Wanderlost

So, as you know I recently renamed my website to And She Travels. To be perfectly honest, this wasn’t the name that I wanted. I actually wanted to call it Wanderlost. It seems to align with my theme of Quarter Life Wanderings, where I while I am no longer quarter life (le sigh) I am still wandering and wondering. I checked every week for a year to see if this domain name was free at it was….

Reminiscing about lazy days on a boat in the Philippines.

…until two days before I was going to purchase it. Womp, Womp. Like most things, I had waited too long and it was gone before I could grab it. I do this for a lot of things: flights, hotels, clothes deals, etc. As much as I am a planner, sometimes it is harder for me to execute and I wait until the last minute to do some things because I am worried I may miss out or I might find a better deal. Better deals usually do not happen, however I often miss things – nights out, parties, birthdays, weddings, etc. It is the life of a traveler, and as “picture perfect” as it may seem, it isn’t always. You begin to get lost.

Amsterdam dreaming

I have been “lost” again for a couple of months. Seems to be a trend around the three year mark (three years in Hong Kong, three years now in Chicago), that I get restless and events happen that make me just want to get up and leave. I know you aren’t supposed to “run away ” from your battles, but sometimes it is just easier to end a chapter and move on to a new adventure. I call this wanderlost.

Morocco or bust

I have been extremely fortunate to travel and have the opportunities and resources to travel. I know that I am extremely privileged and it is definitely something like travelers like myself can take for granted. When you get used to the traveling lifestyle, you tend to want more and more. Pair that with being able to live abroad and you have a recipe for disaster – you get restless, you want to wander, you get lost. Wanderlost.

Let’s drive away to Cuba or elsewhere.

As mentioned before, I like to plan everything to a T when it comes to traveling, I literally write out possible itineraries, lodgings, flights, trains, etc. well before most people do. I don’t like to book things on a whim. However, I got a big case of “wanderlost” and decided to book a trip to Paris on a whim. France is my comfort-zone, one of the places I love most and where I truly feel myself besides home. Spontaneity is another part of wanderlost. Even as I sit here in the Washington D.C. Airport, typing this after an amazing weekend in Charleston, South Carolina with my friends, I can’t help but longingly look at every single flight leaving somewhere except the one that is going to take me back home to Chicago. I can’t explain this feeling but it is something I have had with me since the moment I started Quarter Life Wanderings and it ebbs and flows.

I’ll SEE-attle you later.

But, tomorrow is a new day, and I have to get back to reality, so for now my wanderlost has to get pushed back down until August when I leave for France. Until then.

At the edge of the world and it’s my oyster.