Journal 4- traveling and its impact

Over the years, I have traveled to many places and had many experiences. Not only have I gone on vacations with my family, I have also been on many trips for fun or just for the heck of it. Every summer, my family rents a condo in Florida in Tampa Bay. We rent the same one every year, so it is kind of like a home away from home. I think that our yearly family trips makes a huge impact on me, not only short term but also long term. We always drive down to Florida, which usually takes us around twenty-four hours. It is extreme family time. Even though we get on each others nerves, it never fails to bring us together. I think that sometimes it is easy to forget how you love your family, or how much you need them. Our family vacations are like a wake up call to all of us. We are forced together for an extended period of time, so all of us realize that we have to make the best of it. If I ever get upset with my family, I have to remember all of the memories we create on our summer vacations to Florida. Another trip that changed my life was my trip to Indianapolis in April of 2010. I went with my competitive volleyball team for the National Volleyball Tournament. We were there to play against hundreds of volleyball teams for the championship. I had never been so nervous in my life because there were supposed to be college coaches there to scout talent. My dream is to play volleyball in college, so I obviously wanted my team to do our absolute best. As the days went on, the players of my team got more obsessed with doing well for the coaches. It got to the point where we were not playing as a team because we were so focused on personally looking our best. It was probably one of the most disappointing trips of my life. That experience taught me not to be selfish because, in the end, it effects everyone negatively.