A few months ago, I went to Europe for the first time. It was a two-week trip with a small group of people from my high school, and we traveled to London, Paris, and Barcelona. I’ve had a while to reflect on that trip now, and I can see that the effects it has had on me are monumental.

To say something about how my trip was “fun” or that it was “exciting” would be a severe understatement. Those things are absolutely true, of course, but they come nowhere close to conveying what that experience was like. That trip changed my life in every way I had expected, and even more.

Traveling to another country for the first time, well, to put the experience into words would be impossible, but regardless, I’m going to try.

I remember the plane ride across the Atlantic very vividly. I’ve never been more ridiculously excited for something in my whole life. Although the flight was only eight hours long, it felt like a lifetime, and I had too much anticipation to watch a movie or read, so I stared out the window the whole time. I wouldn’t describe it as boredom... it was impatience. I could not wait. So you can probably imagine what it was like when we began our descent.

I’ll never forget the moment that we finally descended below the clouds and England burst into view. It was a feeling of pure euphoria and absolute thrill, and I’ve only felt it three times in my life- landing in London, getting off the train in Paris, and landing in Barcelona. Those are three separate stories that all deserve their own posts, and I can’t wait to tell them another time.

I still can’t believe that trip was even real. Thinking back on it now, it feels like it was just a dream. Thinking about it in the context of my whole life, it seems more like a fantasy than something that actually happened in reality.

I thought that trip would satisfy this hunger for adventure that I’d had for many years. And it did- temporarily. As soon as I arrived back home, and the effects of the trip wore off, I immediately was right back to that overwhelming desire to travel, and more intensely than ever before. It never left, and the thought is at the back of my mind constantly, nagging me every day. Finally knowing how it feels to go on a trip like that makes it so much harder to wait to go again.

If you are wanting to travel somewhere new, whether it be a new part of the state, country, or across the world, but have fear or uncertainty holding you back…don’t let it. Ignore of all the thoughts telling you that you shouldn’t do it, and indulge the curious, adventurous part of you. Do it even if it terrifies you. Because I can tell you from experience that you will not regret it. There’s a quote that I love from Sheryl Sandberg that I think is appropriate here, and I encourage you to ask yourself this:

“What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”

Traveling on that first and fateful trip of mine changed my whole outlook on life, and shaped my dreams for the future. I went into it with a reasonable amount of fear and worry- as anyone would when going somewhere thousands of miles across the ocean, away from everything they’re ever known- and it turned out to be the most gratifying choice I’ve ever made. So if your mind is holding you back, let this be a confirmation that you should do it anyway, because is living with caution really any way to live?