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Tomorrow my family and I will be traveling to Costa Rica. This is the first time we have traveled overseas in 3 years! I have always valued travel immensely and I believe that traveling has been my greatest teacher. I was lucky enough to travel pre-kids and once I had my first kid, I was determined to show her the world. The only thing that stopped us was COVID. We were able to go to Egypt, Greece, Mexico, Tanzania, Rwanda, Alaska, and Hawaii before COVID hit. I will forever be grateful that I took her out of the country every chance I got.
Traveling has always been medicine for me. It feeds my soul. Travel teaches me humility and patience. When we are home, it is easy to get used to the familiar and the comfortable. Traveling forces us to think on our feet and learn to live in foreign places.
I started traveling by myself at age 16. I first went to France to visit a friend. After that, I had seriously caught the travel bug. I have traveled to 29 countries and counting. I believe that each place I have visited has taught me something. I have learned so much about how humans live in such different ways and how at our very core, we only need a simple home, to be surrounded by our loved ones, and safety.
I don't know what I will learn on this trip. It has been a long time since I have traveled internationally and I feel a bit rusty. I have grown comfortable with living in my home country and being surrounded by familiarity. Leaving my home behind feels like I am falling into an unknown abyss. But I am excited. I am excited to see what is in store for me and my family. I am excited to see the looks on my children's faces when they see a monkey or get to splash in warm turquoise ocean water.
When I think about travel, I am somehow reminded how sweet and short life can be. Sure, life is not always "sweet" but there is such tenderness and sweetness in these days with my young children. The way they light up when they are trying to tell me something. It pains me how fragile life truly is. This pain is a reminder to live these moments fully. And that is my goal for this trip. I will put my phone down more and be present with my kids. I will fully arrive in the present.
Be well.
~ Danielle