"I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I
    could do anything I wanted" ~Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

I constantly find myself daydreaming of getting on a plane (or boat, bus, or train) and thinking of where it could take me. I didn't realize it until recently but I'm becoming an addict. I see it happening with every passing moment. In my semi-attempt to live a responsible and structured life...okay I'll stop right there. So maybe I didn't give the whole responsible thing much of an effort, but it was a good thing because I would have been wasting my time.
Instead I've asked the simple question: what will make me happy?
You hear about all those people who conformed to the "real world"and decided one day to leave behind their prosperous careers and white picket fences, pack their bags and get on a plane. Well, I'm skipping chasing the American dream part and jumping right to the good stuff, my own dream. And don't worry about me. Even though I have little direction in my plans, I still have goals and the motivation to reach them. 

I've always had some sort of schedule or time line that restricted many possible travel plans. These commitments, silly things like an education, limited  But now? Well now I picture a calendar of the upcoming future and all the pages are blank. For years. 

This means I can do anything (well, almost anything) and be anywhere. Ask me where I'll be in 5 years, no, in 5 months. Who knows. To me, that's great! That's freedom and it's exhilarating. 

I have also realized that I don't have the desire or willpower to treat this little travel obsession. Instead I'm fueling it. I'm beginning to consider a traveler's lifestyle as my approach to the world. It started with looking at maps and reading about other cultures, other ways of life. Then hearing real-life stories of the huge world we live in and all it has to offer, only to find out that it isn't so huge after all, that it can be seen. Next, action was taken and I got a taste of just how fulfilling it is to become familiar with once foreign places until they weren't so strange and they became part of the collections of my memories. 

And now this addiction, this urge, is boundless. 

I can look at a map and draw those little dotted lines of where I've been and know that I can draw the next lines to anywhere from there. Endless possibilities.

You know how every adult says to kids to enjoy their childhood while they can? Well that's true and all. I mean, as a kid you don't have to worry about making yourself dinner. I'm still struggling with that one. But as an adult, you can make all your own decisions. And I'm deciding what I want to do with my life.
Travel.

Here's a little video to consider if you haven't seen it before....