
I love to travel.
Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love to "get away". I love learning and experiencing new cultures, I love new sights and smells, and I love trying new foods! I'm usually a bare-boned kind of traveler, with not much money to spare. I don't need luxuries, I shop at a bargain, and sometimes I'm really "roughing-it". To some, it may not seem appealing at all, but to me, it's all a part of the adventure I've grown to love.
Sometimes my "rough" traveling means sleeping on the floor on an air mattress. Sometimes this means booking cheaper accommodations several blocks from a train. Sometimes this means sharing quarters with a complete stranger for a few nights. But, despite the minor "inconveniences," in regards to our western world mindsets, it allows me to experience all of the previously mentioned indulgences that I love about travel, one of my biggest passions in life.
If I waited for everything to line up in life - enough money, enough time, enough approval from friends and family- I may have never followed through on this passions of mine. I may have never seen the beautiful blue mountains of Australia, the playful seals at Redondo Beach, California, the flying fish and colorful coral of Fiji, or the spectacular broadway shows of New York City and movies on the lawn in Central Park. Sometimes, to tell a good story, you have to take a risk. You have to jump, before you're ready, and expect the best. You have to. If you won't, who will for you?
I posted a quote on my Facebook the other day by Shane Claiborne...
“All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don't tiptoe.”
So many of us tiptoe through life, and we give up on our passions and desires because we're afraid everything won't line up perfectly. We're afraid we'll be taken out of our comfort zone- that we might have to "sleep on an air mattress". We're afraid of what others may think of us, or have to say about us. It's easy to see the inconveniences in life, but look a little further, at the experiences instead. Live a life worth talking about, gain the experiences, and be an amazing storyteller.
Do what drives you.