The Travel Bug!

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me that I love traveling. After reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin, I felt inspired to begin a new blog. Keeping my blog during my four month South America backpacking trip brought me great pleasure, but I was really struggling as to what to keep a blog about in my everyday life. I started a blog, but then realized I didn't want all my personal business out there-that felt a little too intrusive for me. So I decided why not write about what I love most? Traveling. While it won't be about a four month adventure, it will be about the adventures that arise during my more "local" or shorter trips-and by shorter, I mean less than four months. :)

When I came back from South America, many people said to me how it must have been so great to "get it out of my system." Anyone who has ever gone backpacking knows it only awakens further desire to travel. In reality, I doubt (and wouldn't even want) that I'd get traveling out of my system. It's ingrained in me. I have been giving a lot of thought lately as to what I want to do with my money, as I meet financial goals and work on school and car loan payoffs. The answer is simple: Travel.

So I came to a wonderful thought the other day. I realized I have 15 vacation days per year from my company. That's 3 full weeks. As a backpacker, that sounds kind of awful. But, I am working on finding a balance between wanting a comfortable everyday life, and an exciting traveling life. It's probably my biggest internal struggle presently. Once you've gotten a taste of the backpacking life, where your only responsibility is to see the world, it can feel suffocating at times to be constrained by limited vacation days. So this blog is my attempt to work on that struggle.

Anyways! So, I rationalized that I could take three 9 night vacations per year with my vacation time! [As for if I could afford it...we'll leave that issue for another day :)] This is including a Monday holiday week. For example, let's say I leave on a Saturday. I have Sat (1), Sun (2), Mon (3), Tues (4), Wed (5), Thurs (6), Fri (7), Sat (8), Sun (9)nights away. Return on your Monday holiday and you've only used 5 vacation days!! Brilliant. And if long trips weren't financially possible, imagine all the awesome long weekends you could do with Monday holidays thrown in!

I am blessed with a wonderful man in my life, Matt, who has the same desire for traveling and life that I do. In fact, his energy and zest for life is inspiring to me. I am so thankful to have found this connecton because I can't imagine not having my significant other relate to my "travel bug."

The Quote

"If you are brave enough to leave behind everything familiar and comforting (which can be anything from your house to bitter old resentments) and set out on a truth-seeking journey (either internally or externally), and if you are truly willing to regard everything that happens to you on that journey as a clue, and if you accept everyone you meet along the way as a teacher, and if you are prepared-most of all-to face (and forgive) some very difficult realities about yourself...then truth will not be withheld from you."-Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love