Growing up, my family and I moved
around a lot. I got a taste of the west coast, the east coast, and the
Midwest—something I’m very grateful for now, but at the time just meant long,
boring road trips and plane rides. I would hear adults say they loved traveling
and I never understood that. I thought of traveling only as the
transportation—the flights and airport layovers, the gas station meals and
fifteen-hour drives—which I, by then, had grown to loathe.
As a newly official adult
(technically), traveling is one of my most favorite things to do! I don’t
exactly get amped for a long drive or flight, but the exploration of new places
I cannot get enough of. For me, there is nothing like getting lost in a country,
state, or even city I’ve never been in before. It doesn’t necessarily need to
be somewhere foreign—just somewhere foreign to me. It’s fascinating to observe
the way other people live, whether it’s their food, activities, education
systems, businesses, or entire ways of life.
A change in scenery itself is always
refreshing. No matter how many lakes you’ve been to, there is nothing quite
like the waves of the open ocean. The sun doesn’t quite rise anywhere else like
it does over the Great Plains. And, of course, no autumn leaves fall quite as beautifully
as the east coast’s. Paintings and even photographs simply can’t do justice;
you’ve just got to see those sights for yourself, in person. Mountains, oceans,
badlands, deserts, valleys, jungles—all must be experienced for a true
appreciation and knowledge of the earth.
I encourage everybody to travel as
much as they possibly can. You will learn and gain so much appreciation and
understanding for people who live wherever you do not. There are so many places
to go, people to see, as they say, and while it’s easy to say we simply can’t
afford to travel, I believe we simply can’t afford not to travel. Take a walk to the other side of town, if that’s all
you can do or where you feel comfortable to start with. It doesn’t matter the
distance traveled, but how your view of the world can be changed no matter
where it is you go.
“A ship in
port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.”—Grace Murray Hopper
Always, Anna
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