From the outside my story is a simple one. Born into a military family, I had my fair share of moving around and learned to adapt quickly to new environments. I also gained a lot of exposure to the world from a very young age, instilling the travel spark in me that has grown into a full flame today. When I say it like that, I almost believe that my life has been pretty simple and predictable. Yet the truth is there have been many unexpected turns in my life that I never could have imagined.
Early years of my life were spent in Hawaii and then Guam, where I enjoyed playing in the sand and running down the huge green hills around the islands. From here my parents and I moved to Aviano, Italy, (located in a northern province of the country) which was my first taste of Europe. Our years here were happy ones, filled with many unforgettable trips to Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Slovenia. Yes, that’s right, I still remember many of the days I spent with my parents driving across borders and walking through the luscious green Alpine mountains and valleys this part of the world is known for. Of course we traveled quite a bit around Italy as well: down to Rome to visit family, Venice for festivals, and sailing to Sicily. On the latter experience, I was even able to step foot into Africa, when our ship docked in Tunisia.
Our European adventure came to a halt when my dad’s next assignment brought us to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here I was very fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of my extended family; grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins from my mom’s side of the family. Three years in Albuquerque flew by, and pretty soon it was time for my dad to retire. Together my parents and I moved to Leavenworth, Washington, a tiny Bavarian-themed town in the central part of the state. For seven years we attempted to make it feel like home. Yet it was here that I really started to realize how much I felt like I didn’t belong. Up until now my life was constantly changing and had countless moving pieces where I had to learn to adjust and adapt quickly to completely new environments. This is what I was accustomed to, so coming to a place where everyone had lived here since the day they were born made me feel like nothing short of an outsider. Unfortunately, my family broke apart during this time as well when my parents decided to separate. Being an only child only augmented how alone I felt for several years during this unexpected shift in my life.
It was in Leavenworth where I started this travel blog as a project my freshman year of high school. Not a project for school, just a personal one that would allow me to share and reflect upon the adventures I had been on up until that point. At the time, the creation of this blog was also a good escape for me to go back and relive the wonderful memories I had with both my parents on the countless trips we made together. I was excited to design a webpage with pictures and stories that I always enjoyed telling people in person, whether it was about that time in Japan we rented a car so small I had to sit with a large suitcase on my lap for hours on end, or rode an elephant in Thailand, or almost froze to death in St. Petersburg, Russia during the peak of summer. There was just so much I wanted to share about the adventures I had been so fortunate to go on. And since I had always enjoyed writing, why not combine the two?
On and off I worked on the design of pages and researched what it took to set up a website. Yet one thing I could not come up with…a name for my site! Even with the help of others I could not find one that was right. I wanted to get started so badly on writing that I finally threw in the towel and just called it exactly what it was, hence the lack of creativity in my current domain name. 🙂 Maybe that will change one day, maybe not. But, I have realized that the most important thing for me is just having a platform to share these stories with. Thinking about past travels certainly built up a strong desire in me to want to get back out into the world! An opportunity soon arose that I was quick to jump on.
Yes, another transition was difficult. However, every day I told myself, you’re living in Germany, do you know how many people dream of living in Europe? I also thought about how much harder it would have been if I had gone to Thailand. I was very grateful to be where I was, and it didn’t take long for Germany to feel like home. My dad and I traveled extensively during these couple years. We drove all around Germany, and I still feel like I have so much more to see! We made it to many different countries in Europe too, bringing my country count up to 39 by the time I graduated.
I felt so comfortable living in Germany, and I miss it everyday living back in the US now. That’s where this blog comes in. It’s a project that will never be finished. As long as I am able to travel, I will always have something to write about. It’s also a way to document the parts of my life that one can’t really see from the outside. I am not one to want to introduce myself right off the bat and say, “Oh yeah by the way, I’ve been here, here, and here!” So, this is all the information one could get that may or may not be brought up when I am simply talking to someone. I understand how fortunate I have been, and to me the best way to show how grateful I am for these experiences is to share them with people. Realistically, being a college student doesn’t allow for as much free time as one would hope. Yet whenever it’s possible, I spend time working on this site. My hope is to one day have it completely up to date! There are so many stories I have in the queue to write about.
I am always ready for the next adventure, and I hope to inspire anyone reading this to go out and explore the world whenever they have the chance. I truly don’t know who I would be if I wasn’t the nomad I am today. Who knows where I am headed in life, I am only 18 as I write this section after all. Nevertheless, I am excited for what the future will bring and hope you enjoy following me on this journey! Thank you for visiting my site!
Kaitlin