“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine

So I always try to find a quote to fit the subject that I want to post about and after a dinner last night discussing a possible travel adventure I had been reminiscing all my travels thus far in my life. This travel quote really hit me because I 100% agree with it. Traveling has become a little bit of addiction with me. It all began when my friends Mike, Emily and I decided that we needed a little adventure to look forward at the end of our summer vacation before college started up. We started small and ended up picking a 4 day backpacking trip in Washington State. It was hard and gorgeous!!

This is a picture of one of the first things we saw on our hike Sol Duc falls before the long trek up to the high divide.

I felt adventurous and young and that I was doing more with my life then work, sleep and die. And so the addiction was born.

The next summer we followed it up with a trip to Chile. A little bit bigger scale. We spent two weeks in a foreign country where .1% of the country spoke English and it was wonderful. I've seen the Chilean coast, been horseback riding in the Andes and stayed in some of the most ghetto places (even had a cat fall through my ceiling).

Here's a pic of the Andes from Horse Back

After that it would be some time before my next big adventure...with little travels scattered in between. It came when my friend jacob received and internship in Prague and bam my wheels began to turn. I knew Prague was a must and I was good enough to con my other friend Alicia to coming and our trip expanded to include three weeks in Europe. We went to London, Prague, Venice, Florence and some scattering of little cities throughout Czech Republic. I've seen places I had only studied about and it was awe inspiring.

Here's pictures of Windsor Castle and Florence with the Duomo in the background and my favorite tree in Prague with jacob and Alicia.

So now this new possible opportunity is coming up to travel the Caribbean on a cruise and I can feel it slipping away due to genuine practical concerns. But I can tell you if I was too practical I would not have done any of these trips. But somehow the dream was born and I went for it! I do not want to go through life reading one page or even just one chapter of the world's book. I'm young and single and if I don't go for these things now another opportunity won't come up. At least I know if Caribbean doesn't work out I will be heading back to Europe for another visit this time Scotland and beyond. With that I leave you with this last quote.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

Take his advice! I recommend it to everyone....sail away from the normal to be able to reach something extraordinary! I promise you will not regret it!