Travel Bug

I was a dork and a loner as a kid.  I'll be honest, I still am.  Don't get me wrong, I love my friends but I also know that I don't have 20+ close friends and I like it that way.  I don't mind being alone and I really enjoyed living by myself.  I make sure my husband knows this as well :).

Anyway, back in ninth grade, I came home from school one day and asked my mom for $1200 so I could go to Spain with my friends.  She was, to say the least, surprised.  I had barely even talked about or hung out with these friends outside of school.  They were school friends and I had a different set of "hanging out" friends.  It was kind of a school trip, they rotated the country every year (Spain, France, Italy) and if you took that language in school you could go on that trip (if you could afford it).  It doesn't make sense to me that you had to take that language because, honestly, when you put a bunch of high schoolers in a foreign country the last thing they are worried about is speaking the language properly.  But those were the rules.  I talked about it with the girls in my Biology class and we all thought it would be cool to go.  What 15 year old wouldn't think going to a foreign country without parents would be cool? 

Somehow, my parents gave in.  It wasn't even really that hard to convince them either.  My sister decided that it should be instead of a Sweet 16 or gift and I was fine with that.  I think because I was always so quiet they were just shocked by it and that's what made them hand over the check so easily. 

Honestly, I didn't think my parents would ever say yes or give me the money to go.  When they said "Yes" so quickly, I got rather nervous.  I started thinking "What the hell did I get myself into?  What if, in 9 months when this trip happens, I don't even speak to these girls anymore?  What if I get lost in Spain and no one remembers me and comes to find me?  What if someone walks in on me in the shower?  What if I snore?"  Hey, I was 15, we all have different worries and fears at that age.

I remember being at the airport and hugging my parents goodbye while all the other girls (I think there was only like 1 guy on the whole trip which is weird) cried and kissed and hugged their parents.  At night, most of the girls would call their moms and cry about how much they missed them but they were having a good time.  I didn't call my parents once.  I didn't want to waste the money calling and I was having a great time - I would tell them everything when I got home anyway.

Of course, when I got home I was very excited to see my parents and tell them everything.  My mom hugged me and told me that she always knew I would be her traveler.  I was the quiet one but she could always see it in my eyes that I would go places and see things and I would love it.  And I do, I really do.  My husband and I both love saving up money just so we can use it all on a big trip and see things we never imagined we would be able to see.  I never thought I would actually get to go to Pompeii or touch the Great Pyramids but I have and it makes me very grateful that I've been able to.