I Choose Travel

At the 2012 Olympics in London with my friend, Jess Kern

Over the past two years, I have traveled an inordinate amount for someone my age, especially as an American. This is a result of a decision I made in my life to make travel a priority. After all, travel is a choice. There are a million and one reasons any individual can find to not travel. It is something that has to be done deliberately and consciously.

In 2012, I decided that I would travel more. I was tired of waiting for other people to make decisions that affected my life, whether that was a decision to get married or for a job offer. I was finishing my master’s degree and recognized that this time in my life was one of the last times that I would have the ability to travel. Traveling can only be done through a careful balance of time and money. Doesn’t it always seem that if you have one, you don’t really have the other? Luckily, I am good at saving my money and I had a little to spare at the end of grad school in addition to having a flexible schedule. And finding the informational resources I have to learn of flight deals, I became great at finding cheap airfare. It was a perfect storm. In fact, I traveled a good portion of the time during the few months I had between graduation and starting my first career job. I had the (phone) interview for that job while I was on the waterfront in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas USVI, and I started that job the day I got back from the last of a string of trips, which included one week in the Virgin Islands, two weeks in Peru and a week in North Carolina. Little did I know that my chosen profession allows for a flexible schedule affording me the opportunity to continue to travel today, albeit in much smaller doses.

Hiking down from Montaña Wayna Picchu with Machu Picchu in the background

Choosing to travel also means making sacrifices. Every trip will not be your dream trip. For me, I never have enough time off of work to spend the time that I want to in each location. However, because I work and I have a decent schedule with regular 3 day weekends, I am able to take trips over my long weekends here and there to take advantage of cheap airfare. One additional positive side to these shorter trips is that I end up spending less money on accommodations and activities, at the very least. It forces me to spend my time more efficiently in each place that I visit, although I am also often content to spend a day roaming and wandering a place with no set schedule.

Having short trips is the sacrifice I make to travel. A lot of people tell me they wouldn’t spend money on a 3 or even 6 day trip to this or that country, or that they wouldn’t want to go unless they could spend three weeks or even a month in a place. I agree that those longer trips are ideal, and I would rather do that, too. Unfortunately, having that kind of time to spend in a place is not realistic if a person actually wants to travel. As an entry-level career employee, I don’t get that much vacation time, so I will tack on a day or two to a long weekend whenever I can. That gives me a little bit of time that is so necessary for the travel I can do with the little bit of money I have after leftover after I pay my bills and set a little aside for savings. But that is my choice. I choose to take shorter trips with the little money I have because in my mind, going somewhere for 3 or 4 days is much better than not going at all.

Kayaking in Pataogonia on a 4 day trip to Chile

No matter where I go, everyone has always told me that if I ever wanted to travel, now is the time to do it, now while I’m still young and single. I have also had so many people tell me that they wish they had done more traveling before getting married and settling down. Since I have not had that opportunity yet, I am not going to sit around and wait for life to happen to me. So starting in 2012, when I was finishing grad school unsatisfied with my decision to attend a school that did not afford me the opportunity to study abroad, I made a conscious decision to prioritize travel (within a reasonable budget) in my life. And you know what? It doesn't have to be as expensive as it seems! It all depends on the destination, but if you can find a good airfare to a cheap location then there is no reason not to go. 

My choice to travel is also a choice I made to fulfill my lifelong dreams and goals. I have always had the travel bug ever since I can remember. I think a huge part of that comes from having island fever growing up on an island in one of the most remote archipelagos on this planet (Hawaii). On top of that, I have always been obsessed with traveling to Europe. As a kid, I loved to read the Encyclopedia (I'm a nerd, I know) specifically searching for entries on European countries and their rulers. But even then, I still dreamed of traveling everywhere else as well. I would always try to get my close friends to commit to a cross-country road trip one day when we would move to the mainland for college, and I was always taking notes of interesting places to see in the future like Jellyfish Lake in Palau, where you can swim with jellyfish that don't sting. I have been fortunate to have had a passport since I was 4 years old when I first visited my relatives in Thailand. Until I was 16, I had only ever traveled to visit family, and I have always wanted to see more of the world. The desire to travel has always been a major part of my life, and my choice to travel is also my choice to act on my lifelong dreams.

Swimming with Jellyfish in Palau

Jellyfish Selfie!