The After Life

As a recent college graduate, I have undergone a whirlwind of change throughout the last week. Literally, one week. Last Saturday I was sitting at my college graduation ceremony, conversing with the family while basking in my “accomplishments and efforts” from the last four years of excessive drinking, coffee consumption and SparkNotes. Within 24hrs, I was on the road driving through four states to arrive from Arizona to my home state of Washington. 50hrs after my arrival in Washington, I left. This time my destination was Thailand.

Talk about fast paced, eh?

Well here I am now. Sitting in my small Thai apartment after a long day of adventuring and exploring. I made the resolution to begin writing about my experiences more. I have an extraordinary opportunity to travel and I sometimes forget how thankful I should be for these experiences. Over the years, it has been a part of me to want to see new places and to grow from experiencing foreign environments. Yet when talking to friends and family, I realize how unique my situation is.

I suppose the goal of me starting this blog series is to motivate and inspire people. I feel a shift in the generational expectations beginning. For my parents and grandparents, life was laid out fairly simple. One would go to high-school, then college and then eventually get married and perhaps have children. Then the picket fence and well-maintained yard would follow and the jobs would produce paychecks. However, I’ve seen the result of that generation who is now getting older. A lot of them seem, not necessarily unhappy… but perhaps regretful?  

My current generation has a shrinking world at their fingertips to explore; yet many are hesitant and scared. I think the greatest obstacle stopping them is the fear of disappointing or being labeled “not normal”.  While talking to people, many express how lucky I am for the ability to travel. But what I so greatly want everyone to know is that they have the same ability to travel that I do! Screw being normal and immediately producing offspring while tying myself down with mortgages and loans.

I am responsible for my life and how I choose to live it.  And so are you.

At the age of 5, my parents asked my sister and I what we wanted to be when we were grown-ups. My sister said she wanted to train dolphins (sadly this didn’t turnout to be her future). I said I wanted to be a world traveler. They laughed and explained that’s not a job and told me how I needed a real job to have money so I could travel. To this, I responded that I will just marry a rich man (which also has not turned out to be my future, unfortunately).

Since the age of 5, I have known I want to see the world. Now, at 21, I have no different plans than I did as a kid. Instead of being worried, I am beyond content. The fact that I am doing exactly what my child self wanted, shows that through all the chaos and expectations and stress, I have not lost my self and my knowledge of my purpose.  I hope that this blog can serve as inspiration to any persons from any generation to travel the world and not be scared of the unknown and unconventional.

So follow my blog and I am going to update about culture, religion, food, adventure and more! 

If anyone ever has question about travel or life or a country to anything, I'd love to help where I can :)