Have you ever had that friend who you're not really jealous of, but who seems to always leave you going "Why am I not doing stuff like that? How do I do that?" Mine will go nameless, but she's someone I knew way back and still keep in touch with on social media, and she always seems to be vacationing and going all the places I've wanted to go. (To be fair, the places I want to go are "everywhere" and "no seriously, literally everywhere.") She's kind of living the life I always wanted for myself, but instead of feeling sorry for myself, I decide to do something cool myself.
She had one of those adventure-inspiring posts last week, and when I was bored I'd find myself on my travel apps on my phone, looking up airfares to someplace random that had popped into my head. I found myself encouraging my coworkers who talked about going on a safari or meeting up with their traveling son in Amsterdam. I visited my mom over the weekend and accidentally planned a family cruise to Alaska in 2017. This has been my week. And while visiting my mom, she mentioned the Chicago Adventure and Travel Show, and next thing you know, I'm twisting Nick's arm to get him to go with me.
The Adventure and Travel Show is a convention or trade show, where people go to throw travel brochures at you. There are plenty of booths set up around the convention center, where you can talk to people who want to help you plan a vacation by using them. Plus you can pick up free swag at the tables (my favorites were the spa shower essentials, or maybe the sunscreen), maybe get free wine samples (I learned I'm still not a fan of reds!), or in the case of Chicago, ride a camel (the fact that I didn't will haunt me). Really it's a good way to wander around and pick up information on places, or get inspiration for another trip. I got to check out some places nearby where I can drag my friends for a girls' day trip. I somehow hadn't expected that Disney would need to be represented there at all, but I not only picked up some information on their packages, but I got in touch with a travel agent who is trying to help with my October 2016 vacation to Disney World. Also, I swear to god all but maybe one country I'd randomly searched in the last week was represented here. India, Bali, Cuba, Belize, Jamaica, Dubai, Australia... I walked out of there with four back-breakingly heavy bags full of brochures and so many more ideas. There are things I can't afford that I can dream about now and make longterm plans for, and there are more local places I can still visit. I can do my cool stuff, even if I have to do them on my own smaller scale.
And when I treated Nick to lunch for putting up with me and the crowds when he clearly didn't want to, we accidentally planned a weekend trip to Mt. Rushmore in April. It's the third time I've unexpectedly ended up with trip plans in 2016 so far.
Some might say I have a problem. Personally I don't think it's a problem if it's awesome.
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