Driving On An Open Road

be an integral part of my life. What I experience will shape how I think

For some people, their idea of traveling is to get on the road to Dubuque. But for Cole Wickham, an active 10th grader at Anamosa High School, traveling includes seeing half of the United States, as well as Canada and Jamaica. Cole says he likes traveling because he gets to experience new things.

Willow Marsh, a freshman at Palmyra High School, has a passion for traveling all around the United States and has shared some of her most memorable parts about this experience. In 3rd grade Willow moved from Utah to Pennsylvania and this is what really started her love for traveling. When asked why she loves traveling so much she responds with, “it’s cool to experience all that the world has to offer.”

Unlike many of my peers, I was not content to use this period as an opportunity to get drunk and sleep in a different corner of the globe. Not that I’m trying to come off as superior or condescending, I have no right for that. I started off in Europe just like everyone else, moving from Paris to Rome to Zurich to Vienna to Berlin and then Prague, indulging in the careless excesses that tend to characterize these trips. But at the same time, I wanted more than that. I wanted to ride the back of an ox drawn cart down a withered trail to places my fellow townsfolk would have never laid eyes on. I wanted to slum it in the homes of destitute village inhabitants despite the fact that I could easily afford a four star hotel. I wanted something new, something unseen, some amazing forgotten

Being able to travel with my family is a privilege and a lot of people can't do this because of many reasons. Freedom of traveling shows the greatness of what it means to be an American. To be able to have the opportunity to just hit the road and discover what's out there in our vast big nation.

My Destination experience inspired me to not let my friends stop me from doing something that I want to do. For example, if I wanted to go play soccer but my friends did not want to, I would still go play soccer because that is what I wanted to do. I try to remember

As a child I was lucky enough to have this experience with my family but I may not have had this opportunity if it wasn 't for growing up in the middle class. Vacations are very expensive, especially when they are only a week long and families spend thousands of dollars on them. That would be a lot of extra money for families to come up with, especially families who aren 't in the higher low class or middle class and "annual income per adult averages between $18,000-$30,000 per year."(Cliffsnotes) Not having those vacation experiences would be a huge loss and I wouldn’t have had some of my best childhood experiences with my family.

My parents have always dreamt about taking my brother and I to Europe. After searching for the perfect vacation, my mom decided on a 20 day toured trip to Italy, France, Switzerland, and The United Kingdom. I was ecstatic, since I had been young I had always wanted to go to Paris, and now I got to experience all of these other countries as well. The day finally came for us to leave on this European adventure. We were all packed up and heading for our first flight to O’Hare International Airport. We boarded our international plane ready to take on the thirteen hour flight that was ahead of us. The next morning we arrived at our first destination thousands of miles from home, we were finally in Rome.

Almost everyone has their own idea of a dream vacation. It's the perfect place to get away from the reality of every day life and the stress that goes along with it, and the choices and ideas of the “perfect vacation” are as varied as the people who dream about them. Some fantasize about lazing on a warm, sunny beach with soft ocean breezes and a cold exotic drink at their side. Some dream of forests and wildlife, cool running streams, and fresh mountain air that is thick with the scent of pine. There are those whose ideas of the perfect dream vacation involves the thrill of stock car racing mixed with the roar of the crowd, the smell of fuel and hot asphalt that's

Everyone at some point in their life needs to get out of their hometown, leave their native state or province, and depart their homeland. There is more out there to see than you could experience in one lifetime, but the point is you need to get out there and experience as much as you can because you cannot overvalue the experiences and stories that are born of travelling. If you are not possessed of unlimited financial resources (*read filthy rich), however, you will need to do some budgeting and planning to make travel happen. Honestly, even if you just plan a week long road trip to a state you’ve never visited, or a city you’ve never explored, the trip will be well worth whatever you spend. To help stretch those hard earned travel

My journey the day I left my home country in search of a better life was not as pleasurable or exciting as I expected. Although it was not a long flight, the accumulation of unexpected vicissitudes during the trip made my dream of traveling an absolute nightmare. Not only my sadness to be leaving my family behind, the uncertainty to fly alone and for the first time, or my inexperience with the procedures at the airport contributed to this calamity, but even my neighbor on the plane added his bit of sand in the affair. All this situation was such traumatic to me that I even considered never daring to fly again.

After reading most of the cons on this debate I have a lot to rebut. First one,"You think I want to be on the road driving and some one high on pot is out there driving ? Pot slows down your reflexes and you are not aware of what the hell is going on. You want other folks killed on the roads ?" (Anonymous). REBUT: Obviously if/when weed becomes legal, it will be illegal to drive high, like Texting, and like drinking, or pills, etc. Second one: "One of the main reasons why it would be just plain stupid to legalize one of the most used drugs in our nation is because it leads to hard drugs, such as cocaine and heroine." (anonymous). REBUT: Actually, there are MANY marijuana users that do not use other drugs as well, Me personally, and my friends.

The idea of traveling is perceived differently in everyone’s eyes. Some people grow up strongly believing traveling is the last thing they’ll ever do, whether it’s driven by fear or the lack of comfort. Others think of it as an annual escape to go across the country, or to somewhere they’ve never been before on a short family vacation. To me, the way I view it, traveling has changed my life in more ways than one; the opportunities I was given turned into experiences and stories I’ll never forget. Seeing the world first hand got me engaged in learning more about how it works, and along the way, my mind was opened to passions that began sparking my interests, making me an overall changed person since the day I started.

Traveling seemed exciting… the clothes, the places we would visit, missing school. Mom hired a tutor, so from then on, my schooling took place on airplanes, hotel rooms, and occasionally, home in Virginia. When mom stated we were leaving for Vermont, I was ecstatic. The colors, the smells, the country atmosphere drew me like a magnet.

My journey the day I left my home country in search of a better life was not as pleasurable or exciting as I expected. Although it was not a long flight, the accumulation of unexpected vicissitudes during the trip made my dream of traveling an absolute nightmare. Not only my sadness to be leaving my family behind, the uncertainty to fly alone and for the first time, or my inexperience with the procedures at the airport contributed to this calamity, but even my neighbor on the plane added his bit of sand in the affair. My trauma was such that after that day, I thought I would never dare to fly again.