I think traveling is going to be my new form of escapism This year I want to go to LA, Chicago, and hopefully overseas (to London, etc). 3 day weekends...

I figure I might as well do it now...and besides more and more each day I find myself hungry for something different, more adventure, a big change in my life.

The election / inaugeration was inspiring in a "get off your butt" kind of way for me. Do more. Go bigger. Be better...these are the nudges I feel inside.

Right now, everywhere, everything seems so routine and common. Radio, tv, news...I want to learn something new, hear something different, be inspired - and inspire. I feel like maybe seeing different parts of the world will do that.

In the meantime, I'm trying my best to put a little bit of change into my life as it is right now. I will do stuff like, leave my cell phone home. Walk a different way. (At work) use a bathroom on a floor I've never been on. Try a different hairstyle. Eat at a place I've never been to...wear a color I never wore.

I have never felt this kind of pull, or maybe its a push to move, to change,, to stretch, to shed old skin. Seems like there is so much more to life and I don't think I've been maximizing mine. I'm happy with the New Years party --that was something different...now I want to keep doing more things different and outside of my box. I think there are different things I could do here too, and until my $budget gets situated, I'll be testing out stuff here.

Are there people you can think of that have this free spirit? That maximize their life? In what ways?

That is a great way to be. A great goal is to always be in the process of learning something.

I have a friend who has that sort of spirit. If he's not travelling to random places, he's plotting and dreaming about new trips. For the past few years a lot of his time has been taken up by work, but he expects to be quitting that job soon and starting up his own business. I'm excited for him. I think the job was keeping him from his potential.

i have that kind of spirit, but i think mine is a little worse...if it weren't for my children, i would be a happy nomad...(that's probably why i haven't gotten a passport yet b/c it would burn a hole in my pockets)

i think that's it's good for you to get that 'itch'...explore and discover...the world is yours...and you'll never know what you'll find...

btw, if you ever want (or need a companion for cost purposes) let me know, i'm down.

i used to say that i wanted to visit every state before i went overseas, but now i changed my mind. if an opportunity presents itself, i'm grabbing it.

i like to take weekend trips too. this summer i'm going to take my kids to DC and do the tourist thing. it's one thing to go down for a day or 2 for an event, but i want to behave almost like a tourist. plus, they now have a real interest in the white house and such so they should find it interesting.

I think this is a great spirit to have. It reminds me of FreeSpirit because she just goes. While you're single with no kids? Do it up big because once those things come your focus changes a bit and you can't just get out and go as much. Yeah you can still go and you want to so that, in the case of your children, they can see something outside of where they live. In the case of your mate, it's good to travel because new surroundings sometimes inject a newness into your romance that returns you to the beginnings of love. Still,it's just easier when you don't have to worry about a diaper bag, bottles, school district holiday schedules, and or you and your mate balancing your sick days, vacation days, personal days, etc to keep income comin' in. Ya know. So explore something....besides the hood.

I find it weird that I hate traveling and I've had the opportunity to check out the world... The world sucks... PHILLY on the other hand is great!!! lol... Philly should just be it's own planet... lol...

i'm finally taking the girls to DC for the day next weekend for the cherry blossom festival. i asked my congressman for a white house tour, so if it gets approved, we'll go again for the weeekend. (either way it will be another weekend trip.) and like swayyah the best thing is, all of the museums are free, seeing the sites are free, and the metro is pretty cheap.

since our disney trip was cancelled, i want to take the girls somewhere else. a friend of mine suggested the LA/Hollywood area. she said that it's really neat to see all of the sights and that the girls would probably find it exciting (unlike williamsburg, va.) so i'm going to check into that and arizona, i've never been to the grand canyon, and southern AZ is SO pretty.