Last long weekend, we took a trip to Sauble Beach. It was a short trip, and a rushed trip. We started the day off 1 hour late, ran into long weekend traffic and drove past dozens of garage sales, antique shops and local markets selling fresh berries just to get to our destination. We made a pit stop at Williamsford Pie Company. But as I got back in the car, I thought to myself, as the self proclaimed “Roadtrip Girl”, I’m pretty bad at taking roadtrips. Sure we made a stop at the pie place, but that was a predetermined destination. Never have I really stopped along the way to visit a cute local store or buy some fresh berries to take along the road.
I just turned another year older this week and for the first time, I could really feel life speeding by.
It all started in 2014 as we embarked on a new adventure – home ownership. As Toronto house prices skyrocketed, we decided to take the plunge after 2 years of searching. We purchased the house in April 2014 and had possession by the first week of June and in between, we had pre-booked a trip to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan back in February.
Everything that’s happened after that was a blur. Within the last year, I’d say I accomplished quite a bit as a working 26 year old. But I never stopped to enjoy the moment every step of the way.
I can hardly remember that we spent 4 days in San Francisco, and 6 days in San Diego during the Christmas break. A hectic but beautiful week in Italy in May, a short roadtrip to Ottawa in July and a relaxing week at the cottage in August. I rushed through it all.
More than my travels, after 3 years of working at Shaw, I moved on to my next challenge. Nothing I planned for, but its been a good opportunity so far.
I’m writing this post so I can remind myself to stop and smell the roses. I know, it is so cliche, but I finally get it. I need to learn to stop taking out my phone each time I see something pretty and only think, ‘that’s going to make a good Instagram’. I want to appreciate every journey I take and not rush through it just so I can proclaim that, ‘I did it’, because that’s not what traveling means to me.
What does traveling mean to you?
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