Soon my husband and I are embarking on a long weekend in New York City. We try to take a small trip every summer, and every time I’m reminded of the fact that I don’t travel well.
I do like seeing new things, don’t get me wrong. I can spend a whole afternoon in a museum looking at art or just sitting. I like to take my laptop to new places and write in a new environment.
But ever since I was a kid, I did not travel well. My parents don’t either. Something always goes wrong that stops the trip and causes a panic. We might be cursed.
Once, my dad’s wallet (and subsequently all his money and credit cards and driver’s license) fell down a mountain. On our way home from Mexico, our flight came into Florida late, causing us to be late going through customs and miss our connecting flight home and we had to spend the night in Ft. Lauderdale. When we went to Orlando, our rental car reservation was nowhere to be found and we had to sit at midnight in a hot parking lot waiting to sort it out for hours.
Luckily, Kyle and I don’t have as many panic-inducing stressors on our trips together, but that doesn’t mean they go smoothly. The last time we went out of town, a long weekend in Chicago, I had to shut my debit card off because some strange guy approached us and put his phone very blatantly close to my pocket with my wallet in it while asking us where we were born.
I still can’t believe that happened. But I also get sore. My hips and/or lower back get sore after walking around for a long time, so I actually enjoy spending time in the hotel room and laying down.
This time, I made sure to allot time for doing that. Plus, I’ve been to NYC before, so I’m less inclined to pack every second of every day.
I don’t like feeling like I need a vacation from my vacation. And while I’m sure there will be some stress along the way, I’m hopeful that I’ve learned after years of vacations to take time to actually relax and recuperate.
I think that’s an important thing that people tend to forget when it comes to vacations. Sometimes we feel the need to see everything and fill every second of a vacation, but don’t forget to take time to just be in a new place and relax.