Florida: Disney World and Universal Studios, 2011

At this point in my life, I was a university student. I wasn’t blind to the fact that a lot of people in my life were taking full advantage of their newfound adulthood. They were seeking the next fun chapter of their lives, and I still hadn’t really had any experiences that contributed to my growth.

I was a good student, a good daughter. But socially and emotionally, very immature. Because I had no real life experiences under my belt.

That’s why, when I was 20 and my then-boyfriend’s family asked me to tag along with them to Florida, I couldn’t say no. Besides the fact that I would be getting on a plane (magic) to somewhere new, I really wanted to have a new adventure that may help me reach adulthood in my own way and become my own person.

Touching down in Florida felt a lot different than landing during my first trip to Chicago. There were palm trees here, which was insane to me at the time. This definitely did not feel like home.

Not to mention that this was the homeland of Disney World. When I was growing up, there were definitely many people whose parents pulled them out of school for a week to take them on a family trip to Disney World. I never got to have that. I don’t think my parents ever tried or even wanted to take me anywhere until the Chicago trip. Sure, I was 20, but this would be something that I’d wanted to be let in on since I was 8 years old.

My at-the-time-boyfriend had more family in Florida, so that was the purpose of the trip, but obviously we couldn’t not go to Disney or Universal Studios. And we’re both huge Harry Potter fans, so we made an entire day trip out of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Getting to see Hogwarts and Cinderella’s castle in person was probably my favourite part of the trip, but I honestly just enjoyed being in a place that was very much not like home.

My main take-away from this trip to Florida with my at-the-time boyfriend and his very large family was this idea that travel can happen.

It wasn’t a super romanticized version of how I would have imagined this trip would go – there were lots of small hiccups along the way. I got badly sunburned and had to miss out on one of the day trips. Due to not booking plane tickets ahead of time, I almost didn’t get on the plane back home.

But it began with an idea in someone’s head, and some planning later, I was in a place with palm trees and a Disney castle.

Insane.

I wasn’t experiencing a lot of depression at this stage of my life, but having these travel experiences definitely built the groundwork for what I’d lean back on when I was finding it hard to get through.

The anxiety hit me before the depression though, and there’s no way I would have planned a trip on my own at this point. But when I was ready, I’d be ready.

If life was hard, there wasn’t anything a plane ticket and a magical week away couldn’t solve.