Friends often ask me if I get tired of traveling all the time. Â The answer: YES.
It’s exhausting, living out of a suitcase, spending hours in planes/trains/automobiles, with a smile on the face and ready to work on several hours of sleep. Â I miss the comforts of home: access to my entire wardrobe vs. the items that fit in my 21″ carry-on, the chance to cook a meal, my comfy white chair in my family room…the list goes on. Â I hate missing out on social gatherings: happy hours, El Camino Real nights, watching sporting events, or just seeing my friends on a regular basis. Â Without GChat, Facebook, and good ol’ fashioned phone calls, I would be one lonely girl.
But I love this life nonetheless. Â I love the chance to see a new place and reconnect with old friends. Â I love the travel-sized toiletries and small pads of paper placed in the hotel rooms for your convenience. Â I get a thrill of having my passport stamped when going through customs, whether it’s on my way to a new destination or coming home. Â I love meeting new people and having new experiences. Â And most of all, I love the feeling of relief when coming home (something you don’t get when you’re AT home all the time).
Balance is key in maintaining this lifestyle.  If I’m on the road for 6 weeks, I will make sure I am home for two (local overnight trips excluded).  Though the fiancé and I try to see one another once a month, it doesn’t always happen and we try and make it up with multiple visits the next month (for the record, I haven’t seen him since we got engaged in February).  I won’t allow myself to putz around the Internet until I’ve completed several hours of studying and finished all my e-mails for the day.  I do my best to stick to a routine–a morning workout, days filled with meetings and work, evenings spent with schoolwork.
It’s a crazy life. Â It’s an exhausting life. Â It’s an exciting life. Â And I’m happy to call it my life.
