Lessons I have learned on my first mini trip….

Lighthouse on Hilton Head Island

This week I took a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina with my friend Lauren and stayed at a Marriott Timeshare unit.  It is off season and so therefore not a lot going on but it is an hour from where my traveling boyfriend is working and it was mostly free……so what’s not to like?

This trip was planned before I decided to become a digital nomad and so therefore I was not as prepared as I would have liked to have been and I am definitely not in a van yet but staying in an extremely luxurious condo.  Never the less it has been a learning experience …… I viewed things completely different from the way I usually view things on a vacation.

An Observation

This was not so much a lesson as an observation about myself.  Since I’m in the process of selling everything I own and am much more interested in spending my money on travel…..all those cute little boutiques that I normally like to visit and drool over really had no pull on me this trip.  I was actually bored to tears with the shops.  I felt as if every shop I went into had the same thing over and over and over again!  This obviously was a good thing!

Lesson #1 – Plan, plan, plan!

I have been slammed the last few weeks what with finishing up my job, training the new girl, the Holidays, getting my kids settled, selling everything I own and 2 extremely demanding classes this semester…..so I didn’t really plan this trip.  I knew it was coming and I was excited but beyond the plan of getting in my car and leaving….I really did not have a plan.  The result of that is that once I got here I felt a little lost.  So once I got here I spent a lot of time stumbling around wondering what to do and where the “best” place to go was etc.  The day we spent in Savannah was nice….but by the time we found the place we really wanted to be I was really too tired to enjoy it.  I know there are a lot of people out there who enjoy just wandering around and experiencing the area….but I now know that I would like to at least have researched the area and know where I want to go before I get there so that I don’t waste time.

Lesson #2 – Take Care of Myself

This is something that I should already know about myself.  When I travel my body DOES NOT react well.  I may not even necessarily be doing anything different than at home but somehow my body notices and says “wait a minute hold up…what’s goin on??”  So there are definitely things that I need to be aware of and pay attention to.  I need sleep, I need to lay off the Diet Coke and drink more water, I need to make certain that I am eating on a regular schedule and eating some regular foods…..not just all fun “Yay I’m on vacation let’s eat everything in site!” kinda food and I need to make sure that I pay attention to my body and what it is telling me (it does not like it when I ignore it).

Lesson #3 – It’s Not All A Party!

Although this WAS actually a vacation one thing I have realized is that it is all too easy for me to continuously say to myself “I’m on vacation” every time I do something like eat too much or sleep half the day away.  And while it was ok this time because I AM on vacation ….. I don’t want to get into the habit of thinking that way.  In order for me to live this lifestyle I have to make money and sometimes that means working even when really I feel like spending the day on the beach.

Lesson #4 – I Can Do This By Myself!

Ok I admit it – I’m a little nervous about traveling by myself.  Not so much the safety issue (although that is a concern) but more because I like company and I can’t imagine doing a lot of things on my own.  But I have learned on this trip that even though it was nice having Lauren here and my boyfriend some of the time…..it was nice to be by myself too.  Lauren ended up leaving a few days early.  After she left it felt a little odd.  But later that day I got myself together and went and took a really long walk on the beach, read my book for a while and then headed on back to the condo.  It was nice.  I liked it.