The Craving For Travel

The first time I traveled was when I was 4 and I was visiting family in Istanbul, Turkey. Ever since then I began to grow more and more curious about the world. I wanted to experience and see it all and found that there wasn’t anything too interesting about a “normal” life. I grew sad living in a small city with few people on the streets, terrible weather repeatedly, and nothing new to explore. Sure, there was those family vacations to Istanbul that we went to every other year and I looked forward to them like there was no tomorrow, but I found that it wasn’t enough for me. I needed to see more and all my parents would say was “wait until you’re older”. 

Right after high school finished, I planned my first trip and thus began to give in to my wanderlust. Right when I set foot in New York City, I felt like I was alive again. The people, the places to go, and the overall energy of the city was just what I needed. There was just something so beautiful about not knowing where everything was and experiencing everything for the first time. I could only describe it as being exhilarating. It made me forget all my troubles and allowed me to focus in on the moment. Most importantly, I realized traveling made me happy to be alive and I wanted to re-live that feeling over and over again.

After that trip, I became obsessed with traveling. I found myself daydreaming about all the places that I could visit in class and even carrying a small notebook with me in my purse to jot down travel ideas. I swear half the fun of traveling is getting prepared to travel and counting down the days!

With this in mind, I hope everyone discovers the beauty of wanderlust and gets to travel and go beyond what they already know about the world. Not only do you see new places, try new foods, and make new memories but I’ve found that you discover more about yourself. It changes you and gives you this wisdom that not everyone has.

Try to at least visit a new place once a year if possible. It doesn’t always have to be someplace far away, it can be short road trips to cities near-by that you haven’t had time to discover yet! You would be surprised at what’s out there! Before you know it, you’ll have wanderlust as well.

Until next time lovelies,

-Ruya