finally visiting machu picchu after 17 years of dreaming
Ever since I was a kid, Machu Picchu felt like a place out of a storybook. I remember sweating over a school report about it when I was 10, cutting out pictures from old magazines and dreaming about the mountains. Fast forward 17 years, and I finally made it there—except, it wasn’t quite the magical moment I’d pictured.
We spent hours hiking up the steep trails, and when we finally reached the top, the view was jaw-dropping. But here’s the kicker: the place was packed. I mean, selfie sticks everywhere, people yelling into their phones, and I could barely get a photo without someone’s backpack in the frame. I kept thinking, did I really wait all these years for this?
Has anyone else had a place built up in your mind for years, only to find it totally different when you finally got there? Did you feel let down, or did you find something special anyway? Sometimes I wonder if the dream is better than the reality, or if I just picked the wrong day to visit. Maybe it’s just part of traveling as an adult—nothing ever matches the childhood fantasy, but you still find little moments that make it all worth it.
#travelmemories #machupicchu #expectationsvsreality #Travel