A note before we jump in: This was originally supposed to be a recap of our trip to Japan, but I wrote my face off before ever getting to the actual recap. So, a full rundown of our Tokyo and Kyoto adventures is coming soon (along with tons more photos). For this post, I just plopped in a few teaser pics between my paragraphs of ~feelings.~ Enjoy!
When John and I moved to Seattle four years ago, we thought it might be temporary, so we set out to see as much of this half of the US as we could while we had a new home base. (Spoiler: We’re here to stay.) That mission, combined with John ending up working for an airline for two years (which afforded us a good deal of free standby flights), propelled us into a full-blown love affair with travel. We already had some major wanderlust after a long honeymoon in France and Italy, our first international trip. Our new circumstances just sealed the deal.
It’s not like it’s unique to love traveling, I know. And maybe one of these days I’ll write a post on why I’m personally enchanted with exploring the world, and you can indulge me because you’re nice. But here’s what I’ll say for now, because it’s relevant to this post: I love traveling because it makes me grow.
Visiting new places expands my worldview (and if that’s too poetic for you, I just mean that being around people very different from me encourages me to see things through many perspectives, and not just my own). It makes me more empathetic. Being in entirely new environments — seeing new architecture and new terrains, eating new foods, trying on new lifestyles — gives me a totally different perspective on my own home and life. And getting mentally and physically away from my work and daily routine always, ALWAYS generates ideas on how to approach various challenges and goals I have, and simply inspires me to be a better version of myself when I return.
OK so I just accidentally wrote the “why I love travel” post, I guess.
All of this is to say that John and I went to Japan earlier this year. Not for work and not because we had any sort of discounts whatsoever; we went because we wanted to. When we were in Europe, we felt so fulfilled — so alive — exploring our hearts out every day. We’d wake up early after going to bed late, grab an espresso and maybe a pastry, hop on a train to a new city, and spend all day exploring on foot. We were exhausted every night — and so freaking enthralled. We couldn’t wait to do it all again the next day. We decided on the last day of our trip that we had to keep doing this, and we had to go somewhere totally different next. Japan it was.
(I know it’s NBD to many people, to take a trip to Japan. But even just a few years ago, the idea of ME going would have seemed totally bananas. It’s a very “who am I to just travel the world like that?!” feeling for me. My own life astounds me, regularly, to be honest. But that’s a whole other post … Back to Japan!)
When we got home from the trip, people kept asking us if we had fun. And if it seemed like the person really cared to know, I’d answer truthfully: “Um, not a lot, no. Not fun. I mean we had a great trip. It was grueling and challenging, though. We walked a minimum of 13 miles every day, it was cold, the norms and language are so different … But we didn’t go there for fun; we went there to experience a new culture. We saw and did and learned SO much. We loved it. It was perfect.” (I’m obviously really good at small talk.)
A more succinct way of saying it, that John and I both tend to use now, is that we don’t vacation; we travel. We’re not there to relax and unwind; we’re there to learn and grow.
So I wouldn’t describe our trip to Japan as “fun.” But it was fantastic. It was just what we wanted. We’d go back in a heartbeat.
But first, I think we need a vacation. 😉
Stay tuned for the full recap!
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