Its not as dangerous as you think...

Watching the sun set on the island of Santorini Greece (summer 2008)

Playing with some children in Swaziland (Fall 2007) 

Alright so clearly I believe in traveling the world. However I always struggled with how to express and defend my view of traveling young. I personally graduated high school and proceeded to travel off and on for the next year before going back to school. Since then I have continued to travel during breaks from classes mostly in the summers. Taking a year off was the best decision I have ever made for many reasons that I would love to share with people when they ask.
Back to the reason for the post is that I recently stumbled upon a great article that talks about traveling young. I think that it expresses truths that I believe in and its an interesting read. So please click on the link  and enjoy, its definitely worth five minutes of your day...

http://convergemagazine.com/featured/travel-young/

Love you

Ashley

Mask shopping in Venice Italy (Summer 2008)