I love to travel… I hate to fly, but I love to travel. Unfortunately, the past five years had settled me into a routine that allowed for very little seeing-the-world. When I was younger and traveling the world as a dancer, I had a goal to step foot on every continent before I die. As of today I am one foot-step closer to that goal! I left Grand Rapids, Michigan at 4pm on Friday April 4th. After three flights and traveling into the future by crossing the international date line, I arrived in Sydney, Australia at 6:30 am, Sunday April 6th.

For anyone who has had the pleasure to work on a cruise ship, it’s a great way to see the world, but one thing you miss out on is the ever coveted passport stamp. I traveled to dozens of countries on four different continents and had not one single stamp in my passport. Sad, right?!

The image above was taken on the balcony of my hotel here in downtown Sydney, with the city at my doorstep. With this trip, not only can I put one more pin in my world-travel map, but I FINALLY have my very first passport stamp! I cannot express how exciting that is. And now, with my wanderlust restored, here’s hoping this is just the first of many new stamps in what will hopefully be a very well worn and well used passport.