How do I get started?

We've already established that choosing to travel and actually getting on the plane isn't easy, but how do we come to the decision? I think that basically, the society you live in molds your thoughts so much so that before you realize it there are walls up on both sides and rarely a fork in the road. In American society, we are born, go to K-12 school and work hard or work hard enough to get into college, go to college, get a job, meet someone, eventually get around to getting married, and then think about having kids of our own. Sometimes we miss steps here and there, but basically it's a road many of us travel. What is so interesting to me is that there is a different path in virtually every other society in the world. The US is basically 5% of the world population. Think of all the other societies that mold their people in ways that take them down completely different paths! Imagine for just a moment that you live in New Zealand. Besides the addition of many sheep and kiwi fruits to the landscape, it is very similar to the US. The temperature is similar, there are white-capped mountains alongside beautiful oceans, and big cities (well one big-ish city). You would be speaking English except that your vowels would sound much funnier, and you would live amongst many friendly people (almost a Midwestern kindness). Imagine all of your friends going off to travel the world after High School or "college." If everyone your age was going, you would consider it too. The point is, if the societal path on which you were living included travel, you too would be traveling. How do you come to the decision to travel? By deciding not to be corralled into a certain societal path.