Adventure in Perspective (3)

They had been high school graduates for a total of 48 hours before hopping on a plane in Los Angeles and landing in Rome later. After a year of working at Chipotle to save up and putting together the final pieces for his next step after high school, Ryan Keithley along with four of his friends would be headed on an unusual tour of Europe. 

Before this, Ryan had never left United States, so the trip opened a lot of doors for him. By the end of it, he and his friends had visited Italy, Rome, Montenegro, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Slovenia and Hungary. 

“Part of that whole traveling thing I was feeling spontaneous and adventurous, especially after we just graduated,” Ryan said. “The third day we decided to bleach my hair which was an experience in itself. Especially because the lady spoke no English.” 

Turns out it was illegal for Ryan to get his hair dyed there. He was 17 at the time, and it would only be considered legal if he had parental consent or was 18. The woman dying his hair stopped midway through at the discovery of his age. Ryan momentarily worried he’d leave with only half of his hair done, but she finished. 

“The day after we saw a sign for a festival going on and we had no clue what it was about. So we bought tickets for it. They were only like 20 euros and we ended up going to a [...] Snow Patrol and Ed sheeran concert. That was my first concert experience.” 

Ryan commented that while he enjoyed Italy, he felt almost too comfortable there. The country held many similarities to the U.S. He instead found more enjoyment in the countries they visited that we’re as dominated by tourists.

These lesser known countries (to Americans at least) such as Herzegovina, Bosnia and Montenegro offered unfamiliar landscapes and histories he had never learned about. War torn cities growing around bomb sites. New foods. New people. He comments that the experience was enhanced because they were preserved places, untouched by common knowledge and free of the typical swaths of tourists. 

“I don’t think I ever would have gone out and explored something if a group didn’t push me like that to go out and explore the world.” 

Since his trip to Europe, Ryan has continued to do whatever he can to see the world, even during this pandemic. He’s taken advantage of the free time to see more of America outside of California. This summer he took his car and a few good friends out to Oregon and Colorado. 

Currently residing in Boston for the upcoming school year, Ryan continues to pursue travel ideas. He’s determined to see all that he can.