I want to become a Pan Am stewardess

Not really. But in all the commercials for Pan Am, this is the line they show- "I want to see the world. I'll become a Pan Am stewardess!"

I too wish to see the world, but only specific parts of it, and only in a specific fashion. I hate vacations that are big and extravagant. Growing up my favorite place in the world was Blue Knob State Park, Pennsylvania. We stayed in cabins and the bathroom options consisted of the nearest tree or the facilities at the top of the hill- er, mountain.

To be quite honest I don't believe in going somewhere far away and spending an atrocious amount of money to be in a foreign land for a grand total of a week. I like local, and when I say that I mean Blue Knob or the Outer Banks. If I am going to be spending $1000 plus on my airfare alone it'd better be because I am going to be holed up there a long while.

This past winter my sister Heather worked at Disney World. She loved it! I would jealously read her many blog posts about her perfect life and hope that one day I too would live in that magical land. I really, realllyy want to do it still, with my old roommates Dam and En-em-nemily. I am considering my calendar for it for reals.

Anyway Heather wrote this awesome blog post about being local, and I would like to share my favorite parts of it with you....

I don't want to be a tourist. I want to live places. I think I've always been that way. I don't want to visit Florida and take a trip to Disney World, I want to live in Florida and work at Disney World. I don't want to visit Utah for General Conference, I want to live in Utah and study at BYU. I don't want to come home for a few days every summer, I want to live in Maryland for a few weeks and then go back to my other home in Utah.

I want a house in Jamaica! I want to wake up and see the Eiffel Tower outside my window! (Actually wait. I'm not sure if I want to do that. Maybe France is the exception and I just want to visit there, get my picture in front of the tower, and get out. To continue.....) I want to live 10 minutes from the beach! I want to live in a great big Pride and Prejudice-esque house in England and I want to learn how to drive on the wrong side of the road and I want to pick up an accent!

I want to be a local everywhere I go! I don't like vacations. I just like living.

Isn't she awesome?? I seriously have the coolest family. All the things they do are amazing and they accomplish so much! Now back to me.

I hate tourists, even when I am one. I hate how they take pictures of buildings. Example: the Natural History Smithsonian. The lil guy and I will be walking along, excited to go to our favorite displays (because we are LOCALS not stupid tourists), and we will have to stop and (im)patiently wait as some people in front of us stop to take a picture of the building. NEWSFLASH- it's a building. A building people! Are you realllyy going to ever look at that picture again? Are you this attached to blocks of stone/bricks/wood/cement? Will this picture be in your wedding slideshow?

I just looked up "Natural History Museum Smithsonian" on Google images and guess what came up? "About 1,710,000 results in 0.28 seconds." So, people, there are NO shortages of pictures of this museum. In fact, there are wayy too many.

Anyway.

All this is why I have composed a list of the places I wish to live. Ehm.

• Russia: January-June 2013. If I really love it, then I'll definitely be back for more
• Kenya: Minimum of four months, but I'm really hoping for at least a year
• Florida: Again, Disney with Dam and En-em-nemily.
• South Africa: With Gina!
• Hawaii: Julie really wants to do a semester at BYU-Hawaii together, so it'd be about 3-4 months. If that doesn't work out, I won't be heartbroken.
• Australia: Not particularly attached to this one, but if my little brother Joseph still wants to go there in a few years I'll consider living there for a yearish so we can party together!
• Panama: Is a definite maybe. I have always held a sort-of fascination with this place. The LDS Panama Temple is so beautiful looking!

I agree with Heather. I like knowing about that cute little corner shop that bakes the best bread. I like being able to give people directions, and knowing how to follow street signs. I hate using maps and calling frantically for directions. I love having favorite spots that I can visit over and over again. I love learning new things about my city. Honestly guys? I love being local.