Personal Narrative: The Importance Of Traveling To Florida

It may surprise you to hear it, but I’ve never been out of this state before. I grew up in Colorado, and before now I’ve never had any reason to leave. I can spend my summers hiking and exploring, and, when the wintertime comes, a skiing vacation has never required traveling more than a couple of hours. But this year, my parents have surprised my sister and I with the news that we will be traveling to Florida for a week-long vacation. As you can imagine, this came as quite a shock. Not only am I heading out of the state for the first time, but it is for a week at that! After hearing the news, I went straight up to my room, closed the door, and sat on my bed for what felt like an eternity. I can’t say whether I was excited, frightened, anxious, or just plain confused. What did Florida have to offer anyway? I must have been a
“You’re excited—clearly no one has ever looked forward to anything as much as you are looking forward to going to Florida.”

My obstinacy dwindled and my posture slumped a little. “What’s so great about stupid Florida anyway,” I said, swinging my foot as if kicking an invisible can. “Are you serious? There are lots of great things there.” I must have looked real grumpy because she playfully swatted my shoulder and said, “Hey—haven’t you heard they have alligators there? Yeah, I know! They just wander around! They also have two big theme parks, lots of beaches—maybe we can try surfing.” “Really? Mom and Dad said we could try surfing?” Somehow this is when it all clicked together. We’d all be there—in this adventure together. Why would this be any different than driving a few hours to a ski resort? We’d just fly a few hours instead. And, though I wasn’t ready to admit it out loud just yet, Florida didn’t sound half bad. My sister and I made our way down the hall to the computer room and looked up a lot more facts about Florida. Suddenly three days seemed like too long to