What I've learned from traveling

I have never thought of myself as a "traveler". In fact, I hadn't left the country until I was 20 (if you don't count crossing the border to Canada when I went to the Niagra Falls). But this last year for me has had me going all sorts of places for all sorts of reasons.

About a year ago, me and my favorite cousin Shannon randomly got to go to San Francisco to present some research that I had done a year before. We ran around this awesome city, riding the trolly, becoming BFFs with one of the drivers (that was kinda creepy actually) and running away from homeless people (one of my greatest fears (you'll have to ask about that because that sounds heartless) ). But from that trip, I decided that Big cities are AWESOME! and look where it got me. :) 

The next trip that I went on this year was also awesome. One day, some friends and I were sitting around the kitchen table and the topic of traveling somewhere in the summer came up and instantly everyone agreed that we should go somewhere. That night we all had the homework assignment to go home and look up the cheapest flights out of the country and to see where that would take us. We ended up planning a trip to the Yucatan in Mexico. With a total of 10 people it was not an easy task to coordinate with everyone, but everything worked out swimmingly. Maybe except for that one time that we locked the keys in the rental car in the middle of the jungle. HAHA. That was funny. One of the suggestions from the locals was to smash the window with a rock. They even found the perfect rock. Oh man... good times, good times. BUT from the Mexico experience I learned that having all your possessions in one backpack and going anywhere, whenever was one of the coolest experiences you can have. 

Next... I'm gonna put this one in because I consider it a trip. Angels Landing! WOO HOo! For the longest time, I hated hiking. I thought that it was just glorified walking, and who likes THAT? But when I was doing my internship in Cedar City I gained such an appreciation for hiking (especially for all the hikes in Southern Utah). So I was stoked to go to Angels Landing! and to see Les Miserables with some of my favorite people.  What I learned from this trip? Don't let go of the chain or you will die. Oh, and being afraid of heights is for sissies.

Then everything with my job started happening and I had my first interview in Philadelphia. This was a little intimidating because I was going to be all alone this big city that i've never been to. Plus the fact that everyone was telling me how dangerous it is... I was kinda nervous. But I went, rode the train by myself, stayed in a hotel by myself (that was weird), and explored by myself. Although it would have been fun with someone there, I loved it! I learned that traveling alone can be really fun! Especially when you really want to get a feel for the city because it forces you to talk to people and people watch. Not to mention that you can do whatever you want and nobody will complain.

THEN!...oh man I DID go to a lot of places.... The Dominican Republic!!! Definitely the coolest place i've been. It was the Jungle, the people were so unique, they were SO poor but SO happy, there were BEAUTIFUL beaches and it was the perfect temperature in December :).  I went there with my Dad because it was the 30 year reunion of the "pioneer missionaries" to the country. Meaning, 30 years ago my dad and about 10 other missionaries opened the mission. It was so cool to see how much the church has grown! They even have a temple! This place taught me how much places change. That decades later, you can return to the same street and not one thing will be the same. It just makes me want to go back in 3o years and see what is different. So, just because you've been somewhere once already, doesn't mean you can't go there again.

I went to Philadelphia again for a second interview. That taught me that I really REALLY wanted to live here. 

And last but not least, driving across country to live here. That taught me that everyone should drive across the country once in their lifetimes just so you can gain an appreciation for the beautiful country that we live in. I suggest taking a different highway than the 80. Its pretty boring...

There's my travelog for the past year. I think that every new place you go can teach you something different if you let it. If you don't think so, then I guess you're wrong. :)