Cruising Previous Seventy: The Internal Journeys: Classes from the Highway: It’s All About Perspective

This text was printed first in Journey Awaits on Oct. 13, 2019. It was republished on this weblog on March 26, 2021. I’ve up to date it as we speak. 

 
Franklin D.
Roosevelt as soon as mentioned: “I feel we think about an excessive amount of the great luck of the early
fowl and never sufficient the dangerous luck of the early worm.” Sure, sadly, luck
has two sides to it. For vacationers who put themselves in overseas or new lands and
in the midst of many unfamiliar actions, luck comes into play many extra
occasions than regular. Generally a journey day seems good. Generally it turns
out dangerous. How will we navigate such differing conditions?

You Can’t Management The whole lot

One of many
worst days of our life occurred in 2018. My husband and I had been at Washington
Dulles Worldwide Airport in Washington DC to board a flight sure for London
the place we had been to catch a connecting flight to Ljubljana, Slovenia. Our tickets had
been purchased on the unbelievably discounted value of US$250 per particular person however we ended
up paying greater than ten occasions that, even after the refund.

Whereas we
had been en route from Phoenix, our airline Primera declared chapter. All its
flights had been instantly canceled. Understandably, I used to be terribly upset. And
you don’t need to be close to me when I’m! However my husband mentioned, “It’s simply cash.”
After we arrived in London, he instantly regarded for an English pub on the
airport. The Scottish/Irish fellow delighted in a traditional English breakfast he
had been lacking. Clearly, he had already put the whole lot behind him.

Don’t Be Stymied. Go Forward with Your
Journey Plans

With out
hesitation, we went forward with our journey plans as a result of the Slovenia journey may
not be postponed. It was depending on the schedule of our two hosts whom we met
on the highway within the Philippines just a few years earlier. In truth, we hosted them in
the US two years later.

The residences
they’d reserved for us had been absolutely booked earlier than and after our go to. Our room
at her B&B was on the foot of the Ljubljana Citadel, in entrance of the massive
each day farmer’s market in Outdated Ljubljana. In Bled, his residence was proper on the
well-known lake with postcard scenes from the balcony. We couldn’t have requested for
extra. And it was a reunion of nice pals. Our
week in Slovenia was priceless, even when it price us $3,000.

Be Simple on Your self: You Are Allowed
to Make Errors

From our
base in Innsbruck the next week, we needed to discover extra of Austria. We
determined to take the four-hour prepare journey to Vienna, keep in a single day, then cease
at Salzburg, halfway on the way in which again, the following day. On the Hauptbahnhof, I obtained a
brochure from the ticket counters whereas Invoice purchased a bottle of water on the
retailer. Blended indicators gave us nearly zero time left once we lastly discovered every
different once more. That’s how we obtained on the unsuitable prepare, the one going within the different
path. As an alternative of Vienna, we discovered ourselves in Munich.

In brief, we
obtained to Vienna mid-afternoon as an alternative of earlier than lunch as we had deliberate.  I used to be so burdened. And also you don’t need to be
close to me when I’m! Pricey husband mentioned, “Cost it to expertise; we’re allowed
to make errors.” We made it to St. Stephen’s Cathedral, the Mozart Home, the
Opera Home, Karlskirche, the Hofburg Palace, and the Museum Quartier, lacking solely
Schonbrunn Palace from our Vienna bucket record.

However we had
to “run” from place to put. It was nice that they had been so shut to every
different. We even ended the day with dinner full with sacher torte at a
Viennese Espresso Home. We most well-liked to go to the Lodge Sacher for the unique
however, as luck would have it, they’ve an outlet in Innsbruck, Café Sacher. 

There Are Many Good Folks on the
Highway

Our subsequent
base was Oberstaufen, Germany. That is the place dangerous luck began to show into good
luck. After considered one of our lengthy day journeys, we missed the shuttle bus again to our
resort. Drained and hungry, I should have regarded so determined once I discovered the
subsequent one was an hour away. And also you shouldn’t be close to me when my tummy grumbles!

With out
being requested, a German couple, who had been additionally ready on the station, rounded
every of the stops, studying every poster (all of them had been in German), and looking out
for an out there different for us. They didn’t discover any, however it didn’t
matter. With the gesture, I completely forgot I used to be hungry.

The
following day, we determined to take a look at Lodge Ludwig with its two rows of distinctive
home windows in Steibus, a village near Oberstaufen.  It turned out that the couple we met had been staying
at their trip apartment proper in entrance of the RV campground we discovered subsequent to
the Lodge. They invited us in for drinks.

The
attention-grabbing factor was the person spoke little or no English and my husband spoke
little or no German, so the wives had been gesticulating lots. Earlier than we parted, they
prolonged us an invite to go to them at their dwelling in Uberlinger, Germany.

The day
earlier than we left for France, we discovered the prospect. At their deck overlooking the
legendary Bodensee Lake, we loved a typical German lunch. Then we toured the
resort metropolis which was hardly touched throughout WWII due to treaties. An hour
of starvation was such a small value to pay for this GOOD
LUCK in capital letters.

Let the Good Instances Roll

“When it
rains, it pours” had was “Let the great occasions roll.”  Unhealthy luck turns into good luck, typically as
shortly because it comes. And when our hearts fill with gratitude for the great luck,
extra of it occurs!