What is it about a journey that excites you? Is it the planning, the preparation, or the experience? In my case, the planning and preparation are just as enjoyable as the experience itself. It can sometimes take months to plan a journey. Savoring the excitement of each day of planning and preparation is critical, because sometimes the planning is more time consuming than the actual adventure. For me, it is not about planning out each moment of the adventure, instead it is about setting up the general path and identifying points along the way that are of interest to us. Identifying ten things to do in an area does not mean that we will be attending ten attractions. Having that knowledge allows us to pick and choose the adventures along the way that are most interesting to us or that fit our schedule.
People approach planning in a wide variety of ways. It is a bit like project management and the wide variety of approaches to the process. On one end of the spectrum, there are those that plan out each exact moment of the trip in a waterfall approach. Starting point, ending point, and each point along the way is documented with time allowances, costs, and a series of Pinterest pins of all the places you will go. And you can just tell from all those pictures that people are having fun…so we will too! At the other end of the spectrum is the lack of all planning process. Unfortunately I think we often tend to use this one for life. I once took off after a school year by hopping on my motorcycle and looking at the sky. Clouds in the East, clear in the West, so I started to ride West. It was before the days of smart phones so each day was an adventure of trying to ride into the best weather knowing ultimately I would need to return to home base. I prefer a planning methodology that is more focused on a positive experience, the interaction and collaboration that occurs on the road, and especially a method that responds to change rather than a defined plan. I think “Agile Journeys” may be our next business venture.
After the planning, the adrenaline flow occurs when the adventure actually begins. That is the point where all the research and planning really starts to pay off. Regardless of how well everything is planned, how much research was complete, anything can happen once you turn that key, click that button, or take that first step. We started a new journey recently and it involved a great deal of planning and preparation, but taking that first step to publish our first YouTube vlog and actually make it public was quite exciting. For this journey let’s hope the experience lasts a lot longer than the planning. We are optimistic that you will enjoy Blue Moon Journeys on YouTube. Make sure you subscribe to both our Blog and our YouTube channel to continue to receive updates on our journeys.
Life is a journey, enjoy each adventure along the way!
Blue Moon Journeys 