Girl vs. The World

What is the inspiration? Why keep going back again and again?

Rock of Gibraltar, taken July 2015.

It’s like, like a tick you know? Something that keeps pushing you over and over again until you succumb to the adrenaline. The rush of being somewhere new and wonderful. A wholly unprecedented experience at the tips of your fingers.

Why do I travel? I travel because one thing is for certain, and it may sound cliché, but it’s completely and utterly true: I only have one body that is given to me at the start of my life. Everybody knows this saying just as much as I do. We are given this one glorious chance to do whatever we want, so why just sit around the house all day long? Some people may abuse the body given to them while others do amazing wonders with the human body they live in.

I know this like I know the back of my hand. I’ve always wanted to travel and I guarantee this results from my mom and dad, who have been to amazing places as their own lives have progressed. My mom is what I like to say a free spirit, wanting to roam from place to place. My dad enjoys traveling when it suits him and us at the right time, like now, since our family is happily settled in a home I’ve grown up in practically all my life, minus the three years where I was born and lived in Arizona.

However, my parents can’t seem to keep my adventurous mind settled and know I want to go to almost every place that I possibly can. Growing up, my mind went everywhere for a profession I wanted to choose. There was becoming an interior designer, an archaeologists, a doctor (which lasted up until 2013), and to my current and final hope of becoming an ambassador for the United Nations. My dream of becoming an ambassador is not only for the sole purpose of traveling, but being able to learn what other people know and help them to the best of my abilities as I step into different countries.

One thing is for certain about me, I want to absorb every chance I get at traveling. Now, most kids my age haven’t been to the places I have been to and I’m grateful for what I am able to do. Since I was born I’ve travelled almost every year. Whether from visiting my family in Jamaica or an educational tour to the British Isles and Paris, or even a People to People Ambassador trip to Portugal and Spain; I am glad these trips were in my grasp to take. Of course, I’ve been to many places in the States and I still hope to pursue more as the years continue on for me.

Maybe the point of all this is that I want to see what people across the world from me experience during their livelihood. The world is a huge place out there. As the world continues to develop, historians are discovering new and extravagant places to this day. Why can’t I be a part of all those discoveries with each and every step I take?

Traveling is not only a way to explore the unknown, mind you. For instance, traveling can help you create friendships which can last a lifetime. Stepping out of the normal is a very big thing which I have experienced. Little did I know that I would meet one of my best friends who unfortunately lives in a completely different state five hours away. Still, we make the best out of all the chances we get (the only good thing about social media) and we even had the chance to meet each other during Christmas break.

If you’re hesitating about taking a big leap into uncharted territory, you are not the only at all. Everybody has been in that state and are still in that predicament even when they get to their destination and come back from that destination. There’s the adrenaline I am talking about people! The rush can happen while you’re on your way to the airport, getting on your first airplane, and finally making it to that big place which can make or break you. Of course, I hope in the end the place makes you into a person who wants to keep going back for more.

This is the way I see it: Adventure is supposed to point you somewhere in life. There will most definitely be times where you will not have an exact location with no exact compass, but that is the point. You only have your heart, eyes, and soul to guide you through the journey. The world is a place where people live, but also a place to explore the unknown. Through air, road, or water, adventure is a time to make one feel something in a way they’ve never felt before in their entire existence.

As I’ve stated, we are given one body to live in. One body which can take us to where we want to go, show us who we are, and lead us to who we want to be. So I guess the point of what I’m trying to say is, is that traveling makes me feel the most alive.

A path unknown in Portugal, taken July 2015.

Why do I keep going back again to traveling? Simple, because with each flight or car ride or boat, I find myself. And I’m completely happy with the person I am when in entirely new places.

Photographer’s POV, taken January 2016.

To Carla.