Everyone I know, loves to travel! Me, I can’t say that I hate it… but I can’t say that I love it. Travelling makes me apprehensive (or anxious, whatever you want to call it). Why is that? I’ve been asking myself the same question ever since I was old enough to travel and it has been worst since I left my hometown (to learn more about my roots, click here) The more I think about it, I have narrowed it down to 5 main reasons.
So why this post now? Well, if you are following my facebook page, you have seen my post on us taking a little road trip home this weekend. Nothing long, a simple 24h trip. However, this 24h trip is now at it’s 6th day for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I love going back home and spend time with our family. Once I am at destination, get the party started, everything is peachy! But to get there… it’s another story!
Reason 1 – The planning
My friends and family reading this right now must be going: ”REALLY? Planning… but you love to plan”. Indeed I do! I’m the type of person that will plan on when we plan the plan to do an activity… yeah I know OCD!
First off, we need to figure out when we leave and when we come back. We need to make this fit with work which often time interferes with traffic. Last thing you want is to be stuck in a car during rush hour for an extra 2 hours in the car.
The time we leave will determine if we eat before we leave or during the trip. If we eat before, I need to plan an easy meal (not long to make and not a lot of dishes). Since we are talking about food, you want to make sure you do not have something in your fridge that will go bad while you are gone… last thing you want is a massive fridge clean-up when coming home.
This is just the tip of the iceberg!
Reason 2 – The luggage
Packing is always a big thing. We always end up with someone wanting to bring something that is in the laundry (which adds on to the planning list). So in between your 8 to 5 job, meals and every other thing during the day, you now need to add laundry to the pile of things you need to complete before leaving –I never said it, but laundry is also done Sunday–.
”MOM, HOW LONG ARE WE GONE?” The massive packing has if we are going away for a month. The extra this and the extra that in case. I do have to agree that in some cases, we needed it. In other cases, it was just too much!
Once the luggage is all nicely packed, I look at all these clothes and I am so grateful that my Mom let’s me do laundry at her place before we come back… otherwise, I would have a ton to do once we would be back!
Reason 3 – The other members of the family… Our Pets
We have 3 cats (Cisco, Gizmo & Michat), a leopard gecko (Lizzie) & fishes –we did not name the fishes other then the beta who looks like Superman so we call it Superfish– They need to be taken care off too while we are gone.
For the fishes, it’s easy… we have slow dissolving food which we put in the tank. They are ok for a week with this food. Same for Lizzie, she eats live crickets and eats only a few times a week. Simply give her a HUGE feast before we leave and with a few extra crickets in her tank, she is all set! The cats though, it’s a little more planning!
Gizmo & Michat stay at home while Cisco takes the ride with us. Cisco was diagnosed with colon problems almost a year ago and has been travelling with us ever since. Although I think he finds the road long (almost 6 hours), he does love to spend some time over at my parent’s house. He get’s full attention!
So since Cisco is coming along, you must have guessed it, we need to pack for him also. His food, his meds, his bed… you know what I mean!
Reason 4 – Packing
Packing is not the same as the luggage. Packing the luggage is one thing… packing the car is another thing. It’s like playing Tetris but in real life. Twist this like that and that like this… put this on top.
To be honest, I don’t deal a lot with this portion, it is mostly my husband that does. I still get frustrated for him because in the end there is always a little something at the last minute that we forget and he needs to start his Tetris game all over again.
Reason 5 – The road
This is the portion of travelling that makes me most apprehensive. I get the ”What if?” syndrome! What is the ”What if” syndrome?
What if we have car trouble? What if we forgot something? What if something happens to the house? What if something happens to the cats? What if we have an accident? What if one of us get’s sick? What if? What if? What if?
You get what I mean!
Around one hour into the trip, I tend to relax and enjoy the ride… or sleep because all that apprehension tends to warn me out. Usually with only one hour left on trip, I already feel like we are home and can’t wait to arrive.
For the duration of our trip, I forget about the apprehension I had about the trip. I fully enjoy the time with my family and friends.
Until we need to get ready to do the road back…
With time, I have learned to manage these feelings. Now, when we will be travelling back home, I have something more to look forward too… I have this blog in which I will be able to share my road trips with you back home. Look out for a section in my blog called ”My Roots” which will contain pictures and overviews of our weekends back home.
I sure am looking forward to share the places I am going while back in my hometown!
