Ann Didn't Always Have a Plan
… and even now when I do, the plan usually goes awry. So that’s why my actual plan is “try to not put too much faith in the plan.” I know it seems like the counterintuitive of what you would think– but that’s the truth about travel, about learning, definitely about motherhood. And it took me awhile to learn it, and even now I have to remind myself often. I used to be so focused on what I wanted to do that I wasn’t enjoying what I was actually doing.
That is not to say I do not make a plan. I, in fact, make many plans, and guides, and lists when I’m traveling or just planning my week. And those plans help guide me and get me excited. They help me learn about the place I’m going before I even get there. But inevitably, once I arrive I realize there are some things you can only learn about by being there.
That’s what traveling has taught me, that’s what I hope my writing here can show. Travel changed my anxiety. (To be clear, it didn’t erase it, it’s still a battle I have to fight.) Traveling hits you with it in the face, you just cannot ignore it. Travel at one point will scream at you “You can worry about the future all you want, but worrying is not the same as predicting.” I have a thousand stories of the unforeseen events travel threw at me. Stuck at the airport in Madrid for 11 hours in a snowstorm. Running to my flight in Amsterdam. Checking for bedbugs at the worst hotels in Utah. Crying in an airport in Vegas. Delayed with two kids indefinitely in St. Louis. And those are just the first ones that come to mind.
But I handled them all. They taught me how capable I was at points in my life where I definitely needed that reminder. Travel has built me up by knocking me down. Travel has had me explore new places by getting me lost . Travel has opened my eyes by leaving me in the dark. Travel has made me laugh at myself by making me cry. Travel has healed me by challenging me. Travel has made me a stronger mother, wife, and friend. An
n with a plan is here to help you create your own travel stories, change them, love them, and share them.