Travel Lessons...

Why I Love Travel

There are always three phases of travel that give rise to each trip I take.  There is the planning, the actual trip itself and the memories created as the aftermath of my travels.  The planning is the anticipation, the building adrenaline as the day comes closer, the pouring over the travel books and imagining the sights to be seen, the food to eat, the experiences.  This planning phase used to be my favorite part of the trip.  I just got a rush as I dreamed of what I may experience.  The faces of those whom I told, "yeah, I'm going to Costa Rica, next week...", and the look of envy as I prepared for my departure.  I also really loved the aftermath, the memories, the photos, the look of envy on people's faces when I said, "yeah, I just got back from London....".  But, this past trip I took elevated my spirit to just be in the moment.  To experience the what is, not the what was or what will be.  I think I just entered the phase that feels most right to me at this point of my life...the just BE phase. 

As I departed on my latest adventure to Italy and Greece with the Travel with Jana group, I just wanted to be in the moment.  The two days prior to joining the group, I spent with my ever-positive and positively fun sistah', Diane Dickinson.  The adventure of driving a manual car through the Sorrento and Amalfi Coast, these two days made me feel free, strong, and in awe at the beauty of the world.  We spent 40 minutes one rainy night, parking this car in the smallest of spaces on the planet.  There were moments of utter frustration and triumph in our persistence.  We drove the narrowest of roads, saw amazing vistas, and enjoyed a two and a half hour lunch just BEing.

As we met up with our group, we learned to rely on one another and these are the lessons I took away from our travels with this beautiful group of people:

1.       There are people in this world who are hopeful, positive and ecstatic to be alive.  I so love traveling with this group of people because I feel my being shift into such a positive vibration.  You are the average of the five people with whom you surround your life.  For two weeks my average goes sky high.  Trips like this attract people who like their lives and use words like:  manifest and law of attraction and live your dreams.  I kind of like that I live in a world with people who take 100% responsibility for their current state of mind and the direction of their future.  Who are not afraid of a little fear as being a sign of growth.  Who use the valleys of their lives to be even greater than who they were before the "thing" happened for them.

2.       In this wide, wide world, it really is infinitely small.  We are all simply connected by such common threads.  And, the more I travel, the more I realize how simple life and the world really is.  We all want love, we all want joy, we all want some companionship....the only thing different is the form these all take.  When I first started traveling I envisioned all the exotic things I would take in and the different lifestyles I would encounter.  From playing with school children in Vietnam to orphans in Bali to sitting on a patio restaurant in Italy and talking to the owner about how his mother fled to the hills in World War II, the common theme of connection and telling our stories is woven through the various textures of my travels.

3.       There is so much to see and I want to see it all.  Is it possible to see every nook and cranny of this beautiful world?  If it were so, I want to see.  It feeds me, it fills me and makes me feel fully alive in this life of mine.  If we could all find something in life that fills you with passion, isn't that what is important?  Travel is the one thing I can never become bored with.  Whether that passion is travel for you...cooking...eating...creating...learning...raising your children...reading...connecting...finding your "IT" is the important thing.  Feeling "IT" and living "IT".  Not waiting for someday when the stars all line up...but, now.

4.       Support of your loved ones is nice...but what if everyone is not on board.  I am blessed with a family that does support me following my passion; however, two weeks after I put the money down on this trip, my husband wasn't as sure as he was initially about this trip.  I struggled off and on in the months that followed leading up to the trip.  Do I forfeit the money?  Disappoint my friend whom signed up with me?  How will I feel as the day arrives and I am not going?  How will I feel about my husband if I don't go?  Not everyone is going to be on board with our passions 100% of the time.   Does that mean you put them to the side and acquiesce?  or, do you move forward and try your best to compassionately understand and yet not compromise your perspective and desires.  A woman on the trip shared this concept with me that sums up how I choose to show up in my relationships:  "It is my intention to keep my focus on you, while still honoring my truth and co-create in this space together."  (Summarized from a workshop with Abraham Hicks)  Isn't that a beautiful thing?  It is about intention...it is not my intention to hurt my husband, kids, friends, etc, with the decisions I make in my life.  I love them.  I want them all to be happy.  I want them very much to create their own unique story of happiness for their own lives.  My end of that responsibility is to support each and everyone as best I can, when I can and the rest is up to them.

5.       Just ask.  I am a giver.  Love to help.  But, a receiver?  No, not me, I am independent and strong!  Okay, universe, teach me....When I couldn't reach home on my birthday due to a poor internet connection...our guide, Silvio, gave me his phone card and insisted I connect with home.  When I couldn't park the god-for-saken car in the tiniest spot in the world...Diane offered to give it a go.  When I sprained my ankle two days before the end of my adventure in Greece...I received the healing hands of others as women gathered and offered their energy healing techniques and Diane propped my foot up on a pillow with ice.  Learning to ask and receive with grace takes a strong and independent state of mind!  It is just as important, if not more so, than giving.

I don't care where I go on my next adventure...what I do know is that there will be a next adventure and my exploration of me and my world will continue.  What adventure is waiting for you?

Christie Gause-Bemis, co-founder of Hot Pink YOUniversity along with two other sensational women, is a psychotherapist in private practice.  For a complete bio visit:  www.hotpinkyou.com