Last Updated on May 19, 2020 by Natalie
It was June. It was November. Or January. It was anytime a coworker vacationed anywhere. Envy. And a little bit of jealousy that I could tamper down with some deep breathing. Scotland, Tennessee, a Caribbean cruise, anywhere, but especially the exotic. Why was I waiting to travel? These are my regrets.
A calm day on Grand Cayman Island. This is one of my all time favorite travel pictures of me.
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Plenty of vacation time…
I meticulously hoarded my vacation time. I always had 10 days extra per year and generous amount awarded yearly. What in the hell was I waiting for? Money to magically fall from the sky? Courage to go alone? The guilty, borderline workaholic and “I have responsibilities here” tendencies to go away? Yes. Sadly yes.
…and not enough funds
I did not make travel a priority. It was considered somewhat frivolous, because I had expenses. Mortgage, pets, car payments. I never stuck to a budget, instead I’d purchase items impulsively, to get me through my work week. Usually, it was Chipotle. I kept waiting for travel.
Or perhaps my fear used money as an excuse
I was also afraid to travel alone. None of my friends had extra money, either. Occasionally, I did some amazing stuff, like visiting Bellingham, Washington with my great friend, Justin. I also visited my college friend in Florida. But then there was that one time that I totally messed up and didn’t get to visit another friend in Arizona. I shouldn’t have let that stop me.
But I did. I did tend to have a bit of bad luck when traveling. And I couldn’t let go of travel being “frivolous,” even though I really wanted to do it. Intensely and on repeat.
A work selfie. Sure, I looked happy. I would’ve been happier if I’d just returned from the beach.
What are your excuses?
If you truly want to travel, you’ll stop with the excuses and go! That may mean making a strict budget and sticking to it (for me, that would’ve meant no more Chipotle for awhile). Or maybe you need to save up your vacation days so you can take a week or two off at once. When traveling with kids, the prices increase dramatically. “Two adults with kids spend twice as much to experience about half the magic of Europe per day than they might without,” says Rick Steves in this article. It is worth it to travel with kids and to start now. Life doesn’t end when you have kids. For me, there are chains I broke out of after having kids that allowed my life to really begin.
A picture from my travels to Washington state. This was taken at Larabee State Park. I have some regrets and traveling to Bellingham isn’t one of them!
Also, that article cited above inspired me to do slower traveling with kids which led to immersion travel. There are so many new things nowadays that decrease costs. Things like airbnb, Uber, and countless websites for cheap airfare. In addition, there are so many legitimate ways to make money using the internet (taxes still apply).
What are you waiting for? More Regrets?
Start traveling now! And take the kids!
