A Trip to the Capitol
You don’t have to travel a thousand miles in order to have a wonderful, life-changing experience. During my eighth grade year, I had the opportunity to fly out with some of...
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Kicking and Screaming; Israel
Most consider it a blessing to visit the place that is the basis of most religions. Christians find the sea of Galiee unreal, Jews stare in awe at the ancient remains of the Western Wall, and...
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Restless Morning
I woke up at 5:00 AM, earlier than I ever would have back home in Kent, Washington. I jumped up, ran across the floor, slammed the screen door open, and sprinted up the stairs to...the roof. I took...
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The King in the Holy Land
I stared at it. What stood before me was utterly unexpected and made me reconsider the sanity of the human race. I had always known some of the Israelis were a little out of touch with the rest of...
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My Dinosaur Trip
I have been fascinated by dinosaurs my whole life and am interested in studying paleontology. So, four years ago, my parents took me on a 3-week trip to all the museums and places where I could...
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The Trip Of A Life Time
In 2010, I went on a month long road trip around the United States! It was such a great time. I went soleley with my grandma Alverna and we went in her Mercedes SLK sports car.. What an...
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Camper Vacations Can Be Fun-Even with a dog
Our family is large, so staying in hotels can be expensive, which led Mom and Dad to purchase a hybrid camper trailer in 2008. Closed up, it's 23 feet, but opens to 30...
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Day At The Dumps
Some days are always remembered, not because of the laughter or happiness, but because they changed your life forever. Touching poverty like never before, I had the privilege of being part of a volunteer...
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Three Days in the City of Canals
From the time I was a young girl, I was captured by the tragedy of the Holocaust. I devoured books on it, and especially loved "Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank. Frank's optimism...
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All 8 Of Us Tear Through the Southwest
"Now these are called 'hoodoos'," calls the guide of our horse-back tour of Bryce Canyon in Utah. "Hoodoos" are tall stacks of rock that have been formed through...
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From America, to Saudi Arabia
It is believed that in order to broaden the mind of an individual one must journey through the world. In order to grasp the true fundamentals...
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Massachusetts on a Foggy Day
We left the hustle and bustle of a soaked Boston in mid-afternoon. The rainy...
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The Race Around New York
I think I’ll never be able to forget my trip to New York city. I’ve been trying to for the past three years with no luck, but the trip had its pleasurable advantages. I remember first...
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Visions of Italy
BEEP. BEEP. My alarm clock drones just as groggily as I do at six on a Sunday morning. As I get ready for work I think about the day ahead. After I get off work at noon, I will spend the rest of...
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Ordinarily Beautiful: NYC
To a thirteen-year-old girl in the twenty-first century United States, the concept of beauty is something that she has likely been bombarded with for over half of her life. I was certainly one of...
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Rags and Riches Half Way Across the World
In July of 2011, my family decided to travel south to the Dominican Republic for the summer. I was the only member who did not want to go since I wanted to go to Italy...
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A Week Passing Through Paradise
Last summer, my family and I took a road trip from a tiny town near Houston, Texas to the Grand Canyon and back. Of course, we stopped nearly a million places in between. We saw some breathtaking...
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Devil’s Loop
I’ve always wanted to see the world. Countless times, after a long beach run, I would gaze out at the Pacific Ocean. With my back turned to my town, and the salty winds rushing past...
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The Syrian Experience
I was nervous that first day, as my parents helped me unload my suitcase next to the airport terminal. They hugged and kissed me goodbye as I departed into the terminal, not to see them again for...
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Bahama Breeze
I recently participated on a Royal Caribbean cruise and boy, it was quite a ride! I went with my younger brother and my father to Nassau, Bahamas and Cocoa...
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South African Adventure
Travelling to various countries can impact a person in numerous ways. Not only does it open one’s eyes to other cultures, but it can cause one to contemplate their gratitude of their own nation....
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A China Experience!
Prior to my trip to China, I hadn’t grasped the idea that I was actually going to walk the streets of Beijing, Xi’ an, and Shanghai. But the very second I stepped out of that airport...
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San Francisco-The Metropolitan Paradise
Whenever I am fortunate enough to have the time to look back on all the vacations I've ever been on, it's my trip to San Francisco in...
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Broadening My Horizons
In the summer of 2009, I took a trip to Makati, Philippines, where a new window truly opened up a curious, yet remarkable world for me. Departing off of the plane and stepping into a foreign place,...
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Hope
Stepping out of that bus and seeing more than a hundred people looking at us was frightening, not because they were staring at us as if we were aliens, but because they looked at us with such amazement...
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Allons-y, mes amis!
My trip to Québec city and Montreal, in Canada, was a different kind of vacation that I have never experienced before. I went with my school's French club that I am a part of. My...
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How to Succeed in Stage Dooring by Trying Really Hard
In January, I went to New York to go see Darren Criss make his Broadway debut in the musical How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. One of the first things I did as soon as my...
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Road Trip Across The Country!
I recently had the opportunity to travel across the U.S. with my giant, crazy family. We were kicked out of the house we were renting because the owner lost it. After a long...
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My Trip Across The Atlantic
As a resident of South Florida I am engrossed in a plethora of different cultures and people from every corner of this world every day. These surroundings evolved my interest in the world outside...
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Te Sakam Macedonia
Experience is a teacher. Every breath will show us something we did not know could be possible; every step will take...
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Desert Experience
This past summer I spent a month in Israel with a Jewish tour group, and over that period of time I set some personal records. To list a few, there was longest time spent without sending a text message,...
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Culture Shock:Life Lessons
I was at Logan Airport saying goodbye to my parents. I made my way into the terminal, turned in my luggage, breezed through security and...
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Vietnam And My Baby Sister
It could have been yesterday: The tangled stratum of purposeful noises, the primitive industrial pollution, the draft of oriental fragrances, the fluctuating wall of rushed foreign syllables....
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Definitions of Success
After leaving my clean room at the Kogelo Retreat Villas and Homes, I walked down a red dirt road in Kisumu, Kenya, dodging goats and stepping over puddles and piles of garbage. I was on my way to...
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How I Survived a Hot Tub
I felt an awkward tingling creeping throughout my body as I slowly padded barefoot to the entrance of the public pool, wearing nothing but a towel around my waist. As I shuffled into the pool area,...
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Family Adventure in Big Bear California
One of my most memorable trips is my family trip to Big Bear, California. Big Bear is a beautiful wooded mountain village on the banks of Big Bear Lake. This trip is memorable to me because one incident...
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The Peak of My Success
On a dimly Saturday morning I awoke deep in the wilderness. My first thought was the cold. It seeped past my skin and chilled me to the bone. My tent-mate was still asleep, but I shook her awake...
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Fakahatchee Strand
On April 15, 2012 I visited the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve in beautiful Naples, Florida. Some people would consider this place a big swamp, but no not me! Personally, this preserve was beautiful...
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J’adore France!
On spring break of 2012, my school took a select group of French students to see France itself. Unless one counts going to the Bahamas on a cruise, this was my first time really leaving the country....
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Best Trip Ever
About 6 years ago me and my family went to a trip to El Salvador located on Central America, this was a special trip for me because I was going to go see the place where my parents grew up and were...
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When Your Toilet Is Called “The Groover”
When you can wake up on a piece-of-junk cot on a beach with a beetle the size of your palm crawling up your arm and do nothing but scrunch your nose, shake it off and roll back...
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The Wonderstruck Floridian Goes To New York
My parents gave me the best birthday present I have ever received, for my 16th birthday: a trip to New York. My mom and I went for five days, and it was a life-changing experience. Once there, I...
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Taj and Temples
It’s been seven years since I stepped on this soil, there was no feeling of a missing memory, my presence was always here. Yet, I needed to regain the knowledge of my roots. Upon arriving in...
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El Salvador
As I made my way off the plane, I was more than a little relieved that the excruciating flight to El Salvador was at an end. We...
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Texas by plane, Florida by car.
Traveling is a great experience; it is a way to get outside of the town you are used to and see new things. I love to travel just as much as anyone else; especially to Navarre...
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My Eye-Opening Experience in Mexico
During the summers of 2009, 2010, and 2011, I traveled to Mexico to visit my family and spend some time with the side of my family that I get to rarely see. I had great fun...
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My Experience in El Salvador
One of my most recent trips was to El Salvador during the summer of the year 2011. It was just a trip to visit my family over there in El Salvador. The trip lasted for about two weeks,...
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Teen Travel Writing Scholarship
During summer, after completing my freshman year in 2010, my mother’s boss invited her and me to enjoy a week off in Costa Rica. My mother is from El Salvador, which we noticed that the climate...
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Since Jamaica…
The fat white man gave us the last bit of advice: “Rule number three: In Jamaica time is not of the essence. Every meal will be in the morning at noon, and in the evening. The...
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My Indescribable Journey
Many young people take advantage of their travels, looking at the sights and soaking up all that location has to offer. My trip to Laos was a trip that I'll never forget and it changed my life...
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Paris&Ireland
Day 1: April 4, 2012 The other 16 students and I arrived to school with our luggage ready to head to JFK, but not before reluctantly attending the first two classes of the day while the...
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Adventures in Taradise
I viewed the ruins of the Forum in Rome with awe. It was breathtaking, everything I'd imagined it to be. It was a step back into history that I had taken, one I thought I'd...
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My Trip to Cameroon
“So where are you from?” Growing up, this was a question that I was asked regularly: it was also a question that I never quite knew how to answer. With stereotypes circulating around...
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The Big Brown Bear
Maneuvering and traveling the streets of Mumbai are extremely challenging tasks to accomplish. Imagine trying to evade the potholes, deranged auto-rickshaw drivers, and cows, all while carrying a...
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The Amazing Celebration
A recent trip that I took with my family was back in the year 2007, July 23 to be exact. We went to our home town back in Mexico. But this year was different. We were going because it was my grandparents...
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Questions?
Even through a thick layer of smog-laden clouds, I could feel the heat baking my skin. Clouds of dirt rose every time I took a step. Even though sweat rolled down my back and my hair was plastered...
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The Dumb GPS
My family and I went to Arkansas one summer for about two weeks. It was a typical vacation for my family, because on our third day there we had quite the adventure! That morning my mom yelled at...
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The Wild Heart of Cambodia
It was the size of my palm, and it could have eaten me. Well, that’s an exaggeration. But the spider was enormous, marked with war stripes, its black legs poking at the metal roof...
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