(Scenes from Spring Break) 

S and I got home late last night from our Spring Break adventure. We stayed with my aunt and uncle in the countryside of New Jersey and visited small towns in New Jersey, New York City, and Philadelphia and Hershey, Pennsylvania. 

We had a great time! The trip seemed well-balanced between relaxation and exploration. We went hiking, shopping, hot sauce tasting, wandering, chocolate bar building, museum touring, tattooing, subway riding, and book peddling. 

On this trip, S and I broke in our new travel backpacks. We consulted a backpackers’ packing guide and packed accordingly. I was a little nervous about the lack of items so I packed a few extra clothes, but I ended up not even wearing everything I brought. It was really liberating and excellent practice. 

During the drive time, S and I listened to an audio book called ‘Vagabonding’ by Rolf Potts. It is an excellent read for anyone interested in traveling. I took notes and I need to steep in what I heard. I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy to write in and highlight as well. I highly recommend this book! It’s full of great information about a traveling (vagabonding!) lifestyle and perspective. 

After this trip I feel a lot more focused, encouraged, and empowered. We are 5 weeks from S’s college finals and 6 weeks from his graduation. In less than 2 months, our lives and schedules will be changing. We won’t be boarding a plane just yet, but as we look forward to traveling and prepare to leave the United States for an extended length of time, I am pondering this concept from the book ‘Vagabonding’: “The more our life options get paraded around as consumer options, the more we forget that there’s a difference between the two. … Time is the only possession and everyone is rich in it by biological inheritance.”