When I was 14 I was sitting in front of the TV half doing my homework half watching Crime Watch when I heard the presenter say 'this would have been a truly incredible journey'. I looked up to a police officer holding up a series of photo albums (this is when photos were taken on films and developed on paper) and the camera panning across the pictures. The girl in the photos was probably about 18 or 19 and she was stood beaming in front of a whole host of recognisable landmarks- from the Taj Mahal to Ayres Rock. These albums had been burgled at some point or another and found in a warehouse, carelessly stashed with the more traditional stolen goods of TVs and video recorders. Of course I felt sorry for the girl in the photo's, I have been known to get very emotional over the loss of pictures before but I was also excited- I wanted memories of the adventures I;d had, and I wanted the adventures to be like hers. And that was that! I started saving every birthday and Christmas and when I got a part time job I saved everything I earned, until when I was 18 I could take a gap year. I had a tremendous 6 months, but instead of satisfying my appetite for discovery it made it worse, so any opportunity I get I travel.
It is a running joke with my friends that I'm going to run out of places to go if I carry on at the rate I am, and sometimes I agree its such a small world when you think of how easy it is to get about but then again the possibilities are endless!
My heart is warm with friends I make,
And better friends I'll not be knowing;
Yet there isn't a train I wouldn't take,
No matter where it's going.
-Travel by Edna St Vincent Millay
