What's on your travel bucket list?

On February 20, I flew to Mexico City. It was an early flight so I stayed up late the night before, in order to increase the likelihood that I would fall asleep during the flight because...flights are the worst! I was knocking on wood that morning, because luckily, up to the night before, I was assigned to sit on a seat all by myself, and not next to my parents. Yikes!! Airplane stress was activated full steam1 Not to mention, it was also a seat that was next to a window, and I'm talking about my first flight out of the country, where I haven't the slightest idea to expect air bumps. Fortunately though, when we re-checked the tickets we were all sitting next to each other, so I earned the privilege of sitting on an aisle seat. Unfortunately, though, we were sitting somewhere that was closer to the back of the plane, than the front so it got more of a kick, kind of like a bus (if you have not yet experienced the horrors of airplane travel). That night, once the plane ride was finally over, we had the opportunity to eat dinner with Will, and his fiancee, Jesus. The meal was delicious, I wished my stomach was larger, once I completed it. Once we were done with our dinner with our family, and soon-to-be family, we went to our hotel. Oh my gosh. Hotel rooms in Mexico are AMAZING! I felt like I was staying at an Embassy Suites.

 

My next day in Mexico I found it to be really exciting. That day, I decided to step into the shoes of the tourist that I really was. (Piece of advice, if you happen to do this yourself in the location of a country that you don't know the language of that well, I suggest you don't...) Anyway, on our next day in Mexico, we decided to go downtown (at least that is where I think that we were by my best guess off of the all-adult environment). Someone random on the street ushered us all, my parents and I, into a restaurant that he said existed and that he worked at, though all we could see directly was a beauty shop. We still followed, because what else were we going to do? After finding our way to the second floor of this beauty shop building, we found ourselves in a restaurant. (Finally being semi-able to see why this man had to usher us in.) The food was good, though I admit that this restaurant specialized in seafood...not my favorite by flavor or smell. Anyway, when this man was leading us out though, the doors were shut (not used to this in my extensive day-long research; in Mexico, the doors seem to always be open). The first strike, I thought the man had to be kidnapping us Americans, that don't speak Spanish that well. Luckily though, he wasn't. There was a hole in the door that he was leading us through (how shady does that sound? Trust me, it isn't.). The reason that the door was shut was that there were protestors (apparently this happens every day, according to Will, who ran into us ironically a few minutes later while scaring my Mother in the process).  We had to all walk around a bit until it looked like it was over. My blood and brain felt buzzed by the time this was over. 

The next day, I continued my trip/tour to Mexico. Today, we went to the pyramids with Will and Jesus (it was planned this time, and none of us jumped). Let me tell you, having them as guides, as much better Spanish speakers than any of us (Will knows both English and Spanish, and while Jesus only currently is fluent in one of those languages, my uncle serves as a great translator of everything). Apparently, if we went on a bus, we would have a limited time to see everything, (we definitely didn't want that) according to Will. I loved looking at things that used to be so long ago and gives me a bright perspective of the future. We were looking at the temples of both the Sun and the Moon Gods and of Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent deity of the ancient Mesoamerican culture. Looking at him somewhat reminded me of the scripture 3 Nephi 11: 12-

"And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words the whole multitude fell to earth; for they remembered that it had been prophesied among them that Christ should show himself unto them after his ascension to heaven." (3 Nephi 11: 12)

The scriptures tell of magnificent stories and truths that everyone in the world needs, at least I know I do. What if there are parallels between these two stories that we don't realize? Mesoamerican mythology may be just that, but in a winged deity that doesn't make complete sense flying like an eagle and Christ returning again after leaving and doing His work in heaven could be the same thing, we just don't know it. I, for one, however, do know that Christ did die for us all, redeeming us of our sins in the process. Making it possible and worth it to apologize and try again, no matter how hard that may seem to us at times (like if almost everyone is speaking and fluent in a language that let's say...you aren't the best at and you only took a few classes in high school).

The next day, we all understood some people's patterns in taking a big, another country is your destination journey like this. I was so tired and my leg was sore from all the walking up pyramids and such from the day before. I took a nap in the afternoon (and mind, I don't do that often). We also all needed that rest I think, since this legitimately was the last day of our journey and our flight was set for a very early time, so we needed to sleep sometime, after a long, nearly restless, crazy exciting, I can't wait for the next one trip. It was hot (you should see how red my arms are); It was confusing (I got the chance to brush up on my Spanish in the store, telling the cashier what my Mom said in Spanish); it was exciting (I love to visit new places and destinations of history). All in all, I LOVED IT!!!! I will definitely take another exciting trip like this one (no matter how tired I may look in the picture below). Maybe somewhere where one of my favorite authors lived or currently does live. So, tell me reader, what's on your travel bucket list? Any suggestions?

"Once a year, go someplace you've never been before." -Dalai Lama