Oh the Places You'll Go

"You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on you own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the (girl) who'll decide where to go."
~ Dr. Seuss

When I graduated from high school, my eldest brother gave me the book, "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss. I thought it was such a clever and appropriate gift (and later learned that his then-girlfriend-now-wife suggested he buy it). It still resides on a bookshelf in my living room. Have you read it as an adult? If not, next time you are at the library or a book store, pull it off the shelf and spend 5 minutes reading it. You might be surprised how applicable this book is to an adult's life!

If you someone had told the 18 year old version of myself that in the 10 years to come, I would have visited 2 other continents and a total of 8 countries outside of North America, I never would have believed it! Now, I know that there are many others who have seen far more of the world than I have, but considering the fact that I had never stepped on a plane at the age of 18, it's somewhat impressive that I saw so much in those 10 years after graduating from high school.

So why am I thinking about my past travels?

Well, my passport will expires on my birthday this year. The fees to obtain and renew a passport increased by $35 on Tuesday, so I decided to renew my passport this week. I'll be needing a valid passport for a trip in 2011... More to come on that...

Before sending it off in the mail, I looked back over the stamps on the pages. Words can not explain how excited I get over passport stamps. My friend Brooke loves to tease me about this! When we went to Europe together in 2004, on every train ride, I would excitedly ask,

"Do you think we'll get a stamp today?"

I know I will always have photos and memories from my trips, but there is something so nostalgic and timeless about a passport stamp. After looking through the stamps, I pulled out my old photos. I am not going to bore you with tons of vacation pics, but here are a few of my favorites.

Hiking in Mt. Cook National Park in New Zealand. New Zealand was by far the most beautiful country I have ever seen. And my word,I have never seen so many sheep! On this trip, I read that the sheep-to-people ratio in New Zealand is 10-1!

Queenstown, New Zealand is known as the adventure capital of the world. While there, I tandem para glided (pictured above) and bunjy jumped - two things I never thought I'd do. I have a video of bunjy jumping - I had to get it to prove to my parents that I did it as I knew they'd never believe that their chicken of a daughter would do that! I should figure out a way to get the VHS of that experience into a You Tube video. It's pretty interesting to watch...

In 2006, I visited a friend who was a Peace Corp volunteer in the Dominican Republic. We spent the first half of my trip in her campo where they did not have electricity. This trip was very eye opening as it made me realize how much of a spoiled American I am. I came back from this trip thankful for basic things like running water and electricity! In this picture, I am getting SCHOOLED in dominoes by these young girl. Oh vey, Latin Cultures ROCK at dominoes.

After spending a couple of days at my friend's compo, we headed to a beach resort where we seriously stayed in this little whole in the wall place for something like $10/night. I might have been worried about there being bed bugs... but it was across the street from the beach. After the heaviness of my experience at my friend's Peace Corp site, it was nice to end the vacation with some sun and relaxation.

This is the bridge in Prague - which is definitely the most beautiful bridge that I have ever seen - with Prague castle in the background. I am pretty sure my best friend Brooke took this picture because most of the pictures I took on this trip were blurry. Why? When we landed in Europe for this 10 day trip, I came down with a bug and I swear I have never been more sick in my life. It's really fun translating Bladder Infection into German... On top of that, I had a sinus infection and lost my voice. I was on so much cold medicine, I was literally shaking, hence the blurry photos. I was such a 'fabulous' travel partner, but we still made the most of it and had a wonderful time.

This post wouldn't be complete with a picture of the city that completely and utterly captured my heart in 2008. This is the city where I started blogging. This is the city where I finally broke free of the dark shadows of a difficult break-up that had happened earlier that year. This is the city where I discovered how much I enjoy traveling alone.

I can't wait to see what stamps I'll acquire in my new passport. I hope the next 10 years are as exciting and full of adventure as the past 10 have been. Next Friday, I'll share my exciting travel plans for 2011.

Do you have a passport? If so, do it have as many stamps as you thought it would at this point in your life. Even though I am happy that I have been to as many places as I have been, I do wish I had seen a bit more!