You hear all the time about workers leaving vacation days on the table, I can assure you I’m not one of them! But am I really getting the most out of my vacation?
I asked myself that after just getting back from an amazing trip to London with my husband. It was kind of a last minute short trip, only 4 days, so I was on a mission to cram as much sightseeing as I could into those 3 nights/4days. And boy did I! Now that I’m home I’m starting to wonder if I was a little too ambitious with that goal and if I really stopped to understand and appreciate the magnitude of what I was seeing and experiencing?
It’s no secret, I love the Royals and now I was in there country soaking it all in…or was I? I traveled the same path walked by Kings and Queens at the Tower of London. I walked down the same aisle in Westminster Abby where Princess Diana was married and later memorialized and stood in a chapel built by Henry VIII. Was a visitor to the home of Queen Elizabeth II, and every other monarch for more than 900 years at Windsor Castle. Sailed on the River Thames. Braved the freezing cold to watch one of the last great ceremonies of pomp and circumstance left in our world, the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Gazed upon the ancient ruins of Stonehenge and stepped back in time at the Roman Baths in the city of Bath….where incidentally I learned that Johnny Depp has a house…just saying.
There was so much history, my heart almost burst! It wasn’t until after I got home that it hit me…I was so busy seeing it all that I really didn’t see it. I didn’t take the time
to step back take a breath and enjoy it, or even relax and have some English tea and biscuits in the afternoon….well I could have, but I was so busy running around that I missed the reservation. Don’t get me wrong, we saw a lot. It was an amazing experience and we took hundreds of pictures I can’t wait to go through, but looking back I think the best part of the trip was getting to talk to the people who live there and the hidden gems we found along the way. Like the cab driver that wanted to talk about Donald Trump and the election, or the wonderful English Pub we found near the hotel (that actually had good food) where the bar tender told us we tipped too much because in England they work for wages not tips like in America, or the nice English couple we sat next to at a really awful play in the theater district – all four of us were shaking our heads when it ended. And last but not least, the humble Yeoman guard who took us on a tour of the Tower of London – a former soldier who did tours of duty in Bosnia, Afghanistan and several other war torn countries – he truly loves his Queen and is proud of the service he gave to his country. He shared a funny story with me about his experience with reporters and took time to take a picture with me even though he was sick with “the man flu” and it was pouring rain.
Now that I’ve put it all down into words, maybe I did get more out of my short hop across the pond than I originally thought. Like I said, you just need to step back, take a breathe and truly see it!
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