The Sunday night before spring break, after an Instagram direct message from my friend in Tallahassee, I decided to upend my plans to return home to wintery New Hampshire and instead travel south to sunny Florida. I made the drive alone, traveling solo for a total of 42 hours by the end of the week. It was my main character moment, and came with ups, downs, and everything in between. Here are some of the things I learned on my adventure alone.
- Be spontaneous (even if it’s scary)
As a type-A person who likes to plan things to a “T,” it’s difficult for me to let go and do something just for the sake of doing it. But what I found through this trip was that in not planning, I gave myself more freedom to just be. I couldn’t overthink what I was packing or where I would go once I got there, but just focused on the road ahead of me. For once, I didn’t know exactly what would happen and when, and it was kind of freeing.
2. Energy drinks can get you through just about anything.
There’s not much to say for this one. Huge shoutout to Celsius and Red Thunder (Costco’s off-brand Red Bull), which made the hours of driving slightly manic, but manageable.
3. Taking time to relax is never selfish.
I feel like I am so often stuck in the productivity mindset, where I feel like taking any semblance of time for myself is irresponsible. But relaxing is recharging, and when I did take the time over break to do some job apps and homework, I found that I was so much more motivated, productive, and easygoing. The beach is my happy place, and aside from the fact that it helped me to be more productive later on, it also made me so happy to be able to just breathe!
4. There’s nothing like catching up with old friends.
Liz is one of my high school best friends, and the one who encouraged me to come visit her in Tallahassee. Because she lives full time in Florida now, I rarely get to see her. It was wonderful to get to catch up and hear about her life — not only is she one of my best friends, but she’s also someone I respect and look up to immensely in the way she dedicates herself to the pursuit of her goals. Plus, she took me to get some amazing beer cocktails and showed me where FSU students hang out.
5. Southern rest stops are an empire.
I remember discussing with a friend one time the concept of “South of the Border,” a mega rest stop/amusement park/restaurant extravaganza at the border between North and South Carolina. Because my road trips had been exclusively confined to DC and northward, I had never actually seen South of the Border. But my oh my, I finally realized its societal importance when every mile starting from the Virginia/North Carolina border there was a sign advertising the merits of the kingdom that is South of the Border. When I got to Florida, Busy Bee was its own empire, telling everyone on the highway, every five minutes, that they had clean restrooms. I was confused . . . But moderately enthused by their excitement?
6. Never take reading for granted.
During the semester, I rarely get the chance to sit back, relax, and read something I actually enjoy. Being an English and History major means I’m constantly reading one peer-reviewed article or another, so I almost never choose to read for pleasure because it feels like a task at the end of the day when I just want to relax. But there was truly nothing better than sitting in the sun and reading a book I enjoyed, getting sucked into another world and realizing I could stay right there and read all day if I wanted to.
7. Wear Sunscreen.
No matter how many times I think I’ve reapplied, I probably have not done enough. I got a nasty burn that was pretty much the entire back half of my body because I laid on my stomach for too long. The sun is great, but skin cancer isn’t.
8. Appreciate the little things.
Liz has an adorable Brittany Spaniel named Captain (since then, she’s adopted another Brittany named Bucky), and even though he peed on the guest bedroom floor several times while I was there, he also snuggled with me every night and gave me so much serotonin!
9. Do things that feel silly, just because you can.
On my drive back up towards Charlottesville, I stopped in Savannah. I grabbed a bite to eat and walked around Forsyth Park, where I came across an older woman sitting and writing on a typewriter. When I spoke with her, I discovered that she was the “world’s only typewriter psychic.” I’m a pretty big skeptic when it comes to mediums and psychics, but I decided to pay her the fee, and she produced a typewritten prediction about my future signed with a pink lipstick kiss. Quite honestly, everything she said was entirely copied from things I told her about myself, but even still, the little scrap of paper that predicts big things for me is a cute reminder to push myself and that good things are coming.
