This may or may not be the reason I never have money...

I can’t stop traveling. I do not know if it is some sort of disorder, however, I just have a constant itch for the need to get up and go somewhere I haven’t been. This is something frowned upon by many of my peers and some of my family members, but it’s something I literally love and I just want to get up and go right now.

I grew up in a small suburban area in Pennsylvania where seriously everyone knows each other, or knows of each other. Throughout high school, I never really felt the urge to go anywhere because I live 1 hour away from New York City and 1 hour away from Philadelphia as well as my older brothers living in Lexington, Kentucky and Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to those trips, I would go on a cruise or some sort of Caribbean vacation once per year so I travelled well throughout my childhood.

I go to a small liberal-arts college located 20 minutes away from my house in Pennsylvania. So, with that being said, I go to college with many of the same people I went to high school with and those who lived in a close radius to me.

However, recently, within the past 6 months, something in me wants to go out and experience the world. In 2017, I will be travelling to Europe for 4 weeks as well as taking a road trip during the summer to the Midwest/south. If you ask someone “If you could choose visit a place right now, where would you go?”, chances are, they’re going to say some city or resort outside of the United States. This aggregates me because there are so many beautiful cities such as Los Angeles and Louisville and small towns like New Hope, PA and Ogunquit, ME, that are so cute and quaint, every person should want to experience what is here in our homeland.

Sometimes, I wake up and feel like I need to go out and experience something new so I will drive 3 hours to Washington D.C., or Boston and that way I can get my frustrations out by viewing new things in a new place where nobody knows me. I think that is the main reason I love to travel. Growing up in a small area, I always felt like someone was judging me for doing something. When I travel to new places, nobody knows me or my story and do not have a reason to think negatively about me at all. It’s almost like a fresh start for the day or the weekend, and I absolutely adore it.

Here is a list of the 10 places I love visiting (they are not in order by favorite):

  1. Boston, Massachusetts
  2. Lexington, Kentucky
  3. Ogunquit, Maine
  4. New Hope, Pennsylvania
  5. Miami, Florida
  6. Los Angeles County, California
  7. George Town, Cayman Islands
  8. New York City, New York
  9. Ocho Rios, Jamaica
  10. Kings Wharf, St. Georges and Hamilton, Bermuda

I think that every person should travel at least once per year to a new place. Traveling is my therapy. It could be yours. Use my words as inspiration to travel, or proof to beg your parents to travel, but travel young and old, with the people you love and always with a smile and open mind. Travel a lot. Never let go of your dreams.