How to Begin to Travel.

Are you looking for a new adventure? Have you been just feeling the need to see a new place in the world? If you're bored of the same routine or would like to bring back new pictures and stories to tell, you'll want to keep reading.

I felt that way over a year ago and I wanted a new adventure! I have always had an inclination to travel and see new places and I absolutely love visiting places where I have friends. So, I stopped thinking about the "What If" factors and I just got up and traveled.

Here's a little guide on how to do the same.

The main issue you'll fight is fear. Money and time are the main things that keep my friends from traveling, and while those are exactly what you need in order to make it a trip, if you can plan it out, any trip can happen. Any trip can happen!

Sit down and figure out a time frame and for how long you'd like to travel (or could afford to travel). Time and money will depend on what you want to do while you're traveling, where you're going, and what type of trip it is.

Once you've broken down the biggest fear and the road block that most people don't wish to conquer,  (time off, money, family, traveling buddies, etc), start with what you do know. And then make a "Must Visit" list of wondrous places you'd like to visit and create memories.

You more than likely will only be able to afford a few of the places on your list but you'll have plenty of time to save up for the next adventure! So...

Where do you want to travel? 

Are you traveling alone or with friends?

Are you visiting friends in other countries and could stay for free? 

Where is the one place you'd like to visit and remember forever?

What's your tentative budget?

Do you want all-inclusive or cheap as you can get?

Is this trip to relax or go on adventures? See nature or museums?

Find out your must-dos and what you could pass on. There's a tour or trip for everything these days.

Then comes the most important...RESEARCH. Research. Research. The more you know, the less frightened you'll be because guess what? You'll be prepared and when you're prepared, you're ready. Start looking at flight prices for WHERE you want to go and WHEN. Make a "Cost of Flight/Date" list next to your "Must Visit" list and you'll easily find what's going to fit your tentative budget.

You'll find tons and tons of tours and even more places to go. Stick with your top places. But the BEST advice I can give you when beginning to search for flights is to have flexible dates! I can't stress how much cheaper you can get flights if you just fly in an off season or change your dates by a few days. 

Kayak.com has a "Fare Chart" that suggests the best price for the time of the month and when to buy. Plus, they search the discounted airlines so you will most likely always get the cheapest prices through them. If you're under 26 or a teacher, you get a pretty good deal by using www.statravel.com.

I'll try and be writing "Travel How To's" or other "How To's" just based on my life experiences.

Have specific questions? Want to read about what you're interested in? Let me know!

Comment with your questions and ideas or message me on Facebook.
www.facebook.com/iammariapetty
 You can email me too.
iammariapetty@gmail.com

Travel - Just Do It!

I've traveled quite often in my life and a lot more this past year. I've traveled south - only Latin America - maybe because Spanish is the easier language to learn, maybe because my name is easily translated or because I could pass for a latina - but in any regards, I love traveling.

By nature I'm an adventurous girl, whether that flies me to a foreign country or bridges me out to try a new local restaurant. It's all about the story and the challenge.

I've been asked multiple times, "Maria, how do you just travel?"

My answer is really simple..."You just DO it!" You don't need to wait for the right time because there won't be a perfect time. In the time you wait, you'll have come up with too many excuses to stay put than if you would just go and travel.

While they may be perfectly valid excuses, how can you weigh your pros/cons list with what is unknown? How can you gauge the current moments with future stories? How can you let fear control what could be a special memory?

You can't, and it's not fair to yourself.

You have absolutely no idea the great experiences you will have when you travel to a new place, or even meet a friend at a different restaurant or just get out of your routine. Don't let fear become your ruling. You deserve far more than ordinary because you are special.

So how do you "just travel"? I'll tell you how to do it all, from a quick vacation to one that could last for months, on another post.



I'll try and be writing "Travel How To's" or other "How To's" just based on my life experiences.


Have specific questions? Want to read about what you're interested in? Let me know!

Comment with your questions and ideas or message me on Facebook.
www.facebook.com/iammariapetty
 You can email me too.
iammariapetty@gmail.com

Weight, Eat, Live.

I'm starting on a new journey and this one doesn't involve traveling!

I've been inspired by close friends that I respect and admire to do what has seemed impossible...

I'm changing my diet. 

No more random eats, little snacks, or indulging in the foods that I've easily and so often grabbed for. I've decided to challenge myself to eat differently, eat healthy whole-grained, organically grown, non-dairy foods that will enrich my body and detox from what I've put into my body for almost 27 years. Good luck to me.

I'm changing my diet today - Sunday, September 8, 2013 - and I'll continue it for 40 days. Ironic that it's a Biblical number but my original goal was to make it to my friend's wedding reception which is a day after this ends. Now, there's a deeper meaning involved.

But I'm ready for the challenge. No one's telling me to do it (and that might be why I'm more persuaded to go for it) but also I'm ready to feel BETTER, not only about the way I look but to take increased care of what has been given to me as a wonderful and graceful gift from the Lord.

I've always fluctuated with my weight, and as a woman, it's difficult to take. Am I right, ladies?? Not only are we critical and harsh on ourselves, we take that outlook and then compare ourselves to the other women we see every day. It doesn't ever work out well. I used to cope with food because it made me feel good or I'd eat out of boredom. That didn't work out well either.

I didn't have too many insecurities about my weight until I went to college. I was comfortable enough about who I was that it didn't bother me if someone commented to me that I was too tom-boyish or maybe on the heavy end. Then college happened where girls spent hours on their hair and make up and athletes commented on how "fat" they were even though they were in the best shape of their lives. Even if you don't think those things about yourself, when you continue to hear how others criticize the qualities about themselves that you actually find unique and pretty, and that's when the comparison begins. Because if they're thinner than you but calling themselves fat, what does that make you? In God's eyes, it just makes you beautiful and perfect. But in the wonderful early twenties, all girl dorm room living, young woman's eyes...it just makes you fatter. 

So we fight that in unhealthy ways - by eating less, working out more, obsessed with finding the right form flattering clothes -- or we give in to unhealthy ways - binge eating, emotional eating, negative thinking, not working out, giving up completely. We forget to take care of ourselves in the way that God has intended us to.

So this is my journey to a healthier, more content life. I believe this will affect me far deeper than I could have ever imagined. But isn't that what God does? He does immeasurably more than I ask or imagine, Ephesians 3:20.

The tough part about friendships.

My life has always consisted of traveling, adventure. But it took a backhold to paying for gas and other "necessities". Then came college where I really felt the heavy pressure of loans and the need to pay for them. (One summer I had 3 jobs, and don't ask me how I time-managed it all plus enjoying friendships but I became a wonderfully detailed girl, and still had time for travels.) During the years where everyone said to travel, I worked. I worked when I had no real bills to pay. I learned a whole lot about white-collar, minimum-wage, real-world entrepenuer-ing but I'm not necessarily proud of the fact that I can carry 4 plates full of food to a table, although it is a nifty time saver when I'm clearing the table at home after a meal. Now, I'm making up for the time when I said, "I'll travel later." I put my work ahead of my desires but now I'm letting my adventurous spirit forge ahead. It's simply a choice.

So I've put traveling at the front of my to-do list. In the past year and a half, my travels haven't been for a few days or vacation-esque but for months at a time. I've left my home and tried to live in another country. For me, to leave "home" isn't the issue or the hard part, it's when I'm away and after I've said goodbyes that becomes the difficulty, where I feel most weak and afraid. I'm not scared to travel but I dread saying goodbye's. I know what's going to happen next.

You aren't in the routine anymore, and quite honestly, people forget about you. Or least you feel forgotten. That turns into feeling abandoned and it's hard not let that slide into bitterness. When I see groups of friends here doing what I miss so much from my own back home, I long for that same kind of connection, and even the internet can't replicate it.

You can't have the person to person interaction, so what can you have when you're so far away? It becomes about the simple things. A Facebook message or post, a Skype session (but only if the internet signal is strong enough) a phone call, a letter. You have no idea how much the little things matter when they only come once every few weeks, or months, or hardly ever. A phone call has literally changed my entire WEEK. I don't feel left out, forgotten, but I feel connected to the life that I was once apart of.

But what I forget is that those friendships happened over time, with lots of investment, and similarities between us. We studied homework together, destressed by talking about those awful customers where we waitressed, or pointed out that cute guy walking around campus. In an instant, we came to the defense of our "bestie", possibly with chocolate or a drink, when the complete idiot broke up with her. (How could the douche not see what we saw??) We sympathized, encouraged, and loved each other.

It's daunting to start friendships all over again, no matter where you are. It's heartbreaking to see those friendships slide farther away. At times, I don't even want to replicate my friendships from the states, and at other times, I want to forget all about them so I can fully replace them here. Both aren't good ideas. It's hard to let go, to not know what's happening in your dearest friends' lives simply because you live in another place. I still haven't found or experienced that "happy medium" where you can have both well.

This blog post isn't going to sum up nicely or give any type of counsel to someone looking for answers. I'm going to end it with my own thoughts saying don't forget about the friends and family that are far away, or on the other side of town. If you think about them, tell them. Make an effort and be intentional because it means the WORLD, especially when you're on the other side of it.