I am going to make this a 2-3 part series of blog entries about how I fell in love with travel (1) , places I highly recommend visiting – some I have been to, some are on my list! (2) and about my experience living in London. (3) The last one I am writing because for most people who know me I fell in love while I was in London, not just with the city but with my ex-boyfriend, who I then attempted a three-year long-distance relationship with, which a number of people take an interest in. So, here goes.
Too often friends of mine of the male sex have poked fun at how I am like every other “basic white girl” due to my obsession with travel and my palate that craves all things pumpkin spice flavored. Even as I write this entry I am in my bed, the wall next to me is covered floor to ceiling in souvenir postcards from most of my travels. Forty-seven postcards – ranging from New Orleans to Australia. Now, some people may choose to feel offended if the inferior sex (joke) chose to poke fun at one’s hobbies and passions – but I embrace it because I feel no need to be offended by something as dear to my heart as traveling. For those of you who may not understand my Wanderlust, I will try to break it down for you.
I have been traveling since I was a baby – my parents frequented Europe when they were dating, and when my sister and I were born they then made it a habit to visit Florida and Arizona as often as possible. In my pre-teens we began visiting our family in Greece every summer, which regrettably I will admit I was not too enthusiastic about – I would rather be swimming at the public pool in Chicago with my friends! (FACE PALM).
Even during all of this I did not have that much of a passion for exploring new cities. It was in 2013, however, that I saw a flyer on my college campus for an extended study abroad program in London (which was extended even longer when I chose to surpass my visa and stayed an additional couple of months) – most colleges are on semesters, DePaul was on trimesters and it was two trimesters that would be spent in London. I wasn’t 100% serious about applying but I thought screw it, why not. I was accepted into the program, given an AMAZING internship, and it wasn’t until I was going through security to London that the weight of it all actually hit me. When I landed in London I felt extremely homesick, I did not know anyone there. I texted my sister regretting the entire idea. Luckily, I met some very amazing people who cured my homesickness.
I lived in London for for roughly six-and a half months. Our program ended in May but I changed my flight home and stayed an additional month and a half traveling Europe until they stamped my passport with a notice that I needed to leave London within the next 7 days – bummer. While living in London I visited four cities outside of London that are in England: York, Bristol, Brighton and Oxford, and I visited eight other countries outside of England: France, Czech Republic, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Greece and Italy.
When I returned to the United States I was supposed to start my Doctoral program in a month and all I could think about was booking another trip. I didn’t just have the travel bug I had like the travel super-bug. Long story short I dropped out of Grad School and found a job waitressing that would allow me to still travel. Since then I have visited:
Germany – Berlin and Munich, Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Vatican City, Italy again – Florence, Venice and Rome, Denmark Hungary, Croatia, Belgium, Australia, Costa Rica, I have been back to London at least 7 or 8 times. At present, I have visited 24 countries and am hoping to visit 30 before I turn 30 years old. I will not count how many U.S. cities I have visited and how many times because honestly I don’t know if I would ever be able to.
BUT WHY?
I love traveling because I love seeing all that the world has to offer. I love seeing how other people live their lives and what they eat and how everyday is for them and how different it is from the life I live. Life seems long at times but in hindsight it’s short. Very short, and I don’t want to look back one day and wish I had lived more, or “lived harder.” A guy who was trying to catch my interest one day gave me this compliment and I can whole-heartedly say that to date it is still the best one I have ever received. He told me, “Wow, you live life harder and fuller than anyone I have met before.” Thanks, I try. Traveling awakens something in me, and if it wasn’t for how much I love my family or the fact that I am terrified to not have health insurance I probably would have fucked off to South America years ago and just slowly made my way around the entire world doing odd jobs just to further experience different people and different ways of life – and I still may do this someday. I am my happiest self when I have just booked a trip, or when I have one coming up or when I am ON the trip. Each travel i embark on I feel that I am not only adding a stamp to my passport but I am adding a stamp to my life. That may sound cheesy but I don’t know how else to explain it. I am better-ing myself; I am becoming a more interesting and experienced person.
The travel bug may have been introduced to me at a young age or over the years – or honestly, it may be just do to my fear of living a boring, stagnant life – I need exciting, I need change, I need to feel that I am really living. But hey, that’s just my take on it. My next trip I am hoping will be in January to Colombia, and it can’t come any sooner! The next two entires, as I mentioned above, will be covering places to visit, and then a third entry on my life living in London!
Runaway Blond 