Vacation Planning

I am a traveler. Day trips. Hikes. Weekends away. Cross country. International. You name it, and more likely than not, I'd be interested.

For about as long as I can remember I've been on the go. When I was younger, many of our summer vacations involved camping or a trip out to Omaha to visit my mom's side of the family with a number of shorter day trips scattered throughout the year. I remember trips to Niagara Falls, down to visit my dad's family a few hours away, to various state parks, the Baseball Hall of Fame, Howe Caverns, and historical locations of all sorts.

As high school came around I would take annual trips to Washington, DC with the CCYM and on college visits along the east coast. In college, especially freshman year, I made the trip back and forth from Boston a number of times. And then, as my senior year began, I was getting on a ship to sail around the world.

After I graduated and moved into my own place I set a goal for myself to travel somewhere amazing every year. My first trip took me to London and Northern Ireland where I visited the town where part of my family is from. And this year, in just a month and a half, I will be heading northwest to Alaska.

Today I sat down to finalize my itinerary. Though I still have some reservations to make with hotels and a couple of tours I've got a full week planned. I'll be flying into Anchorage and driving throughout the central part of Alaska along the corridor from Seward - and the Kenai Fjords National Park and Exit Glacier - Denali National Park, Fairbanks, and up to the Arctic Circle.

I get a rush every year as things start to come together for my adventures. It makes me want to leave tomorrow. I start thinking about future trips; which destination should I start looking at for next year? (By the way, it's a toss up between Antarctica and Australia/New Zealand.)

I've had my ticket for a couple of months now and I'll be heading out the last week of May. I know it's still a little ways down the road, and I'll be flying out to California between now and then, but the excitement is already building for this next big opportunity to travel.