Introduction - Change with travel

Introduction:

Welcome to the "Change with travel" blog! Having had many conversations with people, I've realized how many people want to travel, and also, people who have never traveled. I wanted to start a blog to influence you to travel, and how traveling changes you positively.

Venezia, Italy - August 2017 (Solo trip)

Change with travel:

Just a quick intro about myself, and how traveling changed me. In the 80s and 90s, I grew up in a very small town in Utah with the population of only about ~1,300 people. Most of it was, and still is, covered with farms and ranches. It was one of those towns where you knew almost everyone. We had no theaters, not one stoplight in the entire town (it officially has one stoplight now), no major fast food chains (A couple family own restaurants, and it eventually the Subway and Burger King fast food restaurants arrived in the late 2000's), and the closest major chain grocery stores were an hour away.

Growing up in a family where money was very tight, we didn't really get to enjoy many of the luxuries others did. Once a month, if we were lucky, we'd get to go to a McDonald's and six of us would share fries, drinks, and maybe a few of the smallest and cheapest hamburgers you could buy. 

I had always enjoyed watching movies, looking at pictures, and reading about places around the world that I wish I could see. And in school, especially in our world history classes, we'd learn about amazing historical sites, yet it had never occurred to me that I may actually get to see some of those places.

It wasn't until early 2012, a point that I had already graduated from a University, that a friend had this plan to travel throughout Europe. Shortly after, there were a group of us flying to England in the summer of 2012, and that's where my story begins of how traveling changed my life positively. I went from a small town kid, who hated driving in big cities (or even small cities), to driving solo throughout Europe in some of the most complicated cities. I also grew immensely as a person, and gained a confidence that I could accomplish whatever I set my mind to.

At times I think many are stopped from traveling, whether it's due to money, the intimidation of being in a foreign country, figuring out transportation, etc. The truth is, traveling can be affordable, and it is easier than you might think. It may require time until you have the opportunity to travel, and planning a budget, as well as fully researching and coming up with a plan; however, it is realistic and possible. I will touch on these in each blog post.