It's Never Too Late To Start Traveling...

“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” – Ibn Battuta

I will never forget the reason I started traveling and why I now think about how far I can go rather than revisiting the same local destinations over and over. One night in graduate school I was sitting with a few classmates discussing places we've visited and what they had to offer. I was so sure that I had the most to talk about as I went to California more than 3 times that year, lived in Massachusetts and Florida, interned in New York City andddddd had family in Jamaica. While all those places are beautiful to explore and exciting to visit, there is much more to life outside of one's comfort zone. Let's talk about it...

In graduate school, I had a small circle of friends. We studied and dined together, and even discussed our personal lifestyles to get us through. That night in particular, they had no idea how much they changed my perspective on traveling and being adventurous. I have always been adventurous but never even considered traveling to Asia, Africa, Europe, etc., well at least at that time. We each went around the circle to discuss our experiences and what made each destination cool. These two women were naming countries and I thought to myself research map. I was so impressed and immediately thought bigger picture and what that meant. Let me tell you, they were naming streets among each other in South America (if I remember correctly). Then they followed with areas in other countries. Shit, there I was thinking of states. I was so inspired and thought wow, if I am in the same room as them, why can't I go that far? They weren't looking down on me nor judging, but they did challenge me to expand my horizons.

To myself, I had questions - many! How much is required to travel so far? Did they go alone? With parents? Teach me how, please and thank you! One of my friends then stated, if I did not travel to Florida five times a year, I would have more than enough to travel to different countries. HEARD YOU SIS! At that moment they had no idea that they became the reason I crave international travel. They talked about the various cultures, food, monuments and travel time. There was no way I was going to live life only reading on page.

Months later, I enrolled in a study abroad program to start my journey. From there, I became a storyteller...