The Difference Between A Vacation And An Adventure

I have always loved to travel.  Whether it was visiting family on the East Coast, road tripping across the Mexican border with all of our neighbors for our annual Tijuana trip (something we could NOT do nowadays), or spending random summer weeks in Hawaii, Northern California, New Hampshire, or a million other places, many of my favorite childhood memories are from our family vacations.

Rocking the cornrows and rainbow Speedo in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

If I had to choose one memory of my mom that stands out from those trips, it’s how calmly and joyfully she would respond to the delays, issues, and interruptions that inevitably come up when you’re traveling.  When our quick dinner turned into a three hour affair because the restaurant service was terrible, she would laugh and say, “Just remember…this is an adventure, not a vacation.” 

Neighborhood trip to Ensenada, Mexico

That phrase has stuck with me as I’ve started traveling on my own.  When we go on trips expecting them to be everything we wanted and more, expecting them to fulfill every expectation and have exactly the food, living spaces, and experiences we want, we inevitably end up disappointed.  When we travel somewhere looking for the perfect, flawless vacation, we often end up frustrated when something goes wrong.

But when approach our trips with the mindset that this is an ADVENTURE, that whatever comes our way is part of the memories that we’ll one day laugh about, we’re able to enjoy these trips more fully.  Like when I ate contaminated fish on a missions trip to Kenya and ended up spending three straight days on a bathroom floor, and we laughed with our Masai warrior travel guides and remembered that it was part of the experience.

Our tour guide and two body guards in Kisumu, Kenya

Or when a new study abroad travel companion drank an entire bottle of wine before our overnight bus to Barcelona, throwing up in the middle of the aisle and making many sleepy, angry Spaniards wait by the side of the road at 3 AM as the driver cleaned it, I laughed and reminded my new friends it’s just part of the adventure.

Yummy paella in Barcelona, Spain

When Jordan and I ended up spending the first night of our honeymoon in a Houston airport hotel because our flight to Mexico was canceled due to weather, we walked to the nearest gas station to buy snacks and cheap drinks and called it the first adventure of our marriage.

And when Jordan and I ended up spending hours playing cards on the floor of a Paris train station because French train officials are pretty much the worst (sorry, France, but it’s the truth), we laughed and tried to remember that we’d eventually reach our destination.

So many of these little moments where things went wrong are our favorite parts of those trips, the parts where we grew closer together and grew more confident in our abilities to handle whatever comes our way.  I love adventuring and seeing the world, especially when I get to do it side by side with my best friend and hubby, Jordan.

But y’all, I’m gonna be honest…as we head to Mexico this week for our very first all-inclusive resort experience, I am pretty stinking excited for a VACATION.  Even on our honeymoon, we did tons of excursions, took public transportation to cool, remote restaurants,and spent the days seeing a million tourist sites.  Our five-week Europe trip was a whirlwind, and as fun as it was, definitely wasn’t restful.  Many of our trips this year centered around Jordan’s races, so those involved some getting up and having everything prepared as well.

Our honeymoon to Mexico two years ago

As we head to Mexico this week for a much needed two-year anniversary trip, I’m hoping for a vacation.  We might have some adventurous moments and venture into town once or twice, but more than anything, we want to just rest.  

We’re excited for slow mornings with room service breakfast goodness, for long afternoons at the pool and endless fruity drinks.  We’re excited for dinner to be the main outing of the day, where we sit for hours as the sun sets ordering appetizers, multiple entrees, AND dessert until we pretty much waddle back to our room.  We are excited to play in the ocean with no other goal than to just laugh and enjoy each other’s company.

And more than anything, we’re excited to just be together, to reflect on all the ways God has challenged us, grown us, and drawn us together in the two years we’ve been married and the five years we’ve been together.

So if I’m a little disconnected this week, know it’s for good reason.   I’m sitting by the pool with my handsome hubby, sipping on a fruity drink and soaking up some sun.  And whether or not we have some adventurous moments, I know it will be wonderful.

And if you’re lucky, we’ll come back next week with some awesome pictures to share like these ones from our honeymoon.  If anyone has any tips on how to look good in a snorkel, feel free to send them my way.