Working Away My Wanderlust

I need to do some work. But I don't want to.

Don't get me wrong; I am thankful to have a job and know that I have it pretty good. I work in a fantastic field, with young, creative and spunky people. I have a great deal of flexibility when I need it and amazing perks. I have been here for 13 years and while there are ups and downs, I really do love where I work and can't imagine going anywhere else.

That being said, I also have a huge case of wanderlust. I think I have always had this particular affliction but it was fostered by my parents. We moved around, not so often that it was annoying, but just enough for me to understand that new places helped me grow as a person. We took vacations and spending 8 hours in a car was never a big deal as a child. Once we got older we spent weekends at the beach and were constantly thinking about "the next time." When I was 12 I was allowed to fly by myself and by 16 was completely comfortable driving or flying alone. At 18 my best friend and I spent a month traveling England and Scotland and I had a fantastic time seeing such history and differences in culture. At 19 I took off in the middle of the night for a 8 hour road trip alone and did another solo 18 hour road trip a few years ago. I have tag team driven through the night with Cara, alternating sleeping and driving. I have slept for a few hours alongside the truckers at a rest stop off the interstate. I love road trips, flying, train trips, boat trips, sailing, you name it. I love the mountains and I love the ocean and I ESPECIALLY love mountains in the oceans.

Lucky for me I met and fell in love with someone who also enjoys traveling. Joe comes from a family of non-travelers, his mother has never flown on an airplane, but somehow he has the bug too. We have chosen not to have children, for a variety of reasons, but one being our ability to travel. Ideally I'd like to go on two major vacations a year and for the most part, we have done that so life is good. But as I was driving to work today I pulled up next to someone with Idaho license plates and a trunk full of luggage. I instantly felt the pull.

It has been 4 months since my last trip. Joe, Shelia, our friend Adrienne and I went to Key West for a week over July 4th. We had a fantastically exhausting time. We didn't really DO much - a lot of drinking and walking, but somehow the perfect week flew by too quickly. We had an amazing day of sailing and plenty of days of laughter followed by more laughter. It wasn't my first time in Key West; I had surprised Joe this year for his birthday, but it was my first time in Key West LIKE THAT and it was a blast. As far as future plans we are headed down to Florida to visit Mike over Christmas and then we are going to Cancun and spoiling ourselves by staying here to celebrate Valentine's Day. We are planning on going to Wilmington to compete in another triathlon; it will be Joe's first and a longer distance for me. I am also going on a week long girl's cruise with Margaret. We had such a good time for my uncle's wedding last year we decided to do a 4 day cruise in lieu of our annual mountain weekend in February. Well, 4 days became 7 days and now we are headed to St. Thomas, Bahamas and St. Maartin on a brand new cruise ship. It seems like that should be enough to keep my wanderlust at bay. This morning, it's not.

Last year my friend from work Cindi and her now fiance Jason, quit their jobs, packed up all their belongings and traveled around the world for 18 months. They didn't have an agenda, just a list of places they wanted to see. They are big divers so the first 2 months were in Central America getting their dive master certifications and from there visited Vietnam, South Africa, India and many other beautiful places around the world that I would love to see. They kept a blog and I followed their trip with amazement and a large dose of jealousy. This wasn't the first time Cindi quit everything and traveled...she did it in college as well. I often think about doing that but right now see too many responsibilities. I do wish I had met someone like Cindi while I was in college - someone to suggest that it was even possible - becuase I really think that Joe and I might have done that before we got bogged down with the house, the bird and the bills (along with a snobby standard of resort living).

For now I will have to be happy that I am still able to travel at all. Things have been tight in the Burro-Mann household, mostly due to us redoing the floors and me getting braces. But luckily we still have our vacation fund. I am traveling in December, February, March, April and June and yet I still feel a longing and I think it is my own fault.

I set running a half marathon as my next challenge goal. I started looking for cool race themes because I really wanted my first half marathon to be fun and different and NOT NASCAR themed. I found the perfect one - the Disney Princess Half Marathon in Orlando. It was in March, Princess themed, and the best part is that you run through the parks - guaranteed mental stimulus to think the pain away! I came up with the perfect travel plan and ran it by my mom and Joe. The idea was completely flawless....if only we were millionaires. Unfortunately, we just can't afford it. Or rather, we could do it at the expense of our Wilmington Tri trip and/or our summer vacation. I will admit I got snarky with Joe, but ultimately it isn't fair to him and really, I need to focus my physical goals. I don't want to give up a summer vacation and I know for sure I want to do more triathlons. I can't imagine choosing running over the tris, so no Princess Half Marathon for me this year.

I still want to complete a half marathon and I think it would be ideal to have a cute Princess theme for my first time (Is it worth setting my goal back a year to do it in such an ideal way? hmmmm), but I think I was more excited about going somewhere I have never been before. I have never been to Disney and it would be a fun trip with my family to somewhere new. I love traveling for travelling's sake. I would gladly go to Sheboygan, Wisconsin just because I have never been there. Having a possible new trip with my family, going through all the planning to see if we could afford it and then realizing we can't, has made me a little sad for a trip to somewhere I haven't been. I guess I am loquaciously and virtually pouting.

Tim Kenny, a wise and dear friend of mine who also has wanderlust, has been my sounding board for years. We have had several conversations about places to go, why we love to travel and who we become when we are looking at the ocean. I worked with Tim for over 10 years and when you see pictures of him on vacation he truly looks like a different person, almost unrecognizable. I don't know if my pictures are as drastic, but I feel like they should. I feel relaxed and happy and like who I am supposed to be. Tim also has warned me about letting the lust take over my life and because of him I try not to let it consume me. I have days where all I do is dream of trips and plan vacations. I can feel one of those planning binges coming on now.

I guess I wonder if other people love to travel as much as I do and if so, how do they cope having to work? I do know that I work in order to have a life, and for me part of that life is travel. I can't imagine not doing it or not planning something. I have friends who say they don't travel well and I don't know what that means. While I love our home, I cannot think of a trip where I was ready to leave or come back. I can't imagine going a year without a trip, seeing Caribbean waters on TV and not aching for the chance to be there in person or not feeling the adrenaline rush when thinking about traveling somewhere new and foreign.

I just touched base with Tim; I needed a reality check. He doesn't work with me anymore so our contact has been more sporadic over this last year; sharing trip pictures and links of nice places to stay for the next one. But even a quick hello from him reminds me that I cannot let this take over my life. To travel I must have a job to fund it and to have a job, I need to get some work done.

So off to work, for now. But I really, really, really need to start planning what we are doing Christmas 2010. I am thinking of chartering a sailboat for a week and cruising around the Virgin Islands...in fact maybe I should check into rates for that. Oh and I really need to firm up my summer ideas so I can make sure my budget is accurate and then I need to check in with Margaret about the beach house...and email the cruise lady to confirm I am paid in full...and I want to do the Midnight in the Garden bike ride in Savannah in September and I still need to price out Wilmington trip....

See? How am I supposed to work when I have all THAT to do?!?