We travel alot. My husband and I were married just after college and before he went on to graduate school. When he finally graduated from school we decided that we better live where we would want to vacation because with all of his student loans we wouldn’t have any extra money for vacationing.
This was a pretty good plan. We raised our kids and adventured all around our new hometown and state. Then one day my husband woke up and decided it was time to get out of Dodge. But the only thing was that we were still paying student loans. So, being the creative person that he is, my darling hubby found that we could travel around the world by teaching. He sent off his resume and soon he had a job teaching in an exotic location with palm trees and sand. It was great. The only thing was that the pay wasn’t great but it basically covered the cost of a working vacation. We would stay on campus with the students and not at resorts but it was still away from home and an adventure.
It has been ten years now that we have been going on working vacation “adventures” and I love it. The fun part is that now we are returning to some of our favorite places and working with some of our favorite people.
But tonight we were reminded about one of the important things about traveling. We were becoming comfortable because we are back in a location that is familiar. My husband was walking back to the little motel that we are calling home for the next several weeks after a quick swim when a young man walked up to him and tried yanking his pants (that were rolled up and tucked under his arm – he was still in his swim trunks) away from him. My husband hung on to his pants and the kid unsuccessfully ran off without the pants. There wasn’t any money or valuables in the pants but even still it was a reflex to hang on. Then after the kid had run off my hubby realized he may not have been paying that close attention and had let this person get too close to him in the first place.
When you’re traveling, even to a place that is familiar (and maybe especially if it is a place that is familiar) its important to remember to be aware of who is walking around you. Be careful to watch what is going on around you.
