Ready to Go

Stories need not tip the scale in favor of the daring traveler who has ridden an elephant in Indonesia, or been on a high wire in Mexico, or even helped to build a church or school with her bare hands. If you’ve undertaken an adventure and traveled--near or far--for a purpose, your story matters.  --Dream, Plan, & Go by Rachel McMillan

I’ve written here before about how I love to travel. Since I was a little girl, it has been one of my favorite things to do. I love the anticipation and planning and the packing and the going. Travel by plane is exciting, but for me, nothing beats loading the car and cooler and snacks before daylight and heading out on the road, stopping for breakfast somewhere along the way.

As a child of a big family and as a person who got engaged right out of college, I have never really traveled much by myself, except for a work trip or two, and even then I was almost always met by colleagues. But Rachel McMillan’s book, Dream, Plan, & Go, made me start dreaming of travel again, and made me start circling around the idea of solo adventures, both when we go somewhere exciting, and right now, in the midst of COVID, here in my town.

I love this cover, and the inside is so pretty, with fun illustrations and lots of stripes and polka dots!

Dream, Plan, & Go uses stories from the author’s own travels to show why travel is transformative. And from the very beginning, she insists that women can and should travel safely alone, instead of waiting and hoping other people will want the same things we want. Although this was a book about travel, it was also a book about how to live a good life--freely, fearlessly, and adventurously. No matter the travel budget or travel restrictions, I want a life filled to the brim with joy and wonder and a mind open to new possibilities. 

The book talks about all aspects of traveling, from a capsule wardrobe to searching out spiritual locations to exploring with your senses, and she brings out all of the magic in travel in a way that I found inspiring. But I also really enjoyed her discussion of how you can become a tourist in your own area by checking out things that we often overlook because they seem so ordinary. There is so much in my area that I don’t think about being an adventure, and I’m sure it’s true in your area too. I can’t go on a vacation right now, but I can get takeout from a new restaurant or walk a new trail or drive a new road. I can do these things with my family, but also, in these days of COVID, I can often do them safely alone, which lends an air of excitement and allure to the era of being stuck in my house and staring at the same walls all day.

I love when Ms. McMillan talks about heart places--the places we don’t live, but they always feel like home. One of mine is the town of Oxford, Mississippi. Joe fell in love with this town when he took a class in college that visited this home of William Faulkner. For many years, we ran to Oxford whenever we needed to get out of town for a weekend. We’d make a pilgrimage to Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak, and the rest of our weekend was divided between the fabulous restaurants the area offers and the even more fabulous Square Books and its offshoots, Square Books Jr. and Off Square Books. We came home stuffed with catfish, floating in sweet tea, and stocked up on books. 

Our visits became less frequent after we had kids, as they are not as enamored as we are. They like Square Books Jr., the charming bookstore for children, but they aren’t impressed with restaurants that don’t have hamburgers or pretty drives, and it’s more fun to go places where everyone is happy.

But on one gorgeous day, I sat on the old balcony at Square Books with my journal and watched my husband walk away down the square with a kid toddling on either side. Alone, I breathed in the sunshine. I watched the cars go by and the shoppers browse. I wrote, and I sat back and reread what I wrote. I sank back into my seat and didn’t worry about diapers or snacks or entertainment. I could just be. 

Then I gathered up my things and headed off to find my family. Traveling with them is my favorite, but Ms. McMillan is right--there is something special about those moments out and alone.