Dash of Life 002: Ditch Boys, See The World
Hindsight is 20/20, and travel is always a good idea.
My mom always wanted me to see the world. From as young as I could remember, she took me on trips, which, now, looking back, she probably spent her last amount of money on. By the age of two, I was on a plane heading to her homeland of Trinidad with my passport in hand and eyes wide open. We were by no means wealthy——both of my immigrant parents worked super hard to make sure that I didn’t notice this—but every spring break and summer break, we were traveling out of the U.S. via plane or on a cruise. I loved it and had a natural curiosity for other cultures and experiences——until I was 17. My mom encouraged me to take a gap year and travel after graduating high school, but I was young and dumb, thought I was in love, and followed my boyfriend to college instead. I felt like I was supposed to go to college, get married, have kids, and become an adult because that was what was expected of me. Oh, how younger Kelsey would be shocked at the unconventional life I live now.
While in college, my mom really wanted me to study abroad. My school had opportunities to travel to France or Ghana, and once again, I said no because of a boy. It was a different boy this time, but nonetheless, a boy. At that time, I felt like I would be abandoning my boyfriend if I left the country to travel…lol.
It wasn’t until September 2012 that I finally woke up. I had just graduated college and sworn that I would immediately be a reporter on CNN, but the “real world” quickly humbled me. I spent all summer after graduating applying to countless jobs and getting rejection and rejection or worse——hearing nothing at all. It felt like I was a failure. I graduated college with no prospects of getting a job. Looking back, I was 21 years old and really needed to take a chill pill. I was so anxious about the future that I was annoyed when my mom booked us a 10-day trip to Spain and Portugal. Why would I want to travel so far? What if a job needed me to go in for an interview? Whew, hindsight is really 20/20. That trip is where it all started, my origin story, if you will.
We landed in Madrid, and I couldn’t believe what I saw—architecture that came straight out of whimsical books I had read and people so incredibly chic that they looked like they belonged in the pages of glossy magazines that I flipped through while in the nail salon, at the grocery store or doctor’s office. We went to a museum in Madrid, and I spent hours walking through, admiring the intricate artworks. It was my first time going to a Zara, and I got to feel and try on clothing that truly made me feel like me. For so long, I was a shell of who I really was. I was the person who people thought I should have been based on my physical appearance. Being in Spain and Portugal, I felt like I could be my art-loving, literature-adoring self, and it felt good. It was at that moment that I was officially bit by the travel bug. I wanted to experience more. I wanted to aimlessly walk around cities and towns and explore boutiques, cafes, galleries, and museums that were completely new to me.
It took about five more years until I was completely comfortable to be myself, but I’ll never forget that experience as the beginning of my evolution. As a new mom, I want to instill in my son the love for travel that my mom tried so hard to instill in me, which she eventually succeeded at.
I now get paid to travel the world and write about it, which is such a full-circle moment for me. If I am blessed to have a daughter, I will stress two things to her: do not follow a boy to college, and never turn down an opportunity to travel to a place you’ve never been.
My next few posts will be travel-related, discussing my experiences and my life as a travel writer because somewhere, there is a young girl out there who is dimming her light because of a boy when she needs to see the world.
This is so good! And so relatable, I think unfortunately most women have at some point dimmed our lights for a man… smh! Thank God for hindsight and how cool that you now get PAID to travel!
This reminded me of my first trip out of the country- my mom took me to Italy in 2011. It was literally life changing. I think I always knew I was meant to explore so it was amazing to have that opportunity, I’m so grateful to my parents for doing that for me- there’s something special about immigrant parents 🥰