It's officially been 1 year since I made my travel blog, Thank God It's Vacay, public and what a year it has been! I've had some ups, I've had some downs, and I've learned a lot. But overall, I'm really enjoying the ride.
My travel story (if you will) dates back to my freshman year of college. I didn't really travel much growing up (only 2 trips that I don't really count) so I didn't go into college expecting that to change. However, once I got to school, I started to feel extremely left out as I watched people around me plan all of these amazing trips every spring break and I just made plans to go home. FOMO was real! I remember fussing to my mom about how I felt so behind and she would always say "You're still young, Da'Sha, you're not behind." But of course, in the name of comparison, I didn't believe her. I continued watching those around me travel abroad, for spring break, on family trips, even to study abroad. In fact, I specifically remember commenting "I want to be like you when I grow up" on one of my friend's Instagram posts when she was studying abroad in South Korea.
Traveling always seemed like such a faraway goal that was too expensive for most of us. If you were one of the lucky people that could travel, it could only really happen once in a blue moon. Either way, it was definitely not something I saw as regular. But after watching others do it, I became really interested and was hoping I could figure something out. Come junior year, I started heavily looking into options hoping to study or intern abroad. Unfortunately, those options were way too expensive for me so I started to feel like travel was once again out of reach. Luckily, I never really gave up the desire to go abroad because as of Thanksgiving 2018, I've been on the go!
My first trip that really kicked things off was a trip to Jamaica with one of my friends and her family for Thanksgiving in 2018. Around that time, I had also found a teach abroad program through CIEE that served as an inexpensive alternative for my desire to study abroad. That program was only $900 as opposed to other programs I was looking at costing $5000+. I started that program in January 2019, shortly after I graduated from college, and I had the opportunity to visit 3 other countries while out there. Those two experiences made me realize that maybe traveling internationally wasn't such a far-out dream and that this could be part of my regular life.
After a few more trips, I had a full-circle moment. I started noticing people commenting under my posts talking about how I was traveling so much and that they enjoyed watching my adventures. But more specifically, someone commented that they wanted to be like me with all my travels. At that moment, I sat and thought about how I felt that way watching everyone else travel all throughout college while I sat home. How crazy was it that I was now on the receiving end of that statement?! I didn't even realize how things had changed. I guess my mom was right, my time was coming and I just needed to be patient LOL.
I started my blog for a few reasons. I was searching for a hobby in the midst of a pandemic, I wanted something to keep me productive and keep me creative, and I needed my own travel diary to look back on later. But one of the biggest reasons was to share my travels and show others that it may not be such an unattainable dream for them either. People don't/can't travel for a plethora of factors. Some factors can be controlled while others cannot and that's just a part of life. But for those factors that can be changed — struggling to make it a financial priority, not seeing anyone you know doing it, fears of the unknown, not understanding how to plan a trip, not knowing what affordable options are out there, or even just needing destination suggestions — I hoped writing this blog would help. I'm not too blind to realize that travel is a privilege that may not be available to everyone right now. But I hope my posts at least help some people realize it's something they can at the very least work towards making it a reality.
So here we are 1 year, 14 Countries total, and 50 blog posts later! The name "Thank God It's Vacay" is obviously a play on the phrase "Thank God It's Friday" but there's also truth to it. My ability to travel freely is truly a blessing and I thank God for it always. Happy blogaversary and thanks for enjoying this journey with me. TGIV!
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