I Don’t Plan Trips to Get Away… I Plan Them So Life Feels Better When I Come Back
It Didn’t Start the Way I Thought It Would
I used to think travel was about getting away.
From the stress.
From the noise.
From everything waiting for me at home.
But the truth is…
the best trips I’ve ever taken didn’t help me escape my life.
They helped me come back to it differently.
This Trip Was Different
We just got back from a two-week cruise with friends and family.
And if I’m being honest… I needed it more than I realized.
Life at home had been stacking up.
Work felt heavy.
The house felt loud.
My brain felt full.
So instead of planning something packed and busy,
we did the opposite.
We chose a longer cruise.
More time.
More space.
More room to breathe.
And yes… maybe a few too many port days (lesson learned),
but in between those, there was something I hadn’t had in a while.
Time to just be.
Time to sit with Jamie without rushing off to the next thing.
Time to talk, laugh, wander, or do absolutely nothing.
Time to think without immediately needing to solve anything.
And somewhere in all of that…
I reset.
Just enough to feel like myself again.
How I Plan Now
When I plan trips now, I think about them differently.
Not:
“How much can we fit in?”
But:
“How do I want to feel while I’m there… and when I come back?”
That changes everything.
It means:
Leaving space in the schedule
Choosing walkable, easy locations
Not overloading every single day
Building in time to sit, reflect, and connect
Because the goal isn’t to come home exhausted with great pictures.
It’s to come home lighter.
Finding Our Spot
This might sound simple… but it matters.
We always find “our spot.”
On this cruise, it was a quiet area where we could sit with a drink,
watch the ocean, and just exist for a minute.
No pressure to be doing something.
No agenda.
Just a place where we knew we could land.
Those little anchor spots become part of the reset.
Things I’ve Learned Along the Way
A few things I’ve learned the hard way:
Not every port needs to be an excursion
You don’t have to say yes to everything
Rest is part of the plan, not a break from it
The best conversations don’t happen when you’re rushing
Sometimes the best part of the trip is the part you didn’t plan.
We’re actually planning our Reds weekends the same way now — less packed, more intentional.
What I’d Go Back For
Not just places… but feelings.
I’d go back for:
Slow mornings with nowhere to be
Laughing at dinner without checking the time
That feeling when your shoulders finally drop
Real conversations that don’t get cut short
That’s the part I want again.
What Travel Really Does for Me
I don’t plan trips to get away from my life anymore.
I plan them so I can come back to it better.
More patient.
More present.
Less overwhelmed.
Because travel, for me, isn’t an escape hatch.
It’s a reset button.
And honestly…
It’s become one of the best ways I’ve found
to take care of the life I’ve already built. 💛
If you’ve been feeling that pull too…
I’ve started putting together a few trips (some simple, some a little bigger)
and you can join the interest list here:👉 Join the Reset and Roam Trip List
No pressure, just a way to see what we’re planning.
Our Favorite Alaska Cruise Stops (And What Surprised Us Most)
When we booked our Alaska cruise, I thought the ports would be the highlight.
Juneau. Sitka. Ketchikan.
All the places you see in the photos.
And don’t get me wrong—they were beautiful.
But what surprised me most wasn’t where we went…
It was how differently each stop felt once we were actually there.
🧊 Juneau
What I expected:
A busy, must-do port where we’d try to fit in as much as possible.
What surprised me:
Juneau felt bigger than I expected—but also easier to slow down in.
There’s a lot you can do here—excursions, whale watching, glaciers—but it didn’t feel like you had to rush through it. It felt like a place where you could choose your pace.
We spent some time at Glacier Gardens Rainforest, and it ended up being one of those simple but memorable stops. Riding up through the trees and then stepping out to those views gave you a completely different perspective—and it didn’t feel rushed or overly structured.
And honestly, some of the best moments weren’t the big ones…
they were just standing there taking it all in—the water, the mountains, the quiet that somehow still felt full.
👉 If I planned it again, I’d still pick one main thing to do… but I wouldn’t try to fill every minute around it.
🧊 Sitka
What I expected:
A quieter stop. Maybe one we’d just walk around.
What surprised me:
Sitka felt… calm.
Not empty. Not boring. Just different.
It didn’t have the same energy as the other ports, and I think that’s what made it stand out. It felt more like a place you experience than a place you check off a list.
We went to Fortress of the Bear, and it ended up being one of those moments you don’t rush. Just standing there watching them—no big production, no pressure to move on—just being there and taking it in.
👉 This was one of those stops where slowing down actually made it better.
🧊 Ketchikan
What I expected:
Touristy. Busy. A quick walk-through kind of place.
What surprised me:
It was busy—but also fun in a way I didn’t expect.
There’s a lot packed into a small area, and it’s easy to just wander, pop into shops, and take it in without overthinking it.
We mostly just walked, wandered into a few places, and ended up talking to people along the way.
You could hear the energy from things like the lumberjack show even if you didn’t go in—it had that kind of lively, easygoing feel.
👉 This ended up being one of the easiest stops to enjoy without a plan.
💛 What We Learned (That We Didn’t Expect)
Before this trip, I thought cruise ports were about:
seeing everything
doing as much as possible
making the most of every stop
But Alaska shifted that for me.
Alaska actually shifted how I think about travel in general — especially when it comes to slowing down and not trying to do everything.
👉 link “slowing down and not trying to do everything”
Each port had something to offer—but not in a way that required us to rush through it.
If anything, the best parts came when we:
didn’t overplan
didn’t try to maximize everything
just let the day unfold a little
✨ The Part That Stayed With Me
It wasn’t one specific excursion.
Or one perfect moment.
It was the feeling that we didn’t have to do everything for it to be worth it.
That surprised me.
And it’s something I’ve carried into how I think about travel now.
🧭 If You’re Planning an Alaska Cruise
Here’s what I’d say, based on our experience:
Pick one or two things that matter most in each port
Leave space around them
Don’t assume more = better
Let at least one stop be a “wander and see what happens” kind of day
Planning your ports this way has made a big difference for us, especially when we focus on what’s walkable and what actually fits our pace.
👉 link “what’s walkable and what actually fits our pace”
Because some of the best parts of Alaska…
aren’t the ones you plan.
💛