cuz when you know better, you what?
My busiest travel season to date came to an end on October 26, 2023 as I deplaned my final flight of the year that morning.
9 cities, 2 countries, and 10 trips over the span of 6 months. I'm blessed to have had those experiences, especially given 5 of those 6 months I was out of work. But as delightful as my 2023 travel season was, I was certainly left with a number of lessons that I am confident will inform how I approach my 2024 travel season.
In an effort to exercise good resource management, I was experimenting this travel season with taking extremely short trips. In 2022, I found myself taking five-day trips centered on a singular event that only lasted one day (ex. concert). I figured that to save money, I could simply fly in the morning of the event I came to see, see it that evening, and get on the first flight out the next morning.
The results of my experiment: I needed to bffr.
24-hour turnarounds had a physical impact on my body. My first attempt at this was the Earl Sweatshirt concert in Chicago and I'll never forget how fatigued my body was the day after. My last attempt at this, also in Chicago, was for Butcher Brown. I regretted it immediately.
The adjustment: still leave in the morning (I love a good early departure flight), but to return? If I'm leaving the next day, I'm only taking flights after noon from now on. This will be especially helpful if I go to a concert, which likely requires hours of standing, dancing, and singing as if it is I on the lineup. I really ought to give myself the opportunity to get a full night's rest afterward. But I was opting out of proper rest, waking up at 3 or 4 am, and traveling on around 2 hours of sleep just to save a couple of United States dollars.
Never again. In 2024, we will sleep through the night!
The learning that I noticed immediately upon the season starting is that I must slow down if I am to enjoy literally anything about the travel experience I adore so much. I learned that sometimes the need for speed is coming from a place of fear.
If I could tell Thalia of November 2022 who was actively planning her birthday trip in Central Europe, I'd tell her there's no reason on this planet earth to squeeze three European cities into a singular birthday trip. The amount of overhead logistical planning alone was draining, but executing that amount of movement in real-time was bonkers.
Perhaps this came from a place of scarcity in which I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to see those cities again. And I mean, theoretically, I suppose that's very possible. But the lesson I learned is that just because a cool city is nearby or kinda close to my destination doesn't mean I have to go. I can just come back in the next season or two so that I can focus on truly enjoying that destination by itself. I was trying to go on a world tour just because I'm near cool places. But that was neither necessary nor beneficial at the end of the day. #NoRagrets, but three cities and two countries in two weeks was not my best idea. While a time was had, lessons learned were indeed learned.
This was probably the biggest mistake I made last year that cost me the most grief and brain cells: I didn't leave room for unexpected trips.
I need y'all to understand when the ink dried in winter 2022 on the 2023 travel season, I did not have ten trips planned. That was not my intention. That is not what I wanted going into the year. But things kept popping up that I couldn’t anticipate, stressing an already tight calendar.
But what I didn't do then that I absolutely will do during this planning season is leave some space going into the year.
I am only putting four trips on the calendar for next year. That's four months of the seven-month season already accounted for, but an extra three months of wiggle room in case something comes up (a work trip, another tour by an artist that refuses to come to Atlanta, etc). I hope this will give me the breathing room I so desperately needed this year.
The 2024 travel season is going to be different from any of my previous seasons for a variety of reasons. I’m in a different season of my life this winter than I was in winter 2022. My interests are different, my technique is different, and my priorities are different. But I’m very confident that this will be a successful season, God willing.
By booking later return flights, simplifying my itineraries, and giving that gorgeous Notion board of mine some room to breathe, I’m confident I’m setting myself up for a delightful time.
See you at the gate, bestie!
Thalia is being honest about what’s not working, making adjustments, and getting better at doing what she loves.
