You know that feeling that you get when you know you're about to travel somewhere new? For me I light up inside and I can't wait to get there. I am afflicted with wanderlust.

Wanderlust is a very strong, intense desire to travel and see the world. It affects tons of people every day. I myself know I am afflicted with wanderlust. I have a notebook full of places that I want to see and things I want to do when I get there. I constantly plan new trips down to the last detail before I even know how I am going to pay for them.

I knew from a young age that I loved traveling. When I was a kid I would travel short distances with my family. I was born in New Hampshire and when I was 9 we moved to Northern Virginia. My fathers side of the family lives in Indiana and all of my mothers side lives in New England. After we moved, I would usually travel to New England or Indiana for holidays but very rarely did we ever stay home. My mom has always told me that I did really well on long car trips. I enjoyed them, I would take pictures of cool sights along the way or I would draw in a notebook to pass the time. Once in awhile, my parents would choose to fly instead of driving and that always made me really happy. I absolutely loved flying and still do today, to the point where I have plans to be a flight attendant after I graduate from college. I love the excitement that I feel when the plane is taking off, the beautiful pictures I can get when I'm in the air, and the rush I get from the speed when we are landing.

I have been very lucky in my life to see some marvelous places. I've been to Mexico, the Bahamas, Canada, Indiana, and all up and down the East Coast. Some places I would love to see in the future include Hawaii, South Africa, Spain and New Zealand. I am fortunate enough to be traveling to England in a few weeks with my school and I can't wait to be there!

One of my favorite quotes comes from the French novelist Anaisnin. She writes "We travel, some of us forever, to seek other lives, other states, other souls." I know for myself at least at this point in my life, I will never be happy staying in one place. I have such a desire to see other parts of the world, ad meet the people that are living there helping them if I can. I get such a sense of fulfillment andI feel a tremendous amount of joy when I travel that I am hard pressed to find in other areas of my life.

One way that I save money when I travel is by taking pictures. I love purchasing t-shirts and coffee cups, postcards and baseball caps. However, when I want to look back on somewhere that I have gone I will reference pictures that I have. To me the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words", couldn't be more true. I will go back to the pictures that I took and often times I'll just glance through them and smile. The sunsets I captured, the animals that I saw, the people that had an impact on me, those are the things that I want to remember the most. Those are things that I want to share with people when they ask me how my trip went.

You know you may be afflicted with wanderlust if you find yourself browsing through pictures of trips you took 10 years ago and desperately wishing you could return. Pushing your nose up against the glass of a window on a plane to see all the sights. Planning trips without having any money and realizing this after you have all the details set. You have a bucket list 50 pages long of places you want to go, or you are never content being in one place for too long. If you are afflicted with wanderlust, know that it's okay. You'll find a way to satisfy your craving because as the famous author J.R.R Tolkien says "not all who wander are lost." You'll find your path. As Ellie from the movie UP would say "Adventure is out there!" Now go find it!