Hello World!

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So, I should’ve started this a long time ago.

In the summer of 2012, I traveled abroad for the first time to visit my dad, who was living in The Netherlands at the time. Because I have a fun family, we went ahead and visited Belgium and France. We rode Segways, saw the sights, and ate... a lot. I had of course traveled before to various places in the U.S., but international travel really sparked something in me. I will freely admit that I’m addicted.

During that same summer, I was fortunate enough to travel to Italy and Greece with National Geographic for photography. It was twenty-three days of constant awe of everything around me (heightened by my love of mythology), and I would visit again in a heartbeat. It was the first time I flew somewhere alone and the first time I lived with a group of strangers. They weren’t strangers for long, though, and I still think of them as some of the best people I’ve ever met.

I made my way through senior year in high school and graduated. That summer of 2013, my mother and grandmother took me abroad as a “Congratulations!” (Blessed be Momma Kaplan) It was Germany and Austria this time, and wow. A tribute to Mozart orchestra performance in the birthplace of the man himself, a trip to the largest Christmas store in the world, more segwaying... I was almost overwhelmed. It was amazing.

Then, in the summer of 2014, I found EF College Break (an excellent company) and decided to road trip with them to Amsterdam, Heidelberg, Munich, Frankfurt, Innsbruck, Verona, Venice, Paris, and London. It was the second time I traveled alone, the second time I joined a group of strangers, and the second time I made fantastic friends while exploring new cities. It was hands down the greatest few weeks of my life.

And through all those years, I didn’t write a single word about it.

Why? Why would I not want to record these amazing places with more than just pictures? Because I’m lazy, because I didn’t have enough time, because I didn’t have the resources... There are a lot of excuses I could use, but the excuses stop now.

This summer, I will be studying abroad at the University of Stirling in Scotland from June 11th to July 12th, and I’m going to document everything. I plan on seeing as much of the UK as I possibly can, and I want to be able to put words with my pictures. I want to look back five years from now and remember exactly what Haggis tastes like and how cold it gets at Loch Ness in the evening and what it feels like to tour Windsor Castle while the Queen’s away. The solution: a blog.

I’ve never blogged before. I honestly don’t know how this is going to go. Hopefully, this will turn out better than my other failed attempts at writing abroad.

You’ve probably picked up on the reference of the name of this blog. I’ve always loved J.R.R. Tolkien’s words from Lord of the Rings:

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

That second line “Not all those who wander are lost” has become a really popular quote that I’ve seen countless times on everything from throw pillows to tattoos (mostly on Pinterest) and it may be a bit worn out, but I absolutely love it. I consider myself one of Those Who Wander, so it seemed pretty fitting to name this after those words.

This summer I’ll be wandering, and I hope you’ll read and wander along with me.

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