I have been thinking a lot about traveling lately. In my spare time, or five minute breaks I google out random destinations, small coastal towns in the middle of nowhere. I search for hotels, hostels, cars and other random tidbits. I have ‘planned’ multiple imaginary trips to said destinations -because let’s face it, traveling is the name of the game. While we don’t have any trips planned for the immediate future, I still like to dream about it.
Then, in a random moment -I realized that it has been five years since our first big trip across the seas.
…and my travel destination changed. I don’t want to go to Turkey, Greece, Italy, or France. I don’t want to see the Bahamas, couldn’t care less about New Zealand (although I wouldn’t say no because hello, travel!) where I would go if I could go anywhere would be back in time. I know it’s impossible. But so are certain destinations. Today, if I could go anywhere, I would go back in time to the first ever trip we took.
The older I get the more fond I grow of that time spent overseas in 2010.
Sure, we could revisit those great locations again, and we plan to some day. We could visit other amazing places (such as New Zealand!), and we plan too. Sure we have been to some AMAZING places -such as Australia, and I am sure that one day in the near future looking back my heart will be captivated with some other trip…but today, for a brief moment in time -I want to go back and relive some of those moments.
Like seeing the Mediterranean for the first time. I have seen it many times since, and while it probably never will get old -there is something about seeing it for the very first time. It is something you can’t ever redo. Like traveling to a foreign land for the very first time and having absolutely no idea what to expect. That fear and excitement mingled with happiness. Sure, I get those feelings just taking off in an airplane, but there is something absolutely thrilling about landing in a foreign land for the very first time. You can’t repeat that.
The memories made, the people we met, the foods we ate, the roads we wandered. The things we saw, the way we saw them, how we perceived them. Everything that was rolled together to make it an amazing trip…
Sure, looking back you only tend to remember the good. The bad memories are even tainted good. The frustrating moments are funny.
There are just some things that cannot be relived. No matter how many more times I travel, no matter how many more amazing places I see, no matter how many new countries I step foot into -I will never be able to relive those moments of the first time. We can revisit these wonderful locations, and stay in the same places, and retrace our steps to the dot. But it wouldn’t be the same. I would be amazing, and wonderful. It would be exciting, thrilling, and probably frustrating at times. Much of it would be the same…except for the fact that it wouldn’t be the first time.
I want to relive those moments. The first time we flew 10 hours to a foreign country. The first time we went through the boarder alone. The first time we heard someone speaking with an accent. The first time we tried new foods. The first time we heard a foreign language being spoken all around us. The first time we navigated a foreign land. The first time.
Yes, today, if I could go anywhere -it would be back in time…to tell my much younger, much less impressed self to lighten up. Enjoy it. Soak it all in. Because one day, a much older you will be very much jealous of you.
If I could go back in time, I think I might just give France a big hug.
“Somehow the tiny containers of lemon flavored yogurt tasted good in France.
The cheese. The bread. The fried potatoes. The microwave pizza. The apple tart. The nutty ice cream. Gummy worms. Coke bottles. And little note books.
The tiny shower, the gas smell scare, the bikes, the stormy nights, and wet clothes. The dryers that wouldn’t work, shoes that almost got stole, horse back riding, fig picking experiences. The towns that were discovered along the way. The smells.” -France 2010
Tangled Thoughts 