Travel Tip #1: Roll with the Punches

I've put a lot of thought into what I believe the #1 Rule for Travel is.

There are a lot of things that I've learned over the years to ensure my safety and pleasure while navigating the free world.

While every journey is different, you are the connecting piece throughout the web of your experiences.

I, like many others, am prone to anxiety. I have a tendency to overthink situations and make problems feel bigger in my head than they really are.

BUT one of the most important things I've learned from traveling is that time spent worrying is time wasted. Time spent stressEd is time lost.

It's so hard to break out of the mundane structures of life and society in the first place, so once you finally do it, you CANNOT look back.

Challenges will arise. Things may break, you may experience extreme weather, your car might break down.

What matters is how you move forward when these things happen!

In the midst of the open world, when you're far from the people and places that bring you comfort, you must remember that every step of the journey is an opportunity to learn new things and to show gratitude for what is going right.

So you blew a tire on the highway? That's not what you want. I feel for you.

But that doesn't mean your day is ruined!

Now you have an opportunity to practice your tire changing skills, and at least it happened in a beautiful new place! not to mention that you don't have anywhere essential to be any time soon.

This past Friday was supposed to be the start of our cross-country journey from Florida to Northern California.

We made our schedule weeks ago, planning out our mileage for each day. We've made lists of what we need to pack and to do.

And yet, in the shuffle of moving, we got behind. We spent 3 nights staying up late packing and saying goodbye to friends between work in the mornings. we had completely exhausted ourselves!

We had made a plan to leave the next morning, but we wouldn't have been able to enjoy the ride if we were feeling groggy the whole time.

***NEVER drive drowsy! If you are already yawning and wondering if it's safe to keep driving, that means it isn't.

So roll with the punches!

Life is unpredictable. Travel is definitely unpredictable! But if you enjoy all the twists and turns as much as you enjoy the straight shots, you'll come out on top.