Most people love vacations, especially when you can travel.  It’s fun and refreshing to explore a new place and learn about the ways of other peoples and cultures.  Travel helps to give you perspective about how things could be different and can inspire you to make some changes when you experience new images, activities, and ideas.  But travel is expensive, so most of us don’t get to do it very often.  But I had an experience this past week that inspired me and is the source for this week’s post.

My daughter and I had some extra time before her appointment.  She noticed a Vietnamese grocery store and asked it we could go in.  Just stepping through the door our senses were surrounded by new sights and smells, as if we had been transported to another land.  We walked through the aisles listening to people laughing and conversing in a language foreign to us. We got to pick up and smell vegetables we were unfamiliar with and learn about them from the friendly people. We saw canned goods and bottles of sauces in refrigerators that were fun to try to pronounce and even purchased a few items to experiment with to create a new dish for dinner.  By the time we left to go to the doctor, we felt like we’d been somewhere exotic!

This mini trip got me thinking about other ways I could be more adventurous, right in my home town.   When I travel, I read about the location I am going to and plan how to see the things that might be unique or interesting to me.  Do I ever do that around me in my daily life? Why couldn’t I?  Really, being a tourist is a frame of mind. When I travel, I’m looking for things that are unique and seeking them out.  I have an open mind and a desire to challenge myself in seeing things from a different perspective or learn about something I am not so familiar with.

So I have been thinking about ways to change things up as I go about my usual days.  I have been keeping my eye open for local events, shops, or restaurants that would only take a bit of time, but could transport me far away.  There is a lot more around me than I had thought, but I hadn’t noticed it because I was in my routine.  I’ve even become a little more creative with my schedule, making time to meander somewhere a little new or working in a day trip to our schedule.  This past weekend we even spent  the night in a beautiful campground somewhere close by.  It’s nice to let go of my usual dichotomy – either on vacation or not.  With my tourist’s frame of mind, instead of just once a year, I can have a mini vacation whenever I need it.