beyond-travel-blog

[beyond-travel-blog]

Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia

[beyond-travel-blog]

(Southern Highlands, Australia)

Understanding Why:

Apart from this desire to challenge myself, the other major reason why I wanted to travel to Australia was because I felt like I needed to get out of my everyday rut. I had a desire to explore the world and go on adventures.

The Southern Highlands was the first place that I visited in Australia. My friend and I rented a car and drove the 2 hours it took to get into these mountains. The whole area was lush and primeval and gave you a feeling like you were stepping into another time period. When we initially arrived it was so misty and foggy out that it was impossible to see any of the canyons below. A huge wall of white blocked your entire view. It was surreal, I’ve never experienced anything like that; I compared it to a video game where the higher levels are blocked off.

I just remember that the entire time I was here I was just awestruck. Here I am, in some primeval forest staring into what felt like the edge of the world. For me, this was far from your average day.

[beyond-travel-blog]

(Canberra, ACT, Australia)

Understanding Why:

I was fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to study abroad. I did it for a number of reasons, really, but my biggest and most compelling reason was that I wanted to challenge myself.

Before all of that started I wasn’t in the best of places and there was a lot that I did not like about myself. I wanted to be a better person. Then one day, I had enough of my misery. I sat myself down and wrote out everything I did not like about myself; then I wrote down everything that made me happy in life. Traveling was on that list of what made me happy, but I’ll write more on that later. From there I made a plan on how to become the person that I wanted to be. I went on a warpath of self improvement and growth for months.

As time progressed and I became satisfied with the results I realized that I needed to challenge myself somehow. “What better way to challenge yourself than leaving everyone you know behind and jumping into an unknown environment,” I figured. I would study abroad.

I figured that if I was to study abroad that I would have to choose a place where English was the native language. My goal was to really immerse myself in the environment I was living in. While I do love learning languages, I just felt that 5 months would not be a long enough time to understand the language and thus allow me to fully immerse myself in that culture. I ended up choosing Australia because that was the farthest I could get from the environment I was used to my entire life. Here, on the other side of the world, I knew no one. No one from my university studied in Australia that semester. No one in my study abroad program chose to study in Canberra. I knew it was too far for anyone that I knew to come visit me, and I certainly was not going to come back.

So it was here, in Canberra, Australia- a city that is almost completely unheard of in the US- where I made my stand. It was here that I tested myself to see how much I had grown.

Those 5 months in Australia were the best months of my life. If you follow this blog, you will definitely hear much more about those months.

[beyond-travel-blog]

Understanding Why

I think there is a dichotomy in humans in regards to how they feel about traveling. There are some people that want nothing to do with it. They say “No thank you, I don’t need to see what’s beyond the world I already know. I don’t need an adventure. I am fine right where I am.” And that is completely okay

However, I believe that the people that are on the other side of this dichotomy have such a compelling, almost primal, urge to travel. They daydream about being somewhere that they are not, ideas about the “foreign” and “exotic” allure them, and in today’s modern age, greatly in part due to social media, the siren call is exacerbated to a level history has never seen before. Travel has been made easy, and therefore popular. But why? Why do so many people get an urge to travel? I hope to answer this question by providing some personal examples in this travel series: Understanding Why

[beyond-travel-blog]

For my first blog post, I feel compelled to introduce myself; so here are some pictures of me in my happy place: traveling. I have always been passionate about traveling, I think I inherited it from my parents who are both avid and adventurous travelers. I hate to sound cheesy but traveling, visiting new places, and learning more about the world is what brings me joy in life. Everyday I fantasize about what trip I can take next.

I am a sincere believer in the idea that traveling and seeing the world makes you a better person. Like countless others, I have personally grown through much of my travels. It has taught me to face my fears, it has taught me how to be comfortable with the uncomfortable, and it has taught me how to be self-reliant. For anyone who has always desired to travel, to take a step out of the world that they know, I hope that this blog inspires you to take that step.

Throughout my life I have been on a multitude of trips and exciting adventures that range from diving with great white sharks, to slicing my foot open in the middle of the Australian Outback, to dogsledding in the Canadian winter, to drunken escapades in Nashville and New Orleans. I want to share with the world all of the stories that I have accumulated. And who knows, maybe no one will listen; but at least it’s out there for someone to find.