Duh, Right?
I don't know why it took so long. Thinking back on my indecision, the obvious answer was right in front of me the whole time...and yet, I couldn't see it. Maybe it was peer pressure, the repeated questioning why. Why do you keep going to same places? Why haven't you been to London, Paris, Madrid, Rome,{fill in the blank with a major European capital not in Scandinavia}? Why Scandinavia? Why are you going to Sweden...again? Not that I've ever been one to cave to peer pressure, but I guess I just felt like I should go somewhere different, i.e. non-Scandinavian. I vacillated between Croatia and Malta, contemplated Portugal for a half a second, and even considered Poland. Then after a conversation with a friend I realized exactly how stupid I'd been.
The trip I'm planning is for my fiftieth birthday next March. It's a major milestone and I want to do it justice and celebrate it right. The big decision is where I will spend my birthday, the actual day - where will I wake up, where will I run. I've narrowed the choices to either Croatia or Malta (a little odd, right?) and I'll be there for the majority of the sixteen days I'll be in Europe.
After I make one stop.
What one stop am I going to make? It's a no-brainer for anyone who knows me or has read my blog over the past two years. I'm going to my favorite place in the world, one of three cities I can run long distances without the need of a guide or GPS, and the one place where my soul always finds peace. I'm honestly shocked I didn't even consider it until a couple days go. Until a friend showed me some pictures he took on a recent Baltic cruise and suddenly I knew.
I'd felt a little homesick, enough that I actually contemplated going for a long weekend in January when flights are cheaper. I didn't like that I didn't know when I'd be back, if ever, and it bothered me. Crazy, I know. And yet, I'd been planning a trip for my birthday for months, and since I was determined to go "somewhere besides Scandinavia", I never considered it. Not even for a nano-second. Until it was all I could think about.
Why couldn't I fly there from Austin, stay through my birthday, then travel to another destination for the remainder of my trip? I was already planning a slight change from my usual hustle-bustle four cities in sixteen days routine anyway. After spending more than a week in Las Vegas earlier this month and really getting to know the city on a deeper level, I began to think differently about my spring vacation. What if I spent ten days or two weeks in one place rather than gallivanting around? I could stay in an apartment rather than a hotel and with all the extra time I'd be able dig into the culture and local day-to-day life. Plus I'd have lots of time to run and write and read and just be.
After doing a quick study of flights and hotels and the related costs, the plan fell into place. And a peace came over my soul. After months of debate and vacillation, I knew with absolute certainty where I was going to spend my birthday.
Stockholm.
Duh, right? It shouldn't come as a surprise. Days later I'm still shaking my head in wonder. Why hadn't I thought of it before? When is the last time I did what I should do, rather than what I wanted to do? So, screw the nay-sayers. It's my birthday and I'm going to spend it where I am happiest and where my soul finds its ultimate peace. Now that I know, now that I've made the decision, I feel so at ease. Imagine what it feels like to know you're going home. Or to see your greatest love. Because even though I've spent less than two weeks of my life there, I know. Stockholm is my place, my jam. If I could be anywhere in the world at any given moment - rain, shine, snow, ice - I would choose there; it makes perfect sense that it's where I would choose to spend my birthday.
I know, sometimes I just don't think. Well, better said I over-think in the absolute wrong directions. Truly, there shouldn't have been a debate. Of course, Stockholm. of course. So, here's the plan: I will start in Stockholm, maybe make a stop in another favored city for a day or two, then make my way to either Croatia or Malta. After nine or ten days in probably Dubrovnik (cost and ease of travel have it at the top of the list, plus something calls me there...much like Sweden did for decades until I finally gave in and went...but Malta speaks to me as well...so we'll see), I'll fly back to Stockholm for a night before heading home to Austin.
It's a vacation that has everything - someplace old to satisfy me and someplace new to satisfy the critics - and I get to spend my birthday in my favorite city in the world. I'm already plotting my half marathon birthday run and planning where I will eat my birthday dinner. I absolutely cannot wait. Only nine months and twenty-nine days to go!
***Oh my God! In less than ten months, I'll be fifty. FIFTY! Crikey. At least I have Stockholm to look forward to.***
The trip I'm planning is for my fiftieth birthday next March. It's a major milestone and I want to do it justice and celebrate it right. The big decision is where I will spend my birthday, the actual day - where will I wake up, where will I run. I've narrowed the choices to either Croatia or Malta (a little odd, right?) and I'll be there for the majority of the sixteen days I'll be in Europe.
After I make one stop.
What one stop am I going to make? It's a no-brainer for anyone who knows me or has read my blog over the past two years. I'm going to my favorite place in the world, one of three cities I can run long distances without the need of a guide or GPS, and the one place where my soul always finds peace. I'm honestly shocked I didn't even consider it until a couple days go. Until a friend showed me some pictures he took on a recent Baltic cruise and suddenly I knew.
I'd felt a little homesick, enough that I actually contemplated going for a long weekend in January when flights are cheaper. I didn't like that I didn't know when I'd be back, if ever, and it bothered me. Crazy, I know. And yet, I'd been planning a trip for my birthday for months, and since I was determined to go "somewhere besides Scandinavia", I never considered it. Not even for a nano-second. Until it was all I could think about.
Why couldn't I fly there from Austin, stay through my birthday, then travel to another destination for the remainder of my trip? I was already planning a slight change from my usual hustle-bustle four cities in sixteen days routine anyway. After spending more than a week in Las Vegas earlier this month and really getting to know the city on a deeper level, I began to think differently about my spring vacation. What if I spent ten days or two weeks in one place rather than gallivanting around? I could stay in an apartment rather than a hotel and with all the extra time I'd be able dig into the culture and local day-to-day life. Plus I'd have lots of time to run and write and read and just be.
After doing a quick study of flights and hotels and the related costs, the plan fell into place. And a peace came over my soul. After months of debate and vacillation, I knew with absolute certainty where I was going to spend my birthday.
Stockholm.
Duh, right? It shouldn't come as a surprise. Days later I'm still shaking my head in wonder. Why hadn't I thought of it before? When is the last time I did what I should do, rather than what I wanted to do? So, screw the nay-sayers. It's my birthday and I'm going to spend it where I am happiest and where my soul finds its ultimate peace. Now that I know, now that I've made the decision, I feel so at ease. Imagine what it feels like to know you're going home. Or to see your greatest love. Because even though I've spent less than two weeks of my life there, I know. Stockholm is my place, my jam. If I could be anywhere in the world at any given moment - rain, shine, snow, ice - I would choose there; it makes perfect sense that it's where I would choose to spend my birthday.
I know, sometimes I just don't think. Well, better said I over-think in the absolute wrong directions. Truly, there shouldn't have been a debate. Of course, Stockholm. of course. So, here's the plan: I will start in Stockholm, maybe make a stop in another favored city for a day or two, then make my way to either Croatia or Malta. After nine or ten days in probably Dubrovnik (cost and ease of travel have it at the top of the list, plus something calls me there...much like Sweden did for decades until I finally gave in and went...but Malta speaks to me as well...so we'll see), I'll fly back to Stockholm for a night before heading home to Austin.
It's a vacation that has everything - someplace old to satisfy me and someplace new to satisfy the critics - and I get to spend my birthday in my favorite city in the world. I'm already plotting my half marathon birthday run and planning where I will eat my birthday dinner. I absolutely cannot wait. Only nine months and twenty-nine days to go!
***Oh my God! In less than ten months, I'll be fifty. FIFTY! Crikey. At least I have Stockholm to look forward to.***
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