Friday 40 for 40s - #13: travel

Item #14 that I'm learning I can't change is:

There are more places in the world that I’d like to see than I will have resources and/or time to visit

My first international trip happened in 2006 when I travelled to the US.  It was an incredibly significant moment for me - I was on my own and there was something about being able to go on a significant journey, making my way through multiple airports, customs, immigration and to experience a different culture that really awakened something in me.

Until that point I didn't have much of a desire to travel much - it was a nice idea, but it wasn't high on my priority list.  I'm not even sure what it was that changed, but there's no question that once I returned from that first trip, the idea of seeing other cities became something of a passion piece.

I'm very grateful that since then I've been able to travel to London and Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), as well as multiple trips to Chicago, New York and Los Angeles and to see Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Boston and Washington DC.  I know many of our Canadian friends would also love to see many of the places we saw when we lived in Australia, too - Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Perth... and of course Adelaide!

What I've discovered in my travels is that there really isn't an end point - I'd love to see the East coast of Canada, would love to visit Europe (especially Italy, France and Spain) and there are few people who wouldn't be happy to spend some time on a beach in the Caribbean (especially at this time of year!!)  I know there's little to no chance that we'll have the financial resources to be able to visit all those places, nor the many others that would be amazing to see but don't make the top priority list.  In the end, the more places that we visit, the more places we'd like to visit, let alone going back to spend more time at the places we enjoyed most.

While I'm sure that we'll continue to make it a priority to do some travel, my sense is that in the years to come, I'll let go of the desire to see everything and instead be more intentional about investing our time and resources in decisions that will have a greater impact that just good memories.