And the Bug Bites Again

The travel bug is at it again. I am having this intense desire to travel. Partially because it is way too cold, but mostly because I can't imagine my life without travel, and it has been far too long again. It is my personal belief that you learn the most when you travel. You learn new environments, new cultures, new food, new people, new architecture, new everything. You don't even need to travel very far, just get out of your comfortable environment. Go somewhere new, go somewhere you've already been. It doesn't matter. There is always something new to be learned, something new to see, something new to photograph (for me as a photographer this is always a big draw). And by traveling you will learn to look at the world a little bit differently.
I can't remember for sure, but I think my first trip was a road trip to the east coast to visit my grandfather at the age of four or five. And I've been traveling ever since then. My parents always saved money for trips. We didn't always have money to buy the latest and greatest thing, but I never cared because our extra money went towards trips, and as far as I'm concerned, that is one of the most amazing things my parents ever did for me growing up. My sister never had quite the same appreciation for it as I did (not that she didn't like traveling), for me it was a drug. Every trip brought about a new high. Something so exciting, nothing else could replace the feeling of stepping off the plane, or out of the car in a new location. I become completely obsessed leading up to trips. The anticipation is almost too much to handle. I would literally give up all of my non necessary possessions for a lifetime of travel.
There are very few things in this world that could compare to the feeling of being in a new place. And as a traveler, as much as I like just hanging out by the pool or on the beach, that's not my idea of a trip. It's always part of it, but not the majority of it. If you don't go out and experience the life going on around you in the new place, see it's monuments, it's everyday areas, a whole spread of what's going on there, you're cheating yourself out of an amazing experience.

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -Saint Augustine