Wanderlust

After reading and learning about the fascinating discoveries of explorers when I was nine years old, I proudly announced to my stepmother that I wanted to be an explorer when I grew up. “You can’t; everything has already been discovered,” she replied. She was always one to crush many imaginative notions I may have possessed. Spirit crushed but not completely broken, I vowed to myself to one day travel and see the world. Some people dream of getting married and having children, but all I ever wanted was to travel.

In 2010 I was working a job that was draining me. After two and a half years as an office supervisor at Simmons’ Sporting Goods, I walked out after being repeatedly yelled at, in the middle of their biggest sale. I did not know what I was going to do, but I knew I could not take another second of their abuse. I was shaking as I drove home to my dog, Jetta, in our one bedroom apartment. I spent three weeks hanging out by the pool and playing with Jetta. I had never felt so much relief to be out of a bad situation. Eventually I started getting very anxious about what would happen next. I applied for jobs and received three offers immediately. I took them all before eventually settling on the highest paying position at a bank. I still needed a change, so I decided it was time to see more of the world. I was 25, mostly single, without children, so I expedited the passport process, bought tickets to Germany for Jetta and myself, packed and shipped what I needed, and sold/donated the rest.

I was anxious, delighted, scared out of my mind but finally felt like I was doing something I needed to do. Many people have questioned me on taking Jetta with me. I was initially conflicted on the issue, but I knew I could not leave without her. She was 10 months old and my whole world. She had to travel in her kennel underneath, and I felt like the worst baby dog mother. A cheap international ticket equals sitting in the middle section at the very back of the plane – close to where the dogs travel beneath. I could hear them barking and crying, and it broke my heart. I was crying when the flight attendant came to take my drink order, so they felt bad for me and gave me free drinks the entire flight. Needless to say, I was a bit over served. I did not misbehave, but I definitely slept extremely well most of that long flight.

I experienced the most exciting year of my life and met so many wonderful people. I am still close friends with some of them. I have been to the top of the Eiffel Tower, seen the Mona Lisa, Buckingham Palace, Amsterdam, beautiful Germany, and many other memorable places. The Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa cannot be explained, but they were not disappointing as some people have wondered. The feeling of peace and calm when I stepped into Notre Dame is something you can only experience for yourself to understand. In Trier, I got to see an actual nail from when Jesus was nailed to the cross. I attended a Katy Perry concert as well as Bon Jovi and was even fortunate enough to see Trace Adkins perform on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 for the troops at Ramstein.

It took walking through my German village every day and saying, “hallo, guten morgen, and auf wiedersehen” to the locals before they warmed up to me, but they did. The French, who are portrayed to be the worst to Americans, were even nicer. When my friend and I came out of the metro, and stepped out into Paris, we were a bit overwhelmed. Map in hands, eyes wide and searching, two people approached to help us. Thankfully, my French is pretty decent, (I did win the French award two years in high school after all) so I did great in Paris. They always appreciate when you attempt to speak their language even if you mess up.

I would not trade my travel experiences for anything, and with so many places left to see, I am not yet finished. I encourage everyone to step out of your comfort zones, and go see other places.