I have dreamed of traveling since I was five years old!

When and where my travel journey started: on a road trip at 6 years old.

I dedicate my first written introduction blog to where it all started, my childhood dreams. I knew when I was as young as 4 or 5 years old that I wanted to travel the world when I grow up. I wasn’t like some other kids that would state they wanted to be a “Doctor” or “Fireman” or "Teacher." I have never wanted to be any one “thing” in a career. Still true today. Perhaps, the closest pure thing I have really wanted to be is a Writer, only because I want to write about traveling. I would state to family members in my very confident younger self, “I will travel the world someday!” Luckily, I had a few people in my life raising me, telling me I could go anywhere I wanted.

When I played on my Granny’s swing set and I would swing as high as I could, reaching for the sky when I would see a plane in the air. I would magically be able to grab the plane and jump on and go anywhere in the world. I would daydream of riding in the car, going and seeing new places and meeting new people. It didn’t matter if it was the backwoods and dirt roads of Arkansas, Oklahoma, or Texas where I grew up. A new town, a new highway or even a new state, if it was some place new, I wanted to see it, feel it, and smell it.

I grew up poor and my dreams of traveling anywhere past my tri-state area seemed farfetched, like going to the moon. My mother raised me as a single parent, I grew up in a trailer park, so going anywhere was a dream. I remember when I was 6 years old and one of my first big road trips from my hometown of Texarkana, TX to Cape Girardeau, MO for my mother’s friend wedding. I remember meeting a nice stranger while on that road trip, at a rest stop, while my mother was just a few feet away. Now I know what many of you are thinking: alert! alert! stranger danger! Why are we talking about meeting a perfectly good stranger on the road and how was this a pivotal moment in my life? Odd, I know. But, Let me tell you, it was my first time reading a person (non-verbally), striking up a conversation and meeting a nice stranger, while traveling. I did know about "Stranger Danger" as a child and I did not speak to all strangers. I was able to access the situation by having my mother nearby, that this lady seemed nice for me to strike up a conversation and she said some nice words back to me and I did not feel in danger. This was an amazing feeling. Being able to start a conversation with a perfectly good stranger, see the kindness in others and go about our trip. This encounter spoke to me and ignited something inside of me. The joy of meeting new people, while traveling to new places. It was an awesome feeling! At 6 years old, I knew. Even to this day my Mother reminds me of this story and how it scared her that I struck up a conversation with a perfectly good stranger. To me, it was about learning who I am and discovery the world of being an extrovert. Gaining strength in meeting others.

One of the best feelings in the world is going somewhere, to see something or someone new. I figured out that it was in my core; it is who I am and discovered my first love: to travel. Forty-five years later, I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. All I know is my bucket list of places I want to visit keeps growing. I dream and work my way to the next trip, learning more and more of the world and meeting more wonderful people as I go along.

To all the dreamers out there that dream of your next destination and have no idea how you will get to all the places you want to go, hold on to your dreams. Even through all my travels up to this point, I feel I have only begun to scratch the surface of the places I have yet to reach. I still feel like that 6-year-old girl at times, will I ever get to all of the places I want to go?

Disclaimer: In regards to meeting strangers, I would like to state that I share my traveling stories from my personal experiences. I would like to share from my experiences, whether it is going to the grocery store or across the world, always be smart and aware of your surroundings, do not engage with a stranger when you do not feel safe or comfortable. Follow your intuition and true gut feelings in any situation and surroundings.

Photos above: Early years, road trip to Missouri, Illinois and Teenage years on a road trip to Utah, stopping at the Grand Canyon and visiting new states.