Oh to See the World!

Pyramids of Giza

Venice, Italy

What is your passion? For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to travel the world. When I was a small girl, I would take this globe that my parents had given me, close my eyes while putting my finger on its smooth surface, and spin it. Wherever my finger landed when the globe stopped spinning was the newest place I would travel to. I would make up adventures in my head of the faraway places, and later (when I got a bit older) would look them up in encyclopedias (this was pre-internet), and dream of Venice, Santorini, Queensland, Rejkjavik, Cairo...and many, many more places. In my early twenties when I was a young newlywed, poor as could be, living on Hamburger Helper and Ramen Noodles, I would take this passion a step further and get on the computer we had bought, and research places. I would price all kinds of trips and even make itineraries for these dream vacations, writing everything down in a journal. I drooled over pictures in National Geographic, and held tight my copy of 1,000 Places to See Before you Die. I was able to escape the dreariness of the one-bedroom apartment, and later the small rental when we moved to Oregon. It wasn't those walls that held me in, because in my head I was in a gondola floating the watery streets of Venice or atop a camel, touring the pyramids of Egypt.

Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany

Now, I use Pinterest to drool over the places I have never been but hope to go someday. I made Barrett promise me that we could renew our vows in front of a castle in Europe (Scotland or Germany) someday, preferably in the snow. It may sound weird to you, but I would live exactly the way we do now (which admittedly is pretty comfortably) and spend my entire salary when I become an RN on travelling. I know that isn't realistic, but do you ever find yourself getting older and realizing that your dreams are still so untouched? A picture to drool over is not enough. I want to be there and see these faraway lands in person. Some I want to go to with my husband by my side, and others I wish to show to my children too. The world holds so much wonder and glory...yet so often we contain ourselves within one city, or one state, one country...never wandering outside those comfortable walls. Travelling is an expensive hobby, but I still dream of the day that I can say it is mine.

Taj Majal in India

Bora Bora, French Polynesia