Back From Travels

This summer has been full, as summer’s can be. 

Karmen graduated preschool and we headed to Europe for a month. I brought my whole family with me – Karmen, my father and my partner. I’ve never travelled with the whole gang before and it was a lot. We visited France – Paris, Toulouse, Saint Gaudens, and Italy – Naples, Formia and Rome. 

You learn so much about yourself and others when you travel and spend all your time together. 

I love being in group and I also love alone time. I need to carve out alone time when I’m traveling with people. There were mornings I got up around 5am and had time to practice, muse and read before the others were awake but that only happened a few times. Most days, Karmen woke us all up and off the day went. My learning for next time is that I need to schedule alone time. I didn’t on this trip which wound me up, causing me to micro manage, have less patience and overall feel lousy. And I wouldn’t notice until it was too late. Agh. 

My dad and I had a long talk about it when we we got back. I have an unusually large amount of energy, but parenting and age have made my energy battery drain quicker than it used to. Boo. It brought up old childhood memories. I lived with my mother when I was a teenager. She had a hard time with confrontation or uncomfortable conversations. When she reached her capacity for discomfort, she would check out and leave for the evening. We would rarely come back to the conversation, so there was a lot of unfinished business between us. I don’t want Karmen to ever feel that sense of abandonment. And for that reason, I have a hard time disengaging when I need a break, time to recharge my own battery. And then I get drained and stop showing up the way I want to. I’ve worked on it over the years and I am able to do it my other relationships but I haven’t with Karmen yet.  

My father offered some great advice, be mindful of your capacity – be sensitive to it, noticing when the battery is low and take time to rest when it is. It seems so obvious but when I’m running logistics, I forget to check in. He went on – communicate what you’re doing – I’m tired/frustration/angry and am going to take a bit of time to care for myself. I’ll be back. This will also model to Karmen what self regulation looks like. Thanks dad. 🙂 

That being said, the trip left me inspired. It was great to be immersed in European culture for a month. I love the architecture, the mix of old and new, the siestas in the afternoon, the pace is much slower because the heat was so thick, so everyone walks slower and the fashion. We swam in the Mediterranean, ate delicious food and had fun people watching. We travelled well as a group. We’ll do it again, but next time we won’t go to as many places. When I travel alone, I like staying in one place for a while and getting a feel for the every day. But this trip, everyone wanted to check out a different place. 

Lastly, I led a retreat in the middle of the trip at Occitania in Saint Gaudens. Along with my offering yoga & lecture, my dear sister, Irene Sanchez, offered chi gong, a cacao ceremony to a group of 12 wonderful humans from around the world. I always love retreats, especially week longs to be with and observe how nourished people feel by the end. Everyone, including myself, came tired and worn out. By the end of the week, we were all glowing! Our group photo below from our last day together. 

Have you travelled with your whole family? What have you learned? Got any group travel hacks to share? 

Tell me, Tell me.