As you read this, I’m on my way to India.
For the last two weeks, I haven’t slept much (rising at 4am on many days) and have been drinking more than my usual share of caffeine.
This is an unusual trip in that I will be gone for 5 weeks and will be leading 2 tours (one to India and one to Bhutan). I’ve had to pull together details for both groups in advance and make sure that everything’s ready to ensure my participants have the best possible experience.
What I realized a couple of days ago was that this was not what was keeping me up at night (or in my case, up in the morning). It was the fact that I was trying to have all of my usual work done for those 5 weeks while I’m out of the country. I’ve pre-written blog posts that are scheduled to go live while I’ll be sleeping in a tent in the Rajasthan desert. My assistant, Angela, will be checking email and shipping books while I’m oggling at the Taj Mahal. And I’ve got my amazing social networking admin, Eva, posting items to Facebook while I’ll be hiking to Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan.
When I finally realized that you all won’t go away simply because I’m not posting as frequently (you might actually enjoy that!) and that the traffic to my website won’t fall off the chart because of my inactivity, I felt better. It’s only 5 weeks for God’s sake! It’s not like I’m shutting things down 🙂
I also realized that I’m not following the advice in my book. Specifically, I suggest that in the weeks prior to your trip that you don’t take on too much, you take care of your health so that you feel good upon arrival and that you get plenty of rest in the week prior to the journey.
So, I’ve discovered that I’m a Type-A Traveler. I want everything perfect for the journey and at home while I’m away.
Life isn’t perfect, however. And things won’t be perfect – either in India, Bhutan or Seattle.
With that in mind, the adventure begins!
You’ll see posts from me in the coming weeks but I won’t be blogging about the trip until I return in mid-November.
Namaste,
Travel Well,
Beth
Photo credit: latte – Robyn Gallagher
Related links:
The American Travel Ethos
Flight Booking Engines – What Works?
What Makes a Travel Hotspot?
Unplugging While Traveling
Airport Safety = Security Theater?
Pretty Young Thang
How Not to be a Trashy Tourist
Lola says
Take me with you!
Seriously, sage advice. It’s that feeling of unplugging from the rest of the world that’s so scary.
Lorraine @keepsmesmiling says
First, I hope you have a wonderful tour and good groups to go along with you. Second, I often share your sentiments of wanting to tie up all of the loose ends before departure, and it’s always a bit tougher than it seems. So thanks for writing this post, because it’s a useful reminder to know that we can always pick up where we left off. It happens all the time, but the Type As just need more practice getting used to it. Have a great trip!