Welcome 2020

How ironic that this blog is called “Drink and Go Places.” It’s Dry January and we haven’t gone anywhere since November. For those living under a rock, Dry January is that fateful month where one voluntarily gives up all the alcohols they have been imbibing like water since Halloween, hooray! Dayne and I have participated in Dry January for at least five years, maybe longer. It is a delightful new year tradition where we fight back tears and head to the local coffee shop in lieu of a beloved brewery. We valiantly forge forward, encouraged by the hope that February and a delicious New England IPA are just up there on the horizon!

January is also the time I begin contemplating our next adventure. Years ago, when I was a young, single-mother, I worked with a woman in her 50’s named Barbara. Barbara and her engineer-husband had a lovely life. I was fascinated with the fact that each year, they would embark on a week-long vacation to a far-off place they simply selected. They would just pick someplace and go. Just picked; cost was no consideration. So foreign a concept and completely inconceivable to me. At that point in my life I had never even been off the East Coast, had flown exactly twice and the furthest away I’d gone was to Disney (courtesy of my ex-husband’s father, who gifted us the trip shortly before our divorce.)

But Barbara, well, she was always planning a trip somewhere fantastic like Italy or Alaska. Places that seemed much too far a journey from my real life and more akin to fantasy destinations than real vacation options. But I swore that one day I’d have a life like Barbara. Now, 25 years later, it is astounding to me that I have achieved just that. Dayne and I just pick. We pick where we want to go, and we go. Somehow, we manage to pay for it. It blows my mind that I have this luxury and I am well-aware that others are not nearly as fortunate. Counting my blessings is something I do on the regular. But while I know i am lucky, it isn’t all luck. I saw this life years ago and worked for it. I believe in fate, karma and asking the universe for what you need. I don’t have a big house or fancy car, but I have walked in both Alaska and Italy, just like Barbara.

So here’s how the planning goes. Dayne and I both suggest a location for consideration. A lively discussion ensues on why the place the other person just suggested is an asinine choice. This year I selected Australia, he Singapore. So naturally, we’re going to Peru. While Asia has become Dayne’s soulmate over the years, he frequently mentioned South America too. In the past it was a hard no. I believed it to be a dirty and dangerous place that I had less than zero interest in seeing. Since I do all the planning, I secretly settled on Australia and started researching. As I was looking into it, wildfires began raging throughout the country. Heartbreaking wildfires. It quickly became clear that Australia was in no condition for visitors. Another time perhaps, but I suspect the scars that are forming down under will be long in healing.

So we started considering other options. I watched YouTube videos on South America and began warming up. But it was a documentary that changed my mind entirely. It detailed a journey through the best parts of Peru that left me convinced that this South American gem would be next. I knew people would shake their heads and say “Why Peru?” But once you’ve seen it, well, you’ll know why. Not only home to the ancient city of Machu Picchu (reason enough to travel to South America) Peru offers mountain views and geography like nowhere else in the world.

Colca Canyon is a marvel twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.

There are areas of desert where you can dune buggy or sandboard. Vibrant cities of Lima and Cusco offer amazing food and culture.

Lake Titicaca is the highest elevation lake in the world, with man-made reed islands, which are home to locals selling their handmade goods to tourists.

But perhaps most important is the Amazon Rainforest. And this guy.

Few, aside from our immediate family, understand Dayne’s great affinity for Capybaras. The world’s largest rodent is his obsession. His work office walls have no pictures of his wife, but capybaras are represented in full regalia. I’m in the process of researching Amazon lodges where we will stay for a few nights and hopefully catch of glimpse of my husband’s spirit animal. Seriously, i just wrote “I’m in the process of researching Amazon lodges…” Like, what? Whose life is this? P.S. there are A LOT of Amazon lodges that place you in cabins with no window coverings. NO WINDOW COVERINGS, completely open to the Amazonian locals! No, thank you. Ain’t nobody trying to snuggle with a python or tarantula.

So the planning has begun. I’m not going to lie, Vietnam did a number on my knees that still has me walking with a slight limp. #Firstworldproblems. But seriously, priority one is weight loss and strength training. Without dropping a few pounds and making my body stronger, there’s no way ascending more sets of off-kilter stone steps is going be a thing in my life.

Planning a trip takes months and months of research. Studying the map, figuring out how to get from Point A to Point B. Learning which areas to visit and which to skip. Reading endless reviews of hotels and restaurants and determining which areas will make the cut and which will, well, be cut. It’s not easy and for the first time ever we considered using a tour group. But we just aren’t tour people, plus I have the attention span of a dust spec and few hours of listening to a guide reel off historical information is about all I can take. Plus, we don’t want to be on a bus with the same people every day. That one guy in the back? He annoys the hell out of me. We want to be able to go where we want, when we want, and leave it we don’t like it. It’s how we roll. I’m beginning to get a handle on the geography, have learned that we probably won’t be kidnapped, and with each day get more excited to see baby lamas. Plus, I’ve discovered through the years, I’m really good at this planning stuff. Like super good, who knew? Plus, I love the challenge of it. I’m really not sure how planning to avoid yellow fever became my jam. But it did! I would love to go back and tell that broke, single, mom – who could barely afford to pay the rent – just how amazing things were going to turn out. She’d be super happy to hear that. Thanks, Barb.