The traveling sort

In the span of just a few months I’ve gotten really good at packing myself up. I haven’t forgotten a toothbrush, a jumper, my peace of mind, and I’ve even put together all the pieces of my heart in two purple suitcases. Being abroad has brought me the wonderful opportunity to travel, even if it is a lot of back and forth between Virginia and the U.K.

Everyone talks about wanderlust and how being abroad is the perfect time to explore the world, or what of it I can get to. The urge to know more and expand my so limited world view by crossing borderlines is so tempting! But my college student budget doesn’t want to agree. However I have made it my mission to become the budget traveler, taking the trains, looking at student deals, the whole 12 miles. I am determined to satisfy the wanderlust that lurks inside me, however expansive that may be.

I have become of the traveling sort; I know how to pack all my heaviest sweaters and exactly what summer pieces I can reuse in the winter. Rolling your clothes instead of folding saves space, buy your bathroom essentials when you get there, always check that your AirBnB has air conditioning in the summer. It’s the littlest things that matter the most when you’re doing the bigger things. The traveling sort have come to know the nuances of different subway systems, the ways to cheat your cab drivers who are trying to cheat you, how your map apps can still operate without data. The traveling sort have grown to know each city in each country operates differently during the day and the night, and so goes the people with it. The traveling sort know how to adapt to time zones and learn the same three phrases in twelve languages.

The traveling sort isn’t afraid of the new and wonders at the old. They have open arms, hearts, and minds, and in all the best ways they discover things they didn’t know they would. They don’t need to go far to experience the most. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that we should all be a little bit of the traveling sort, even if we don’t travel in the ways people expect us to.