Young Travel Writers Scholarship - My Family Travels

There are many places in the world to travel to and experience. There are places that I traveled to that are in the United States and there are places that I want to travel to, some outside of the states.

Two of my most favorite places that I love to go to is Los Angeles and San Francisco. Los Angeles being a big city has so many things to offer and do on a vacation or if you already live there. The first time I went to Los Angeles was almost for the same reason everyone else goes for, Disneyland. The most happiest places on earth! I love Los Angeles because theres so many people trying to make a living by working a regualr office job and others dressing up as characters and getting paid one dollar for pictures. I’m the type of person that not only notices the exciting site seeing or the fun I could have, but I also notice how everyonr tries to make a living to survive and pay their bills. I also love the bright warm sunny days on the beaches, but I can do without the traffic. Even though to me and many othersLos Angeles is a vacation spot, to those who acutally live there, it’s home. Now in San Francisco, another big city, is a fascinating place to visit. It not only has great views, museums, aquariums, and piers; it also has many talented people.You’ve got local bands playing different kind of music, from mexican, to country, to hip-hop. You also have street performers like the young break dancers and artists. The different cultures being brought together gives everyone variety. Then there’s the awesome seafood resturants. Both Los Angeles and San Francisco are places I enjoy going to because it relieves my worries and stress and I always have a gret time.

Mexico, another place I visited was an adventure. While on vacation in Los Angeles with my family, my father decided to take a detour to Mexico. On the drive there we missed the exit to the parking lot, so we could walk over the bridge into Mexico. So we ended upo driving into Mexico instead. Nobody knew how to read in spanish so it was a little bit difficult to find the way back to the boarder. Even though enjoying Mexico by driving around wasn’t the plan, I still got to experience what it was like to be there. Families were working in the flea market and children as young as eight were running from car to car trying to sell gum. It made me think that most children aren’t getting the proper education they deserve if they’re out in the morning trying to make money to help their families. There were also men and women pushing carts selling food to cars who were in line trying to back into the United States.The boarder control was another experience. There are two check points. The first check point, the police checked everyones identification, birth certificate or passport, for proof that you are a United States resident. Then they checked the vehical to make sure there are no signs of smuggling. If anyone fails eitherproof of identification or caught smuggling you get sent to the second check point. If caught smuggling you will get arrested. Now all the police does is check their computer system to make sure you are telling the truth about who you are. Fianlly, we made it back to the United States. Being in Mexico and seeing how families, even children, try to make money made me appreciate the education I got and everything else. It also made me realize that living in the United States is way more easier.

I’m not only Mexican. I am also Japanses and German. I’ve always known that I was part Japanese, but I just recently found out I was part German too. My mother was finding out more about her family tree and she found out about us being part German. So having more than just one nationality and already visited Mexico, I now want to visit Germany and Japan. I want to see how they both lived then and how things have changed. Just basically taking in the history of my ancestors. So far I know my great grandpa was a German soldier and my great grandma was Japanese in the Japanese Concentration Camps. To learn more about my family tree sounds thrilling. Learning something new and who knows maybe I’m friends with a relative and not even know it. So to travel to Japan or Germany would be phenominal because I’ll get to experience how they had to live and what my japanese relatives had to go through from the concentration camps and how the German army ran. When my mother told me of how we have part German in us got me very intrested in learning more about my ancestors.

There are many more places I would love to travel to, like Alaksa to experience thirty days of night and the twenty-four hour sun light. Rome, Paris, and New York. But to learn about my cultures and experience their living and working conditions is the greatest experience anyone will ever have. Learning about your family, helps you learn a little more about yourself.

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