Hey dreamers!

As many of you know, I had a great adventure over the holidays that some of you have been dying to hear about! It was one of my first big travel trips and I’ probably going to split it into a series of stories on here for you in the coming months, But today I thought I’d give you the overview of my eleven day adventure and my first trip out of the country as well as give you some backstory on why travel means so much to me right now.

I’ve always wanted to travel since I was really little. My grandmother traveled quite a bit throughout my childhood and she would bring me back trinkets and tee shirts from around the world. I wanted to see the places in her photographs and experience the wonders in her stories. I can remember sitting in the car at around four-years-old and thinking that I wanted to put my footprint on every inch of the Earth, but my family didn’t have the financial means to travel. We took day trips around New England and apparently went to Washington D.C. when I was two, but we didn’t have big adventures that I remember. When I was a freshman in college my Mimi and Papa moved to Tennessee for their retirement. I went to visit them for Christmas for two weeks. Then, that summer I went to Disney World for a week with my then best friend, that was my first time on a plane.

For someone who spent six years in a long distance relationship, I actually only visited her once our junior year of college… and I took a train. The other four times she came to see me! So this trip to Florida was my first time meeting her family, and my second time on an airplane!

Florida is strange for someone who spent her entire life in Massachusetts. It’s “disorientingly relaxing” as I kept calling it! The sun feels a lot closer, the ground is so much flatter, and everything looks like a luxury resort! We got there on Christmas Eve and it was 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It did not feel like Christmas! I got to meet her extended family all in one night and I was exhausted! Christmas day was a lot of fun because her mom’s family immigrated here from the UK and kept a lot of traditions. I got to try Yorkshire Pudding and we had fun with Christmas poppers and got to wear the paper crowns!

The next day I went to see her best friends at the cafe Josie worked at in high school! We drove past her childhood home and her friends were lovely! It was a little surreal meeting them because we’ve been talking on social media for years, but I felt included immediately! The next few days Josie had to work so I hung out with her family. The first day I went with her dad and youngest sister, Lily, to see the turtles at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center. We had ice cream on the pier and got caught in the Florida rain! Then we headed over to Blowing Rocks and drove by all the really fancy houses near the water. I thought the water was so warm! The Florida natives disagreed! Then the next day I went with her mom and Lily again to downtown West Palm Beach where we saw the Downton Abby Expo and Sandi the sand Christmas tree!

The next day we left for the cruise, but before we left we visited the manatees at the Manatee Lagoon in Port of Palm Beach. We saw two babies and they were so sweet! The cruise was three days to the Bahamas and it was just Me, Josie, and her two sisters! We bonded and it was so relaxing! We went on the Bahamas Paradise cruise line and they were so good to us. (My first cruise, too!)

We came back on New Years Eve and then New Years day we headed to Disney because I can’t go to Florida and not visit Disney! Josie, Lily and I met up with their cousin, Luke who works with Buzz Lightyear in the parks! We had so much fun running around the Magic Kingdom and it was the perfect way to start 2019!

Finally, on our last day Josie and I went kayaking with her mom and we saw so many cool animals on the river. We saw a gator and a heron and even some turtles (I love turtles!) I really hated coming home the next day back to freezing cold Wisconsin.

I’m really sorry this post is so rushed, but I wanted to give an overview because I had so many adventures that this would be a LONG post if I went deeply into all of them! I am going to make this a series and tell you more about each adventure so please let me know which ones you’re interested in hearing more about in the comments!

What’s the best trip you’ve ever been on? What places are on your bucket list?

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