Tuesday, November 30, 2010

I think I may have had enough

I think I may have had enough of traveling, for now at least. Since June 25 I have taken trips to San Antonio, Whistler, Southern California, Alaska, Maine, Italy, and Alaska again. That 's seven times I've left home for two days to three weeks. We still have three more trips scheduled - to eastern Idaho over Christmas, to Mexico for a week in January, and to the Washington coast for a week in February. And I' m chagrined to admit I' m not looking forward to any of them yet - not even to the warmth of Puerto Vallarta.

Art and I were talking today about how our travel ideas have become more refined with this series of times away. We still prefer times when we interact with locals - which rarely happens when we're with a group, as in Italy. We still prefer to make our own meals rather than eating at expensive restaurants. We like to find our own way. It's easier to do that when English is the native language, of course, but not as interesting as when we're feeling our way along with two or three words and a pocket dictionary. So I expect our next trip of more than a week will be a road trip, which we've never done together. To the midwest, probably, in the spring.

I was travel starved, I guess, after working at the same job for 20 years. And now I am full. I'm ready to be home, to go through closets, to load all our CDs into my iMac, to look up some really easy recipes for soup. And to get back to my normally scheduled activities.

That's good, I think. There are other things I want to do now that I' m not working. I've gotten back to work on my online ESL class. I' m working a lot on genealogy. I've written a couple of pieces for submission to somewhere. I'm scheduled to work this Saturday at a Habitat for Humanity build. I' ll probably take a mediation class in January. All these things I didn't have time for when we were on the road.

November is usually our rainiest month. I'm indoors a lot - it' s hard to go for a walk when it' s dreary out. I' m more inclined to stay indoors. But also to eat. And to sleep late. And to read. For a woman who lived by a to-do list, I'm becoming a slacker. As a matter of fact, there are a few things I have to do that I didn't put on my list! How times change.

Art and I will be giving blood next week at my former workplace. I see my former colleagues and I think they look caged. I never noticed that when I worked there. I must have looked that way too.




10 comments:

Linda Reeder said...

This sounds familiar. After I retired five years ago we took long, extensive, and expensive trips. The first were road trips, three weeks in our amazing Southwest, three weeks on our own, driving through Sweden, Norway and Denmark, four weeks on our own driving in Germeny, Austria and a bit of Switzerland. Previous to retiring we had spent three weeks in England and Wales, again driving and on our own. Finally we signed on for two back to back Viking river boat cruises in the Netherlands, Belguim and France, with a week in between on our own, using public transportation (trains). Our last trip was a nine day road trip in Arizona. We fly to a destination and then rent a car.

This year we did not take a big trip, and so far we don't have one planned for 2011. We fly to Denver three times a year to see our daughter and grandkids, and we have family recreational properties on the Oregon Coast and on Whidbey Island.
I think we have satisfied the travel urge. I want to travel more in the future, but I am no longer compelled to do so.

#1Nana said...

Linda, a little travel, a little home time, it's all good. I feel the same way about my former co-workers. I was struck by how miserable they are. I am so grateful to have the choice to not work there anymore.
Jann

Linda said...

How exciting to find another genealogy person. I'm working on a new genealogy project and enjoying it very much. I was contacted by a man who's done extensive work on one of the maternal lines in my family tree. He's a delight to work with. This week we've gone live with the TNG software. We have a lot of work to do but it's more fun when you have someone to share the work with. I'm learning so much. I had seen the TNG software used for a wonderful online database for another family line I deal with. He really liked it so we've embarked on doing something similar. A lot of fun.

Bob is not a traveler. I've done international traveling when I was younger and taken some tours in the US but these days I'm content to stay at home.

Have fun on all your fun projects.

DJan said...

When you're travel starved, it's easy to overindulge. But once you've begun to nest for the winter, you'll probably want to do something (but not everything) again in the spring or summer. Plenty of time to relax in the meantime... Retirement has become full for me, with little space to try to fill.

Arkansas Patti said...

Goodness, you haven't left too many parts of this country and others untouched. Road trips are the best but hope you finally get some down time.
I too feel so badly for those former work buddies who are still grubbing away at 9 to 5 jobs. Oddly when you are doing it, you aren't aware how deprived you are.
Freedom is addictive.

Teresa Evangeline said...

You're having a good time, but I can see why time at home is looking good, too. Stay dry! :)

Decca said...

Enjoy your home time. And the genealogical research. I've been working on my family and Husband's for the past year. His is far more interesting than mine, but the search has been fascinating.

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

What exciting journeys you've had the fortune of being a part of this past year, that is wonderful! I know exactly what you mean though, after a while your own home & comfy bed are just calling your name :-) My husband and I are roadtrip pros, seriously I've considered writing travel journals for a living we do it so much! If you need/want any advice or tips for your very first coming up just let me know. And it sounds like you're starting to check off the list of all the stuff you said you wanted to do in retirement huh? Let me know how the HfH build goes, I've long considered volunteering for something like that too. Maybe its time to just do it.

Murr Brewster said...

Hey! I've written gobs of things for submission to somewhere. If you ever figure out where that is, let me know.

Deb Shucka said...

How wonderful that you've been able to get your fill, to find that point of satiation,and that you now have being home to look forward to. Until you're ready to go again. What a lovely life you lead.