As I’m writing this entry, it’s still Friday, and the weekend is getting closer and closer. I usually use the weekend to write and get ahead on posts, but this weekend, my sister is coming to visit, and I don’t want to have to take time to blog when I could be spending that time with her. I haven’t seen her since Christmas, and this is the first time she’s come to visit without another family member (and only the second time she’s visited ever).
At first, when I was making plans, I was thinking of all these great things we could do. Of course, in D.C., there are so many free museums and attractions that it would be easy to fill up a weekend and then some and never spend any money.
But then I realized that while she wants to do some touristy things, she really just wants to hang out. We don’t have to go do big things. We don’t have to make sure that every minute is filled. She said she’d be fine with just ordering pizza and watching movies. Some may say it’s a wasted trip, because she’s missing out on all the great things D.C. has to offer. I disagree, of course.
Sometimes, it’s important to remember to just enjoy the time you have with others (or the time you have to yourself) and not worry about making everything the best or the most fun or the most frugal.
I put trips into 2 categories- people or places. On people trips my main focus is spending time with the people I’m visiting. On places trips my main focus is enjoying the place I’m visiting. My last trip included NY/Philly/DC and I didn’t see one touristy place in any city. My goal was to reconnect with friends/family and I spent a lot of time in people’s living rooms just hanging out.
Categorizing the trips helps me get away from the idea that a people trip is a waste if I don’t really ‘do’ anything.