How do you know you're a travel addict?

I've been wondering a lot lately about what makes one a travel addict. Is it the love of traveling and desire for adventure? Perhaps but I feel it's a lot deeper than that. I have always been fond of traveling but lately it has become a passion of mine. I'm constantly working through my finances and schedules to see when I can take my next trip. Anytime I have an extended break from work or school I take a trip.

As a young girl my family did a lot of road trips. My parents didn't make as much money back then so international travel was out of the question. However, we did have one of those luxury vans we used on all our trips. It was pretty awesome. It had a TV, comfortable seats and the back seat folded down to a bed so you could sleep. I tried to sleep as much as possible because it always made the trip go by faster. I miss our van. We've been to Myrtle Beach, Disney World, Utah, South Dakota, Wyoming, Vermont, Connecticut, New York and probably other places too in that van. Good times.

As time went by my older brother and sister went off to college (I'm the youngest) and family vacations became harder because they were away and money was tight while my parents helped out with school costs. My parents decided to sell the van...so sad. When I graduated college in 2004 we started doing more family vacations since we were all old enough to pay our own way (another sad day...when I had to start paying for my own trips). Our mode of travel switched from the van to the plane. We started traveling abroad and discovering more of the world. My Dad's extremely fond of cruises (I'm sure it's because of unlimited access to food) so him and my Mom have been on a lot of those. I like cruises but I also like to get to know the people and culture of the places I visit and a 8-12 hour stop just isn't enough time to do that.

I graduated with my Bachelor's in 2004 and took a little time to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Now that I'm almost done with my masters degree I've finally figured it out. I want to travel the world!! I have the best job for traveling...I'm a teacher, which means I get summers off and built in vacation time!! Over the past year I started traveling a lot more. I had months where it felt like I was hardly home. I love traveling. I've decided to utilize my vacation time to the fullest. Last year I left the country 3 times and went on a few domestic trips too. Traveling is so my thing!

I still haven't answered my question of what makes a travel addict. This is something I will post on in the future as I come up with more things that make a travel addict but I did discover one thing today. We all have those lovely bills we have to pay for all the time...I especially love those unexpected one's that catch you off guard for a few hundred dollars. When I get those bills and write my check I think "dang it, that's a plane ticket I can't buy now!" If you think like this, you might be a travel addict! Stay tuned for more posts on what makes one a travel addict or feel free to comment with other things that make a person a travel addict.