Holding Pattern

Anticipation for an upcoming trip is what gets me through the day to day slog of an extremely stressful day job. Have we planned everything? What are we going to do once we’re there? When the day finally comes, it doesn’t matter what time it is. I can’t wait to get to the airport. Becki, understandably, would rather not spend a minute more at the airport than necessary. 

This makes sense. The act of traveling is undoubtedly the worst part of travel. If only there was a way to simply close your eyes and arrive at your destination. Unfortunately, that’s only for characters in science fiction movies and people in business class. 

Once you finally board and are waiting to feel the plane lurch back- the slow roll to the runway, beginning the journey, passengers silently beg not to hear some of the most dreaded words in all of travel: “There’s been a delay.” The journey is there, and you’re adding time to the travel part. 

Sitting on a tarmac is exactly what slogging through the steps to move abroad feels like. Maybe it’s a struggle to sell a home, find jobs that can be done from your country of choice, perhaps it’s waiting on an appointment at the consulate for a Visa. All of it is unbearably slow. The goal is in sight: three hundred days of sun each year, lower cost of living, walkable cities, delicious food, a better work/life balance, but you’re stuck, waiting on the tarmac. Your fate is out of your control. To make matters worse, you’re strapped in place with the opposite of what you’re looking for. It’s raining and dark outside, you have to drive everywhere and there’s always traffic, it feels like you work all the time, and the food’s not even that good. 

The good news is, more often than not the plane eventually leaves. The trip happens. You may be jetlagged or have to adjust your plans, but you still get an amazing vacation from daily life until you have to board for the dreaded leg(s) home. When you move abroad though, that return trip isn’t part of the equation. 

We’ll get there. It may be frustrating, it may be stressful, but when we’re enjoying happy hour from a beautiful Miradouro or the balcony of our new apartment, the time on the tarmac will be worth the wait.