Y is for YOLO

Oh my, I can’t believe I’m using it, but it’s rather fitting. So many people ask me why I travel. I find it such a silly question. The answer seems so obvious to me. Yet, I am starting to understand, that to the person who does not travel, my lifestyle is very strange. And yes, I would call it a lifestyle.  Though it is not something I do every day, it is something I incorporate into my life several times a year. And without it, I would cease being me.

YOLO- you only live once. I suppose that is largely the answer to the question. I travel because I am here for a very short time, and I want to see and do and smell and taste and feel and experience everything I possibly can.  From a very young age, probably from moving around as much as I did with a father in the army, I discovered a need to go. Of course, at the time, I didn’t know it was a need, it was simply what I did. As I got older, it became a yearning, an eagerness to go, explore, learn, seek, find. 

Travel is one of the most fulfilling experiences in my life. As I’ve grown, I’ve realized that there are fewer and fewer firsts in our life. I hate this. When we are younger everything is a first, your first kiss, your first time driving a car, your first love.  I believe firsts are the secret to staying young, feeling young.  Travel allows me to experience firsts over and over again. Each new country, new culture, new dish, new beach, new rum allows me to have that exhilarating feeling of discovering something new.

There are over 200 countries.  Within those countries, there are 1,000’s of cities and people and food and ideas to unearth. I plan to visit all 200 countries and continue encountering firsts for the rest of my life because you only live once.