Anticipation

A seminary professor once told a class that I was a part of, "Anticipation is over 50% of the fun of an event."

He was referring to events and projects that churches put on. If you plan and promote an event well, he said, people will really anticipate it and look forward to it, so much so that over half of the joy they receive from the event will be from their preparation for the event.

I think that's true in the context that he spoke of it. I think it's also true with so many other things in life. If we plan and prepare our travels well, the same can be said of travelling. Preparing ourselves, both our plans and mentally, for a trip can help us enjoy the entire experience much more than simply showing up and hoping good things will happen. As Rick Steves says, "Anyone who equips themselves with good information and expects themselves to travel smart, can."

For example, my wife and I recently found out that we have conferences at roughly the same time in Wisconsin. Because of this, we will be able to enjoy travelling to and then around that state together, as we experience the wonderful conferences that are in store for us. Though the trip is still months away, we spent last week looking at travel plans and opportunities that are available to us. As an aside, it's a good thing that we did because lodging and other logistics were almost booked to capacity. That's why making plans and reservations early always pays off.

By looking at possibilities, both separately and together, we were able to begin thinking and even dreaming about our travel, what it will be like, and what we hope to gain from the experience. One must keep things in balance, though. I have planned travel before and, in a sense, got myself so worked up with all of the good things that I just knew were going to happen, only to be disappointed when certain things did not pan out the way I thought they would. Good preparations can help build our expectations up and can even help us go into a trip with a good attitude. But we must always balance that with reality and know that, just like in our day-to-day lives, things do not always go as we plan. When that occurs, we have to be open to new possibilities and keep our heads up, always looking out for new possibilities of how we can enjoy and learn from our experiences.

But key to making that happen is anticipation: anticipating the great possibilities that travel can bring us and anticipating that we will react well to surprising situations that arise along the way.