Dream Trip Count Down

Greetings Friends & Family, 

     Anyone who knows me, even a little bit, knows my favorite things in life are: Dogs, Family/Friends, books, The Beatles, and Great Britain!  (not necessarily in that order~ just sayin'!)  If I were to create a bucket list, which lets face it, we all kind of have a bucket list - whether it is in writing or just in our heads (and in our hearts).... by far the #1 item on mine has been to go to England!  I am so incredibly thrilled to say - my dream is coming true in 25 days!  

     After a year+ of planning - I do believe The Reitan’s are all set to fly the friendly sky’s en route to our BIG ADVENTURE!  Greg, Cody and I will all be embarking on "my" dream trip in just a tad over 3 weeks.  It all started over a year ago, when I decided that it was truly time to start working towards making my dream become a reality.  This has been a goal of mine for so long and honestly, it seemed a bit unobtainable.  I finally made some big decisions in my life over the past 5 years and now this dream is indeed coming true.

     It's interesting, really, all of the emotions that I have experienced over the past 14 months.  What started out as making a conscious decision to seriously think about doing this, moved to talking to several people (travel agents, travel planners, friends who have previously made the trip, etc.) to the discovery and decision that what would work best for us was to do all of the planning myself. A dear friend told me early on, "You can do this, it will be a lot of work, but it will be so worth it in the end!"  Well, I did take his advice, and I have to admit, he was so right. It has been a lot of work, but I am pretty proud of myself for the final itinerary I have put together. It has taken hours and hours of time researching, reading, studying, asking questions, saving Pinterest articles, following Facebook travel groups, and learning the map of Great Britain like the back of my own hand.

     I started out with a list of everything I wanted to see.  My original list even included parts of Ireland, but reality did eventually kick in that to get the most out of our two weeks, it could not include a hop to Ireland. So my list got whittled down from the 'want to sees' to the 'must sees' to the 'will sees'.  Even now, I know there will be items we won't make it to.  But I am okay with that.  I have had to give myself many 'self talks' and reminders to focus on the things we will see, take in each moment for what it will be, soak it all in, and rejoice in the experience.  So that is indeed what I am going to try to do.  I have given Cody strict instructions that he may need to remind me of this from time to time. I will pledge to you all now, that I will do my best! 

     The planning has been a whirlwind. We weren't sure in the early stages if Greg would be able to join us or not as he made a job change in early 2022 and was unsure if he would be able to take a vacation for that long. Last year we experienced an unexpected loss when Greg's mom passed away in April. This sent us on a journey that was in itself overwhelming and resulted in a lot of life reflection. When you experience a family loss, it is definitely a reminder that life is short, and we knew we wanted to go on this adventure as a family while we can all still enjoy it to its fullest. 

     Now, I will admit, my frustrations have already been tested in the planning of this trip. When asking questions like: "What do you want to see, what do you want to do, is there anything that you absolutely would like to experience?" the answers I got back included : "I don't care, doesn't matter to me, 'whatever'... I'm just along for the ride."       Really?  Really!?  Yes indeed!  So, the theme of this trip quickly became: You will get what you get and you won't throw a fit!  If they don't care, that means I get to plan all of the things that I have dreamed of doing and seeing while we are there. They have officially forfeited their input!  While that is true to a point, I fully expect when we arrive to hear many 'recommendations' of things we should try to squeeze in.  And so begins this family adventure... That being said -  I have opened up a pool at work to determine at what point in the trip we will have our first family argument. The first taker has dibs on 'O'hare Airport' before we have even stepped foot on the plane. Um, yes - I'll take that bet myself!  Let me know if you want in....

     The trip will start with 5 days in London, followed by two days spent in the English countryside with a stay in a gorgeous stone cottage in the Cotswold's.  Next up will be Liverpool to walk in the shadows of the Beatles and spend a day with a 'Beatles guide extraordinaire' - who I am already convinced is one of my soul sisters walking on this planet in another country... I can't WAIT to meet her and spend the day exploring all of those places sung about in what I feel are the best songs ever written (but that's me).  From there we will head to Scotland to drive through the Highlands. Points of interest will include many 'Outlander' sites, the Harry Potter train, some Highland Cows, and perhaps a Loch monster - or two.  Who knows! 

     So - as I check my countdown app daily now (just to remind myself it's real) ... those emotions I mentioned earlier are all over the place. I have found it to be an interesting phenomenon...you would think it would be nothing but overwhelming excitement.  But it also includes disbelief, sadness, anxiety, and did I say disbelief? There is definitely still a lot of that! Even as the date inches quickly closer, I am not sure when it will actually feel real.  I'll have to let you know, as I don't think I'm there yet. The sadness part probably seems a bit unusual - but I can only explain it as... being sad that it's over before it has even started?  Sounds bizarre, right? Yet, these are some of the real emotions I have experienced. That 'vacation is over' letdown before we have even gone... Something I have dreamed of for so long is finally here, and I know it will go by way too fast. A dream that has been in my heart for so many years, I've grown quite attached to it... and now I get to turn that dream into reality. Will I miss the 'idea' of what felt like an unobtainable dream? It's a strange, but real feeling. Perhaps this is all normal when you get to experience a dream come true.

So, I would like to invite you to join us on this crazy European Reitan adventure. I'll share photos, thoughts, adventures, perhaps an anecdote or two, and did I say pictures? (Again - those who know me well, know there will be LOTS of pictures).   I thought it would be a fun way to share this with you all - not to mention, give me an opportunity to stretch my writing legs (another secret desire of mine). 

So follow along if you like...We leave on Friday, May 19th from Chicago. Don't be surprised, though, if you hear more 'pre-trip' stories - as I am sure there will be a few...

Until next time, 

Signing off as Lady Tracy Reitan

(oh yes - there is a story to that as well - more to follow)