I started blogging in 2010 when I was just a not-so-cool college kid studying abroad. Little did that girl know, she had started something.

I love telling stories. And yeah, maybe my family is the only one who will ever read this. Or just maybe it’ll inspire one stranger to travel to a new place. Or I’ll make a friend who I haven’t talked to in years chuckle at a lame joke. Who knows?

I started properly blogging during my trip to India. I had just graduated, getting rejection letter after rejection letter in my little studio apartment in Denver. Motivation was at an all-time low. So I bought a ticket for one, terrified but also excited.

It was the best decision I ever made. It was on that misadventure that I felt inspired to tell the stories that I wanted to remember.

I hope I inspire others to think a little differently about their day or to take a step outside their comfort zone. It can be as simple as smiling to a stranger or as big as buying your own ticket for one.

It started there, as a ticket for one. I learned something on that trip. You’re never really traveling alone, are you? You’re always surrounded by people and places and experiences. So one ticket is for me. And the other is for you, stranger.