De-stressing, Travel and Planning!

One of the ways I make it through busy or stressful times is by daydreaming of adventures to come! I love travelling and new experiences, and I also love planning! Where others might just enjoy their vacations, I enjoy the trip AND the process! Daydreaming and planning for getaways is ALMOST (but not quite) as fun as the destination itself!

During a broken engagement and the stresses of the first year of law school, I spent countless hours researching, thinking about and planning a backpacking trip to Europe. I would allow myself the occasional evening or weekend afternoon spent reading travel books and spent my entire Christmas break watching the travel channel. Seriously, my mom and I watched every "passport to Europe" episode twice!!

 Likewise, during my first year out of law school when I was new to Jackson and still making friends,  I planned a trip to Eastern Europe with a dear friend.

Last year, whenever Dave and I would stress about where he would land a job, where we would move, getting the wedding plans together, etc, I would send him texts counting down until our honeymoon trip, saying "45 (40, 37, etc) days until San Fran and Napa" Yes, we counted down until our honeymoon, not our wedding. What can I say? I am a girl who loves to travel (and luckilly I married a boy who loves to travel as well!) When there was no certainty of where we would live and when we would have to move, I found comfort in the certainty (and excitement) that we would be married and travelling together in X number of days!

And that's why, I loved this past Sunday!! After the gym, chores, errands, laundry, we splurged with our time and spent a leisurely hour reading travel books and drinking coffee at the bookstore. We have a few getaways coming up this year that we have been saving up for. Thinking ahead to a warm summer getaway with family, celebrating our first anniversary or exploring a new city brightens even the chilliest winter day (and yes, today, on the 8th official day of spring, we have a CHILLY wintery day) and de-stresses me when life is busy or hectic! Sunday is usually my only day off each week, and planning future adventures with Dave was the perfect way to enjoy it!

Although we are both super busy these days, I make time to daydream about adventures. I spend time on the metro flipping through guidebooks and go to bed dreaming of travel! Poor Dave will be going to sleep and I will annoy him with questions about what he wants to do on our trips, what hotel we should book and where we should eat dinner. Planning for future adventures is a stress reliever for me - it's a good distraction, it's fun and it focuses me on fun times ahead!

We have a few upcoming adventures planned-- and I will share more about that later this week!
 Do you enjoy planning and dreaming about upcoming adventures or just seeing where the road takes you when you travel?  For those daydreamers and planners, what adventures do you have coming up?