Wanderlust. New places. New experiences. All of it. All of travelling. I love it.

I love to travel, anywhere and everywhere. It does not matter if is to a foreign country or just to a town across the state, I want to go. I want to see. I want to experience. I want to feel what it is to be in other places. I want to marvel at all that God has created and meet his children all across the world. I just want to travel- a lot.

To get the most out of every opportunity that I have to travel, I have a few rules for myself when I travel. They are:

1. Pack light, but be prepared.

I can't stand to check a bag when I fly. I hate the idea of losing it, and travel is about experiences not stuff. Now, with that said, I do pack some pretty useful stuff like a travel blanket that folds up to the size of an iPhone 4 and a charging bank.

2. DO NOT eat anything that I could eat at home.

Food is such an integral part of the human experience. Therefore, I love to use food as a way to dive into a culture and try new things. As long as it doesn't contain shellfish (which I'm highly allergic to), I'll try it. Food makes people happy and brings them together, and I want to me a part of their community, even if for only a little while.

3. Be brave.

Next week, I plan on having a lot of firsts such as: snorkeling, parasailing, and kayaking. When I'm in for Canada 3 weeks from now, I have plans to go hiking and take on the adventures of Jasper National Park as they come. I don't spend this money and go these places for nothing. Part of traveling is getting way out of your comfort zone, and that's why I make it a rule for myself to be brave.

I am so excited for my upcoming adventures and the ones I haven't yet planned. The appeal of travel, to me, is the unknown. Sure, you can use google maps and images, visit websites, and look at brochures, but places other than home have an allure of uncertainty that always has me itching to buy a plane ticket. For me, staying in one place all the time and seeing and experiencing the same things, people, and cultures over and over seems like a waste of my existence.

So, take off wanderers! Be brave! Be bold! Experience this world and the other people in it with open minds, hearts, and stomachs!