(What is your favorite part of planning a vacation?)

To get ready for a trip especially a big trip you need to do a lot of planning and packing.  First you plan where you are going to go, how you are going to get there, where you will stay while you are there, and how you are going to get around.  Then you need to figure out what activities you are going to do once you get there.

For this trip I didn’t do any of this.  I was feeling a lot of stress as the trip was getting closer and then about a day before leaving I figured out that the majority of the stress was coming from me not knowing what was planned.    How did this happen you may be wondering?

The trip was planned by my sister-in-law.  She asked us some questions, though all the hotels, transportation, and everything were planned by her.  Some of the stress I was feeling was the fact that I was not in control.  When we go on vacation I am usually the one to make the travel and the activities plans.  It was strange to not have that role.

I was also experiencing stress due to the fact that I was going to another country that was very foreign to me.  I was worried about the long plane ride, about what kinds of food they had, about homeless children looking at me sadly and me wanting to bring them home, about not speaking the language, and about the heat that I was going to have to live through.  Have I mention that the heat and I are not the best of friends?  We are not!

The day has come and I am just now starting to pack, without a list.  I always have a list, so I took 5 mins and made a quick list.  Even the quick list came in handy and I am so glad I quickly made it.  I packed.  Luckily, I had till 7 pm to get all my stuff together.  I needed all day.

I was very lucky to travel with relatives that knew what was going on and had all the tickets and travel plans.  They came to pick my husband and I up at home and took us downtown so we all could catch the Light Rail to the airport.  It was the first time I have ridden the light rail and I was nervous about that even though I was still in my home town.
  Light Rail in background
The whole day I was feeling nauseous off and on due to nerves and it continued as I was waiting for the light rail.  Once we got on the light rail my nauseous stomach started to calm down because it was being replaced by excitement.

When it was time to get on the airplane I felt scared and exhilarated.  I was felt hyper in the plane.  I didn’t want to belt myself in till the last minute.  I was on my knees in my seat looking at all my fellow passengers.  I am pretty sure that the person behind me was probably thinking I was weird.  It didn’t help that I could not stop smiling.

      My Plane!            

Once belted in I was mentally getting ready for a 13 hour plane ride.  I think the longest I have been in a plane is about 3 hours.  I had a game plan.  I had taken aspirin for 2 days before to thin my blood a little to help reduce getting a clot and I had decided that every time I went to the restroom I would do squats to help my blood flow.  I ended up visiting the facilities 3 times and did 15 squats each time.  I really think it help me not be so sore.

I brought a book to read since I had so much time to kill.  Though they had onboard movies, TV shows, screen games to play, and a map I could watch the plane’s progress across the ocean that kept me occupied.  I read about the first 2 pages of the book and that was it.

We had a layover in Taipei.  The next plane ride was only a couple of hours to get us to the Philippines.  That was an easy flight.

I decided that I would be smart and plan when I was going to sleep on the plane ride, so that I would land in the Philippines with me almost on their time.  It worked!  That night I was actually falling asleep while we were at dinner.  Luckily, the restaurant was in our hotel, so I excused myself early and went to bed.  The next morning I was on Philippine time.  (I didn’t do that on the way home.  I will talk about that in a different post.)

I survived the 16+ hour travel time that I was so worried about.  It was really easy.  It was a bit tiring and boring during the layover, but not bad at all.  My legs got a little sore sitting so long, though doing those squats on the plane really helped.  If I should do this kind of traveling again I will not be so worried about travel time.  I know what it is like and that I can survive it.

What is your favorite part of planning a vacation?