Travel Bug

I read such a great quote the other day about experiences and how they shape us. How travelling and getting outside of our normal routines has the ability to change us for the better every single time. I have always experienced this very specific form of a travel bug when I’m away. In the last 5 years, I’ve had the opportunity to travel on a few different scales. I made two trips to Ottawa and Montreal in 2015. Then, in 2018, I went to Denver to see a friend who was working with a missionary group focused on Denver’s homeless population. Then, 2017 and 2019 brought trips to Europe and collectively visiting countries like England, Scotland, Italy, Austria, Netherlands, and Poland. My high school and university years weren’t FULL of travel, so the last couple of years have brought on a lot of excitement for me.

2019 ended with a trip to Disney World and the Fantasy Disney Cruise Line. Wow, what an experience. I’m going to pause this blog post and tell you - if you ever want to go on a cruise, make it a Disney cruise. Even if that means you need to save up and wait an extra year or two, trust me, it’s 1000% worth it! I’ve heard from many people who have worked the cruise line industry that servers and staff “work their way up” to become a member of the Disney staff. So trust me when I say, you’re truly getting a second-to-none experience.

The Walt Disney Experience

I was excited about my Disney experience. I was a lover of Disney but never visited as a kid. I think I went to Disney on Ice once or twice, but that was the extent of my Disney magic experience. My husband and his family have been going to Disney World/on Disney Cruises since he was about 5. Yet 20 years later, they still treated each trip with as much excitement and magic as if he was still 5. I made fun of him for it a bit when we first started dating, knowing deep in my heart that I would cry the first time I saw Mickey Mouse.

By the way: 100% cried.

Live footage of me crying when Mickey and the gang came out. For real.

Inspired by Travel

I leave every trip very much inspired by where I go. I’ve never walked through the streets of Calcutta or visited an elephant in Thailand, but my Euro/American adventures have always left me with a new spark. When I visited Europe it was the culture of a slow morning, coffee shop corners, and no concern for dairy and gluten sensitivities. With Disney, it was the concept of magic.

Now, I don’t know much about magic. Magic comes in different shapes and forms, I think. I’m not really a pro. The extent of my knowledge is Harry Potter’s magic and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Then there’s the magic that some find in crystals and card reading - again, not my territory! From Disney, comes the purest childhood magic that you’ve ever experienced and it literally wells up in your soul and wants to make you a better person. That’s the type of magic we’ll be exploring here.

The Magic of Legacy

Disney showed me what the power of one man and his imagination could do. Magic. How else do you explain that?! One man had an idea one day and DREW A MOUSE and now we have Disneylands and Disneyworld’s across the globe! We have Marvel and Star Wars and worlds and experiences we never dreamed of before! I left this trip with the firm belief that our ideas and hopes and imaginations can lead us to a world that we never knew existed!

“I left this trip with the firm belief that our ideas and hopes and imaginations can lead us to a world that we never knew existed!”

While you can argue the consumeristic qualities of Disney or get fired up about how they ruined Marvel/Lucas Films, when you walk through the parks and the experiences offered, you can’t help but realize that one man and his legacy made all this happen. Do you think Walt Disney went to bed at night with hopes of owning the rights to Tony Stark? Probably not. However, you have to admire that whatever energy he pumped into his company enabled the generations to follow to do amazing things every single day!

There are a couple of documentaries on Disney+ that I recommend you check out just to understand the scope that I’m talking about. Insider is one of them and explores the ins-and-outs of how different Disney-owned productions come together. Another great one is One Day at Disney, which follows their CEO Bob Iger and 10 employees from the entire Disney company through a day in their life. It’s so uplifting to watch and DEFINITELY had me checking Disney’s job listing. Not going to lie.

Tap Into the Magic

Disney was the eye-opening trip that carried me into 2020. Now, as I sit here at home in social isolation with my Minnie Ears on my desk and my Castaway Cay 5K bib hung up on my corkboard, I am still left with a sense of inspiration and spark from the cruise and park visits. When we travel, we truly are able to visit another world, adjust our perspective, and rejuvenate our inspiration. As I find myself halfway through week four (question mark) of social distancing, I’m tapping into my Disney magic today.

What world would you tap into? The streets of Rome? The town square in Krakow? The elephants in Thailand? Where did you find your magic and your source for inspiration in 2019? How are you going to use it to get you through the next chunk of time that we have in this situation?