Today is the day I begin my life, not the life I’m supposed to have; instead, the life I want. The life of my dreams.

I’ve had this URL (www.cheapgirltravel.com) for a while now and did nothing with it but let it sit. Frozen in my inability to write even though I had post / article ideas, even though I’ve traveled and have photo’s to share. I simply wasn’t motivated to write. That is until now.

I am the product of an immigrant Greek father and a second generation Armenian mother. One of the greatest sources of pride for me is due to my ethnic background. Though I was born in the United States, I was lucky enough to live in Greece with my family as a child. In college, I participated in an exchange program which allowed me to live in Germany for one month.  After that, I backpacked through Europe for an additional two and a half months. That trip did it, I was sold. Travel and ruins and cultures and architecture and history became my true love. I was 22 at the time.

At present, I am 40 years old. Over the years, I spoke about wanting to travel the world. I plotted and planned on how to best accomplish that goal but things just never worked out. I let the years pass and I let my dreams go because of an image I had of how I thought life was supposed to be. I tried to be the responsible person that works a 9-5 job and moves up the career ladder. However, in my attempt to do so, I realized we’ve been lied to. The story of the American Dream that people of the Generation X era were told would happen if “we worked hard” was a lie. The American Dream doesn’t exist anymore.

Gen Xers grew up during a time where we were sold on the idea that the house with a white picket fence, the 2.2 children, the husband (or wife), and the big bank account would all come to fruition if we just “worked hard.” Well, I HAVE worked hard and it hasn’t happened. Nor has it happened for many of my friends. We are college educated 30-40 somethings struggling to make ends meet and to move up the career ladder; and are unhappy doing so.

My advise to any Millennial who feels a bit lost in life but is trying to do the responsible thing is this: Life is short. Don’t waste time and don’t be afraid to live your dreams. There is nothing you should be fighting more fervently for.