I had the pleasure of attending my class reunion recently (I won’t say what year it was, but it rhymes with “dirty worst”), and in a conversation with one of my old school pals, he revealed that he was deeply shaken by the recent death of a classmate.  In fact he had become so depressed that he wanted to sell all of his possessions and do one single thing.

Travel.

He wanted to see the world.  To experience the sights and sounds the globe has to offer.  While his example is on the extreme end of the spectrum, I think we can all admit (to some degree) that there is a little bit of “wandering vagabond” in all of us.  The desire to roam – to take in the unfamiliar – or to witness what one has only read about or seen through some other’s eyes in film and television.  Travel scratches that proverbial itch.  It’s exciting.  It’s exotic.

Do you love the breezes of the beach, the solitude of the mountains, or the thought of visiting far-off destinations like Paris or Rome?

Well, what are you waiting for?

 

 

 

Travel often gets put off as a “bucket list” item to be fulfilled in our waning years or in retirement, but will we make it to that point in our lives?  Our existence is a fragile thing, and as we see every day in the newspaper or social media, people are lost.  Friends, relatives, and acquaintances.  Their stories are peppered and punctuated with memories or eulogies that include sentences like “she always wanted to see the lights of Broadway”, or “he had a passion for the forest, and swore he would take a trip to see the giant Redwoods and Sequoias of the Pacific Northwest.”   Too often, this is followed by the line “but he/she never got there.”

If you have a desire to see or experience a travel destination, you should do it.  Not “someday”, but “now”.  One cannot predict the future – whether or not health, mobility, or circumstance will become an obstacle to freely and satisfyingly experiencing our travel dreams.

So if you have a “dream trip” in the back of your mind – something you’ve always talked about doing, you should plan it and do it.  Go see the pyramids, take that cruise along the Alaskan coast, or just book a weekend in Ocean City.  The destination is irrelevant.

Fill your life with stories of that small Parisian café where you sat in the late afternoon sun, ate cheese, drank wine, and watched the world go by.  Recall that picnic you had by the secluded waterfall that you stumbled upon in the mountains.  Think back to how the sound of the ocean surf crashing outside your hotel balcony gently rocked you to a blissful sleep.

Replace your “one day, I’ll visit…” fantasies with “I had a wonderful time in…” memories.

Do it while you can.