Making Travel A Priority:

Many years ago I asked my best friend how she was able to spend New Year's in Rome, pet tigers in Thailand, and zip-line in Costa Rica... financially, that is. (You can talk like that with your best friend... I absolutely abhor when strangers feel that this is an appropriate question to ask me. I'm quite confident that you'd be appalled as well if you knew how many times this has happened.) 

Anyways, her answer has stuck with me all this time. She answered, "I make travel my priority." 

[Me in the Barcelona airport back in March.]

She went on to explain that she didn't mind that her clothes weren't great, she was content driving her Kia around town, and she didn't eat out nearly as often as many of her friends. At the time I wasn't willing to make those sacrifices, but now I feel like I know what it is she meant... 

I have one watch. (It is Michael Kors, but it's also all I'm working with.) 

I'm not saving to buy a house like almost all of my friends are doing/have done. (I have a savings account for emergencies, but it's no down payment.) 

When I want fun I lay on the beach or hike in the mountains. (It's free, people.) 

My car has dents and dings aplenty. (Bodywork is expensive!) 

I live outside LA in a smaller town. (You pay premium for a zip code here in Cali.) 

This is the honest truth of it. Stripping down the glitz and glamor of it all (although that's not really what we're accustom to here in the blogosphere). I make sacrifices for the sake of adventure and expanding my mind to new experiences. At this stage in my life, it is just fine by me!