If you’ve read the blog for some time, you know that my husband and I travel quite frequently. Sometimes for work, sometimes for pleasure, but enjoyed every time regardless of the reason. I know my blog is much more heavily focused on home decor, design and style, but without sharing about my travel experiences, I feel like there is a part of me missing from the blog because it is such an important element of my life.

Next week I hope to finally share our Florence and Tuscany, Italy story. It’s been a long time coming but I don’t want to leave out any of the details.

Today, I thought it would be interesting to some of you to share my journey over time and why travel has become such an important part of my life and how the little travel bug living in me has continued to grow.

Growing up, I had one younger brother (we are about 2.5 years apart). We traveled occasionally in our younger years, but only a trip every few years or so.

Around the time I reached high school age, my parents approached us and asked if, in lieu of Christmas presents going forward, if we would rather take a family vacation at some point in the year instead.

Quite honestly, this was such an amazing option for them to give us. I don’t think we realized it at the time, but when we both agreed, we opened up a whole new world. Our parents still gave us a few small gifts each Christmas so we had something to open. But that was really beside the point. The gift of travel was so much more than anything we could unwrap!

Our first trip was to Cancun, Mexico. The following year we went to Washington, DC. My senior year we took a Caribbean cruise (it also fell over my mom’s birthday) – we also happened to host a foreign exchange student from Brazil for that entire school year.

For my high school graduation, two of my friends and I saved up money to go to Kauai for a week. Admittedly, we didn’t do much more than this the entire time:

But, we were on our own for the first time and forced to fend for ourselves and make decisions as adults.

Once I reached my college years, we went to Maui as a family. We then spent Christmas at Disney World with extended family the following year. This was such an amazing opportunity for us to see so many new places, and we got to do it all as a family. I know we both look back on those years with so much fondness, and I know it is what makes my brother and I so eager to travel so much now in life.

Sometimes, we’d even explore our own backyard. Utah was such a beautiful state to grow up in!

My second year of college, at the age of eighteen, I had the opportunity through our local Rotary to join a foreign exchange program in Finland one summer. Admittedly, I signed up with some apprehension about the whole thing. It involved a student from Finland (who was two years younger than me) coming to Utah to live with my family for a month in the summer. I would then return with her to live with her family for another month, and live in Salo, Finland.

My month in Finland was amazing and continued to broaden my world. While there, I was also able to travel to St. Petersburg, Russia and Stockholm, Sweden.

I’m actually still really shocked that I ever agreed to the program at the time. I was young, naive, and pretty shy around people I didn’t know well. But, it was an experience I’ll never forget and I think it only contributed to the travel bug growing inside of me.

As I grew older and moved out  to live on my own in Nebraska for graduate school, I knew that I wanted to do what I could to ensure my journeys could continue, because it had become such an important part of my life.

I met my husband shortly after I moved to Nebraska. The following year, he was able to join me and my family on a cruise for my dad’s 50th birthday. It was his first time seeing the ocean and leaving the country and it was pretty clear he was hooked. Which is why we’re still together to this day 😉

For our five year anniversary, we took a Mediterranean Cruise, which was my husband’s first time to Europe. It is still one of the most amazing trips of our lives and I would likely recommend this trip above most others because you get to experience so much that is so good.

I don’t have to travel frequently for my job, but there are two times of year {early spring and late fall} where my travel schedule seems non-stop. My husband and I also try to take one destination vacation a year if possible, in addition to one large trip we take with his company each year. I really try not to say ‘no’ to any travel opportunities at this point in my life. Travel can be exhausting at times, but it is also so rewarding – in ways that I don’t think you can get through other avenues.

We are blessed to be able to see so much of the world, particularly since it brings us so much joy. We truly believe in ‘work hard, play hard’. Each time we are on vacation or exploring somewhere new, we are reminded of why we work so hard and it makes the tough days not as bad. It’s one of the reasons I encourage people to take every travel opportunity that comes their way. The richness of each experience is one that can’t obtained other ways. Meeting new people and experiencing new cultures is so gratifying and broadens your views in so many ways.

I say all this not because I want to brag about these opportunities or all the places we’ve been, but I genuinely hope I can encourage others to take opportunities that come their way to travel to new places and experience new things. Even if it is a state (or town) away! I can promise you that no matter where you go and what you experience, that no matter how much you love it, it will also only make you appreciate your home that much more, but your lives will be so much fuller.

Is anyone else as obsessed with traveling and new places like we are? If you’re interested in reading more about our travels I have documented so far, I encourage you to check out my Travel Files series for recaps of recent trips.

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