2014: The Travel Year You Were

"For last year's words belong to last year's language and next year's words 

await another voice." - T.S. Elliot

The year of 2014 was a great year of traveling! Of course, I could say I wish I had gone to several other locations, but it was a good year to reflect back and see how I've grown through the experiences at home and abroad.

Travels. I definitely covered a lot of grounds from venturing to Dallas, Austin, South Padre and McAllen, Texas and to Chicago, IL, then for my summer escapes to Bangkok, Thailand, Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng, Laos, and to fun, weekend getaways around Oklahoma. Then, I made it to one of my favorites, New Orleans, LA, and to end the year with a bucket list bang, Boston, MA and New York City, NY. 

The cool thing about my traveling last year was the fact that through each escape, they never included the same people. Interaction with different personalities makes you really reflect what kind of traveler you are and brings out the good times and the ugly truths. I'm thankful that I had the experiences and learned about my reactions to particular situations, so I could come home to work on improving myself in my daily life, and as a traveler.

If you've seen any of my activity on Facebook in your newsfeed, then you've seen several "likes" for various travel blogs, country pages, or anything pertaining to "travel" news. I figured that if this were going to be part of my hobby, I should just join the clubs! It's my obsession. I've become more active with different digital communities over the past few months which can also improve on my future experiences. 

In choosing my favorite destination, hands down, I would select Laos. This beautiful, mountainous, peaceful country found me explored several temples and learning more about the Asian culture and religions. I can definitely see myself visiting this part of the world in coming years, thanks to my cousins!

As for 2015, I do have a travel list in the back of my mind, in which I will reveal once plane tickets have been purchased. 
It will be exciting. It will be different. It will be challenging. It will be changing.

"Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that's okay. The journey changes you - it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you... Hopefully, you leave something good behind."

- Anthony Bourdain

Love. Travel.