few of the experiences were worthy enough to write home about.
Like the day that we thought we could quite literally fall down a cliff if we drove the rental car around a curve too fast. Or the fact that we got excited (and a bit freaked out) about the fact that we went to see a legitimate, active volcano and took pictures. Then there's the fact that hiking mountains in Virginia is nothing compared to hiking through a rainforest in Costa Rica. Let's just say doing that, despite the fact that I don't work out and my sister was born with a heart condition, wasn't the smartest idea in the world.
The all-inclusive part of the trip might not have been as fancy or tasteful as we thought, but it was still worth the trip. The people were all really nice, and at least they had pizza places down the street when it hit nine o'clock at night and the hotel buffet was closed, and all we wanted was soul food.
So, yes, most nights we ended up buying a protein shake because the buffet didn't have filling food we'd usually eat. And, yes, we finished almost every night watching Netflix on our separate devices because we couldn't find an English-speaking channel we could actually understand.
But we also got to swim in a natural waterfall and hike trails that would be almost virtually impossible to find in the States. We got to meet the cutest little Costa Rican girl and play hide and seek with her while we waited for our pizza to be ready. And we saw Christmas lights strung throughout several yards, even though you definitely forgot it was December given the warm temperature.
Overall, it may not have been the trip we envisioned when we made the plans and thought about all we wanted to do, but it was still worth it because I got to explore a new place with my sister!