Travel adventures

We drive to the airport every single weekend because our church is very close.

What makes it bad is that we literally follow signs to the airport until the very, very last exit where you turn left to drive into the airport's drop-off zone or right to continue on the highway.

And the same thing happens going back home.

I literally have to tell myself, "keep on the road" because I so badly want to just take the exit and go buy a ticket to somewhere and go on a wild adventure.

Have you seen those movies where the person looks at the board and chooses a country and flight to go to?

Granted, they're usually on the run but still... it feels so exciting to be that spontaneous.

And then these emails don't help either.

Sometimes I'm strong and just delete them without even opening.

But other times like yesterday, I open the email and have a good old daydream about flying to some place new. I totally go to that place in my mind - my imagination doesn't let me down.

I was in a space like this about 6 weeks ago when I got a marketing email from a coach I follow about her event in Tucson, Arizona.

It was a really, really good price ($497 for the 2 days and an extra $200 for an extra day's certification) and if I lived in the US, it would be a "no-brainer" as we say in corporate. BTW, I actually hate that term...

But suddenly I thought, "why not?!"

Like I said, I was in that space and before I could think about it properly, I shot off an email to my old travel agent at Flight Centre to get prices.

And you know what? The only thing that put me off was the 15-hour flight (Jhb - Atlanta) and then the next 4-hour flight (Atlanta - Tucson).

I also asked her if there was enough time for a visa and there was, with days to spare.

It didn't end up working out because it just felt too rushed (yes, I went to Ireland with a week's notice but then I didn't need a visa, it was the last pre-babies trip, etc.).

But a wonderful thing has happened since - my mind is open.

Wide open to possibility.

Michael Hyatt then wrote about going to a Speaker's Conference, I clicked through and saw the next one is in Vail, Colorado in October.

Drool..... Colorado is on my life list...

Spouses can attend for a crazy cheap amount of money.

I still want to go to that conference but I want a couple more years of experience under my belt first.

And then my new coach and I were chatting last week and she happened to ask if I travel to international conferences.

I said that I hadn't but strangely enough, I'm now open to the idea and I felt like God's been slowly opening my mind to possibility.

She loved it - said she loved that she was part of the confirmation for me.

So here's the thing.

I'm declaring here and now that next year I'll be going to the She Speaks conference for Christian speakers and writers. I'm on their list and the minute bookings open (this year's one hasn't even happened!), I'm booking my place.

I plan for D and I to have a holiday around it and maybe do two weeks in the US.

What do you think? Am I mad?

And more importantly, do you also get wanderlust when the Flight Centre emails pop into your inbox, or you read about travel on the blogs?

PS Heather and I've decided to meet up in NYC - who else is keen?


PPS my colleague who sits right next to me is flying to Greece with his family tomorrow. I am jealous of the travel but not of sitting next to his 3-year-old toddler :)