London is, by far, my favorite city in the world. Quite simply, it has everything: history, politics, culture, and plenty of strange quirks that makes London, well, London. In 2007, as part of a school trip during my senior year in high school, I was able to venture out of North America for the first time in my life and I was immediately hooked. Since then, I have returned to London multiple times in 2009 and five times after that.

The Big Island of Hawai’i is a land unlike any other. On one side of the island it is a barren lava field devoid of life while the other side is extremely lush and topical. There are fantastic beaches just like the rest of Hawai’i, but also contains the massive shield volcanoes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa that actually receive significant snowfall in the winter months.

Other than Baja California and England, I am continually finding myself heading back to the Pacific Northwest; to Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. While I didn’t make it all the way to Canada on this trip, I was certainly pestering my parents to do so!

On my eighth grade trip, we ventured far south into Virginia to places like Williamsburg—not far from the first English settlement at Jamestown—and Monticello, the incredible home of Thomas Jefferson. We, of course, hit all the traditional sites in Washington as well: the Capitol, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, Washington Monument, White House, and other places of import.

For most of my life up to this point, my parents had raved about how great Hawai’i is and that I will absolutely love it when we go. While I was somewhat skeptical at first being that places and things often get built up to unrealistic expectations, I was definitely not disappointed after my first trip to the Aloha State.

Located at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula, Los Cabos is where the Californias end and the Gulf of California (Sea of Cortés) meets the Pacific Ocean. The entire region is known for its warm waters, treacherous currents, interesting rock formations, and, of course, the famous “El Arco” or the arch at the very tip of the peninsula.

New York City is one of the most vibrant and exciting cities in the world and the first time I ever left the West Coast, at the age of eight, was to go to the Big Apple.