Travel has
been all about learning something new, doing something different, and seeing an
entirely new vista. As I ticked off my
bucket list these past 15 years, the addiction took root. Now that we have been
to so many destinations, is it becoming better to return to an old-time
favorite?
Going Back to an Old-Time
Favorite
At 75, I can now see what
my husband has been wanting to do for some time. “I love Mazatlán and I could
live there. It brings back beautiful
memories.” The Shrimp Capital of the World was where he took his late wife and
family for vacation during the time he was steeped into a busy corporate life.
When Bill first
brought me there, he also invited my family to be with us. We got together for
our first-ever reunion in 2009, after having all left our home in the
Philippines five years prior. They all consider that the best reunion they have
ever had. For five years, Mazatlán was our winter home until we decided to try
Cancun.
A trip down
memory lane to a familiar destination spells comfort and convenience. You don’t
have to deal with unfamiliar things. Instead, you are there to relive their
goodness. You lean back, confident that everything will be all right, and that
nothing will go wrong. In addition, there are lasting friendships to be had
when you go back to a place, something we prize more and more as we advance in the
years. In the end, it’s the memories that count. So, when you’ve made such
great memories, why not go back?
Choosing a Brand-New
Destination
Sometimes I
ask myself, however, if I am limiting myself, ending up not being able to see
more of this beautiful world, given the little time we may have left. Honestly,
the feeling of “been there, done that” visits our doorsteps more frequently now.
How many aquariums, zoos, art museums, shopping malls, etc. do we have to see,
anyway, to say “enough is enough?” Besides, even if it is kind of special, it
may be too far, too difficult to get to, or too expensive to pull off.
Sticking
to a Practical Bucket List
Now that we
have taken a more pragmatic approach to travel, are there other destinations still
worth considering? I can think of an African safari, an Antarctic cruise, and
an Amazonian excursion, to name a few. But, come to think of it, those may have
already passed us. Bill has just turned 80 and I am already 75. Going to these
places will be difficult, expensive, and require the pink of health.
Our top
priority now is for connectedness. We value family reunions more and plan them
around places central to all of us and that we had not seen during our eight
years of RVing. We just came from a five-day getaway to Temecula, San Diego to
celebrate Bill’s 80th and Trisha’s (my eldest daughter) 50th
birthdays.
Finally, one
activity stands out that we still seek to do: pilgrimages. We are not deeply
religious but, as we advance in years, the search for spirituality heightens. It
will be about learning something new, becoming uplifted, and looking both
inward and outward beyond our mortal selves.
Fatima,
Lourdes, Jerusalem, one of them is doable in the next few years. But we have
just left Mexico and already we are thinking about when we will be back. In
other words, I now choose both a brand-new destination and an old-time favorite.
It’s not mutually exclusive. It’s not “OR”. It’s “AND.”
