A Better Way to Think About Travel
Most trips are planned around the place.
The destination. The hotel. The reservations. The list of things to see.
Nothing wrong with that.
But somewhere along the way, many trips turn into checkboxes — one tourist spot after another
— instead of time spent with the people you came with.
Ask anyone about a trip they still talk about years later. Notice what they remember.
It’s never the hotel room.
It’s the hole-in-the-wall restaurant nobody could find twice.
Or the time in Europe when you accidentally ordered “fried grandmother” instead of grilled fish.
Or getting completely lost trying to find the beach — and it was worth every wrong turn.
These are the things that stay. Not because they were planned. Because they made you feel something.
I have a simple way of thinking about this. I call it
The 5-year test
- "Are you still talking about the trip five years later? And if you are — what are you talking about?"
In my experience, the answer is never the hotel room.
It’s what happened. What surprised you. The moments that caught you completely off guard.
- "The best trips don't really end when you come home."
The stories get retold. The photos stay up. Inside jokes survive for years. Sometimes a tradition begins there — the same people, the same destination, five years later.
We’ve come to think of this as
The Gift of Time Together
Not rushed.
Not distracted.
Just present.
You have conversations like you never have at home.
You laugh harder than you have in a long time.
You share moments you didn’t plan.
And often, you come home closer than when you left.
Over time, these memories become something more than just a vacation.
Almost Like an Heirloom
Something shared.
Retold.
Passed down.
These are the kinds of trips worth taking.
If you’ve been thinking about one — I’d love to help you plan it.
All vacations end. This one stays with you.