(If you forgot that this blog is a slice of our life and not the whole pie, feel free to skip this post as it may seem like ungrateful bragging. It's not, it's just my thoughts in a safe place.)
1. Disney World (8 days) This trip was planned by our family years ago and it was the only trip this year that included just the six of us.
2. Epic Road Trip Number 1, East Coast Edition (9 days) We were so excited to visit Grandma and Grandpa on their mission, and spring break was the perfect time to do it!
3. Anniversary trip to Chicago (3 days) Just Mom and Dad for this one, with Bea and Matt, while the kids spent a happy weekend at the Tolberts.
4. Brazil! (11 days) Wow! The adventure of a lifetime and there was no way we would have missed this one.
5. Epic Road Trip Number 2, Rocky Mountain Edition (12 days) A wedding and a family reunion! With a lot of days to fill in between.
6. Pacific Northwest Adventure (6 days) Another wedding! And in a location we've always want to visit.
49 days of vacation in one year is a lot of vacation days in one year. Maybe we were revenge traveling after so many cancelled plans during COVID, but we usually average 2-3 trips a year, which is plenty of a blessing for our family. Six trips in one year was amazing and exhausting, and I don't think we'll ever travel this much in one year again. So I want to remember the lessons we learned in this unique year.
1. It is hard to fully anticipate and enjoy a trip when you know that there is another big one right around the corner. We had so much fun on each of our trips, but the last two in particular were hard to fully enjoy when we barely had a chance to catch our breath between the ones before and after them.
2. It is okay not to do ALL THE THINGS on any trip. We are generally travel maximizers, and a few times this year that ended up biting us in the backside. Like insisting on staying in Utah for the week between the wedding at the family reunion or trying to get over to Victoria after our trip to San Juan. There is a very real desire to get the very most out of every plane ticket and every minute of every trip, but too much of a good thing is sometimes just too much.
3. Similarly, it's okay to have just one or two things planned for each day and then relax for the time in between. Our kids have commented on multiple occasions how nice it is to have a plan for each day and how that tends to yield better memories than showing up and wandering around with no concrete plan in place, and I agree! I sometimes plan trips down to the minute, especially at Disney, but sometimes it is really nice to know that the plan for the day is to do a bit of "nothing". Think Buzios, where we just swam and walked on the beach and ate fresh local food and just relaxed for a minute. It was fantastic!
4. There is no chance that everyone is going to be in a great mood and making great choices every moment of every trip. But we can strive for patience and good attitudes no matter what or where we are!
5. There are very few material goods that trump making memories. We have a host of house projects that we would like to tackle, and we accomplished exactly one of them this year. Everything else has been put on hold, and that's okay. At the end of my life I'm pretty sure I'll be happier that I spend a week (or 7) traveling than that I made my my mudroom look Pinterest worthy.
6. Along the same vein, we are just not much of a souvenir family. Lots of pictures, yes, new clothes for the occasion, yes, but trinkets to bring home? Not so much. Water bottle stickers and postcards were the winners for most trips. A giant shell still sits on our shelf from the Pacific Ocean, and that's about it.
7. There is no better way to show someone you love them than with your time. We saw every single person on both sides of our family at least once this year, and I like to think it made a deposit in our relationship accounts with each of them.
7a. It can be hard to say no to when you've been saying so many yeses. Yes, we'll happily make the trip/buy the plane tickets/take the time off work and life whenever we can! And while we're on vacation we like to say yes to the opportunities, meals, and experiences we can have along the way! We tried really hard to say all of the yeses we could this year, and we didn't have to say no until recently when we had an unexpected initiation to Christmas in Colorado. We only have 3 more Christmases with just our family and we're feeling pretty protective of them!
8. Travel stories are a fantastic way to connect with people. Just last Sunday alone I was able to connect with a visitor from Brazil, a missionary from San Juan, and a Sunday School teacher who served in Manchester. I'd 100% rather connect with people about experiences than things.
8a. The church is everywhere and it connects us with the best people anywhere. It was so wonderful to experience so much church history this year, and to know that everywhere we went- from Sao Paulo to Manhattan to San Juan- there were members who we could connect with!
9. Kids don't fully understand what an incredible opportunity travel is, and that's okay. Seeing the world is just part of the deal in the Morales family. When Emma was going back to school she told a teacher that her favorite part of the summer was staying at home and playing in her yard and room. When I suggested that she might want to tell people about her once-in-a-lifetime trip to Brazil, she said "no one really cares about that, Mom." I'm happy that my kids are happiest at home. Which leads me to my final point-
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