Anticipation

There are many things that bring about a sense of anticipation. Things like birthday parties, new homes, new jobs… But one thing that never fails to bring a great sense of anticipation about is travel.

First there are the preparations. Making plans, deciding where we want to go, and when; and then the decisions on how long to go for, and what to do when we get there. Making certain our passports and visas are in order. And perhaps reading up on the different culture; all the ‘do’s and don’ts’…
All of these things add to that anticipation as it grows when the date on which it is all going to happen approaches.

Then, when we are finally about to make that trip ~ between getting everything ready, getting packed, and leaving everything back home all in order, getting a night sleep that is often a lot shorter than we would have liked, and the pressure to get to where we are going in time ~ that initial anticipation is nowhere to be found. There is just the stress of getting everything done.

Yet as we find that we are safely on our way, the anticipation returns ten-fold!
After all the planning and preparations, now it really is happening!
It sets us up to great expectations to make the most of it.

Whether we end up doing that, tends to be more of a choice than an actual string of experiences.
Of course there are those instances that a trip totally doesn’t work out. A trip when our luggage gets lost, the hotel is dirty, the included breakfast is marginal, and so on. But on average, when we decide within ourselves that we will have a good time; the all of those things we have anticipated for so long will happen in our trip; all the experiences we have read about, or heard about, we will have as well.

We can anticipate great things will be happening, but whether we will have all those experiences we have anticipated for so long, is a choice. Even the best planned, best prepared trip can fail to live up to its expectations when we don’t go for it! When we don’t get out, do things, meet people ~ everything can be perfect without us noticing that it is…

That is the thing about anticipation.
On one hand it lengthens the fun of our travel, it helps us prepare. On the other hand it can lead us to expect things that may not be entirely realistic. And when that happens, it is up to us to make that choice to make it the best trip ever after all!
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