Why I travel!

This piece of writing was for a writing contest about why I love to travel but I'm just going to post it on here too.

Traveling, the word in itself makes me excited and ready to experience something new. It seems like I've been traveling for so long that it has started to feel natural to feel unnatural and out of my element in foreign places. My parents did a good job embedding the value that experiencing all you can in life is the best way you can spend your life. Possessions give off small amounts of happiness in comparison to experiences that you will carry with you for the rest of your life. These values led my family to move to Germany and stay there for 7 years traveling all over Europe and experiencing all that we could in those years. This is why I travel: the memories, new friends, and the new experiences. I like that fact that I can call someone a friend not because we went to the same school or grew up in the same neighborhood but because we sat down and had a conversation together at a train station eatery or played soccer together on a gravel field. I can call someone a friend and they can call me a friend without even knowing each others names but just because we were at the right place at the right time and shared a few minutes together that ended with a handshake. Just like that memories are made and that is the soul purpose I travel, the memories. To capture and relive these memories I have taken too many photos and video to remember but I would be able to remember exactly where I was and what I was doing if I saw any of them on a screen. Not only do I take these photos and write journals for myself but I also do them for those who are not there to see what I'm talking about to give them a sense of what I was going at the time I took that snapshot or pressed record on the camcorder video. I have received no formal training in video editing or writing but I know that when I see people watching an edit I've been working on with a smile that I have passed on a little bit of the experience to them and to me making others want to travel makes the troubles of crowded airports, long lines, and translations problems all worth it!
-Owen Darrow