Honduras

Every time I walked through Miami International Airport, I’d scan the departure board looking for places I’d never heard of. One day, I noticed a flight to Roatán. Curious, I looked it up and decided that would be my stop in Honduras after my sophomore year final exams. Roatán was nothing like I expected. While mainland Honduras has a distinctly Latin American feel, the island felt unmistakably Caribbean, with colorful waterfront villages, crystal-clear water, and English spoken almost everywhere.

The woman working at the front desk of my hotel, Angie, noticed I was traveling alone and invited me to a karaoke night where she was performing. I decided to go, and before I knew it, I was on stage singing in front of a room that included much of the hotel’s staff, who enthusiastically cheered me on. My singing left plenty to be desired, but that was never really the point. Travel had become my way of pushing myself outside my comfort zone, and those slightly uncomfortable moments often became the ones I looked back on most fondly.