Today I’m on my way back from San Francisco after an epic 4-day train ride across the country that spanned from Newport News to the West Coast. I have a lot to process and many future blog posts coming out of the trip, but while it’s still fresh on my mind I thought I’d write a blog – partly for me – about some things I learned during this time.
1) Wi-fi is a privilege, not a right. And it was a privilege I did NOT have for a large majority of my trip. Thankfully, I had downloaded most of the files I needed to work prior to leaving, and got to hop on the internet a couple times here and there.
2) I don’t need the Internet as much as I think I do. Yes, I need it to work. No, I don’t need it all the time. In fact, the few times I did hop on Facebook or Instagram to browse, I realized how little this adds to my life. I definitely didn’t miss it (although I would’ve loved to watch some Netflix!).
3) Don’t have a timetable. This one might be more applicable to traveling than real life, but I think it bleeds over into that, too. On Wednesday we were unexpectedly stuck for hours in Colorado when our little Amtrak train decided to break down. At least we were at a station!
4) Put your phone down and keep your head up. Everywhere I went – Chicago, Denver, and all the stops in between, a majority of people were looking down at their phone as they walked. I’ll admit I did this when I needed to use a map, but otherwise I intentionally looked forward and not down. I noticed so much that I would have otherwise missed.
5) When you can sleep, do it. Although I can sleep pretty much anywhere, it doesn’t mean that I slept well. I learned quickly that if I felt tired, even in the middle of the day, I should stop everything and take a nap because I might not be able to later.
6) Being bored is not a bad thing. I’m hesitant to say this, because I don’t think I got truly bored. That’s because I simply couldn’t do a lot of things, so staring out the window was activity enough for me. Nathan always says that ‘we are human beings, not human doings’ and he’s very right. It’s hard for me to just be when I’m at home because there are a million things to do, and this trip was so healthy for my mind.
I’m sure there’s a lot more than that, but those are the things that stuck out to me! Overall I can’t wait to be home and sleep in my own bed, but I’m so very glad I went. A full summary of my trip is coming Monday!
