So over the holidays, I went to visit my mother. My initial plan was to ease her into the thought of me traveling overseas as I knew she wouldn’t be completely onboard with her only child continent-hopping. For college options, I had one. The closest one. This was not by choice either. “You’ve seen one campus, you’ve seen them all!” my mother told me as a Senior in high school. Now beyond my college degree, I understand the need to include her and ease her into my train of thinking oh so slowly.

As I sat down with her to eat dinner and watch a movie on tv, she turned to me, “Okay, talk in commercial breaks! So tell me about your recent trip. The plane landed, and then…?” So focused on my plans for the new year, I almost completely forgot about my recent trip I just returned from the other week. I told her an overview, then slowly started going into more details, and more details.

Before I knew it, the word-vomit had happened. All my advice for breaking future travel news was out the window. I blame my Latina side. My impulsiveness, impatience, and mostly passion for travel plans started to escape my mouth faster than I could think. I told her about all the costs I had looked into, destinations I created a blueprint for, research I had done about extra fees and documents to be filled. “Have you considered what you’re going to do for a full-time job? How are you going to get more experience if you go around traveling instead of working?” “I feel I’ll actually gain more experience through travel. Travel allows you to see different perspectives, meet others, and find yourself. I think that’s what your 20’s are all about.” Surprisingly, she didn’t completely shut me down. I think she realizes by now, I’m quite stubborn. When my heart and head are set on something, there’s just no talking me out of it. At least I did adhere to one thing I wanted to accomplish with her, which is making sure she knows I did my research. I feel if others are aware you know what you’re doing, they have more confidence in your decisions.

But in all honesty, even with all the research and experience, do any of us know what we’re doing?