Have Love, Will Travel...

In yesterday's blog, I looked at how it's a small world here in Delaware because no one seems to leave home. It plagues me that with so much in the world to see, folk would rather keep it local. Delaware is a nice place to live, no doubt, but if I had to choose between living it up here (eating/drinking out, shopping, movies, etc.) and traveling elsewhere, I'd choose the latter every time. I'm a travel junkie. I love the excitement of planning a trip and the anticipation of that day arriving. I enjoy learning the roads or the public transportation routes to get me where I'm trying to go. If I could travel somewhere every month I would be complete!

I traveled a lot this year. Like a LOT. Semi-locally I went to Lancaster and Philly in PA; and Somerset, Hackettstown (pic at right is the road to Hackettstown), Princeton, Lindenwold and Atlantic City in NJ. Those were day trips and were relatively cheap. To get there I either borrowed or rented a car (which required gas & toll money) and had a meal with my sister or friends. Total cost ran between $30 and $100 for each of these travels. That is well worth it to spend time with people that I love.

This was the year of big trips though. I can't remember the last time I flew so often. In May I went to St. Pete, FL with my family for a long Memorial Day weekend (as I mentioned in a previous post). We stayed on the beach, visited with gramma (pic on left) and had a "funeral" for our family dog. I also tossed in a short road trip to have lunch with my friend Stephanie in Orlando at Downtown Disney while I was down there. I believe my mom paid for everything for this trip so my costs were minimal.

In August, I went on a "business trip" to Houston with my boyfriend at the time. He paid for all my expenses to drive his truck home to Philly. I spent the night in Knoxville, TN so that was nice. Later that month I took the train to Alexandria, VA to visit my cousin Johnny for his birthday. My gramma and uncle were flying up as well so it was a nice family weekend. We went to Mt. Vernon which was really interesting (pic on right). I had never met Johnny's wife and kids so I thought it was worth the venture. All I paid for was my train ticket, which was about $100.

My dad's birthday was in September, so I flew to Chicago to spend a long weekend with him, his girlfriend, and my brothers. It was a last minute trip and I hadn't alerted my dad before hand so we didn't do much. He and his gf are fabulous hosts and cooked an amazing dinner on his birthday. My brother and I ventured downtown (pic on left), went to the park, and did some shopping. This trip was almost the most expensive since I paid for everything. I'd say I spent $400.

This next trip was so exciting and so necessary. In October, I decided to fly down to Texas to meet this man from Twitter that I felt was fulfilling all my requirements. This was a great trip because it was action packed. There was so much going on that weekend. We stayed in a really nice hotel (see pic) that was right across from the infamous Alamo. We went to a Spurs game on Halloween and watched my Eagles slaughter the Giants. I had never been to San Antonio and I was greatly impressed by the RiverWalk. I even did some sight-seeing on my own before I left and felt so comfortable walking the streets. Best trip of the year, hands down. I paid for my flight and my cab to the airport so it cost me about $275.

The longest trip of the year was for Thanksgiving. My uncle invited us all to his house in the mountains to celebrate gramma's 75th birthday and turkey day. With mom covering our hotel room, I rented a car (the retarded firetruck) and drove down with my brother. After four+ days in Maggie Valley, NC, my brothers, Crystal and I traveled down to Atlanta for the weekend. We made a stop near Greenville, SC to have lunch with one of my best girlfriends. While in Atlanta I was introduced to being a couchsurfer. Football is important to us all so we went to the Fox Sports Grill (at the advice of my friends on Twitter) to watch the early games. On Monday we went to the largest Aquarium in the world where I stood in awe at the big tank before we headed home. Road trips are always fun but the drive home to NJ then DE was a long one. This trip cost me a pretty penny at about $350.

My last trip was actually a visit from my Texas man. While he was here in December, we went to a Sixers game to see Iverson back in his Philly uniform (see him shooting a FT in pic on right). We also went to Atlantic City to celebrate my girlfriend's birthday. We partied it up at the Tropicana and the Borgata. It was a short weekend, but we had a blast. I paid for the rental car (gas) and breakfast, so this was a cheap trip for me at $150.

Here's the kicker. Most folk won't travel like I do because it costs money. I might have spent about $1700+ all year taking these trips. That might seem a lot to some people, but to me it is a great investment in the relationships I cherish. And I did all this on a minimal income. I'm a student. I haven't worked full time in almost a year. Yes, some of my trips to see family were partially paid for by my mom, but the major ones were not.

I mentioned at the start of this blog that I would rather travel than spend money enjoying life where I live. Think about it. How much do you spend a year locally eating out, going to the movies/clubs/bars, shopping, etc? I hardly ever go out locally. I treat myself from time to time, but most folk go out every weekend. I live in Delaware by myself (no family or close friends nearby). So in order to maintain my relationships, I must travel. It's so worth it.