I can’t say I have actually learned this lesson but I’m working on it. Many times while traveling the original plan didn’t work out. When I have a plan, generally I like to stick to it. What I have discovered while traveling is that sometimes a detour can be a really good thing.
A couple examples are:
Recently when driving down the coast from San Francisco to Big Sur, we were on a tight timeline as we had started our day late. Rather than finding a parking spot and parking the car, my husband kept driving in the opposite direction as I wanted to go. I was starting to get annoyed and wondered why he couldn’t just pick a spot and park the *#$! car.
Eventually he ended up at the top of the hill in Santa Cruz where there were a number of surfers. It turned out to be a really enjoyable detour. I have to laugh at the reality of the stereotype of the surfers.
Another time this happened to us was many years back in Italy. We got off the train at the wrong stop in a town which seems quite uninhabited. We had no idea how long it would be for another train so we left our back packs under a tree and went to find the town. It was an absolutely stunning little town. We had lunch and really enjoyed the break.
Lesson (still) to be learned is enjoy the unplanned exploration, you might end up discovering a gem.
Happy Exploring,
P
