THE THOMS SUNDAY TRAVEL SECTION.
Having a Frown Day
Do you ever throw out the next 24 hours because of something happening in the now? OUCH!!!
This “black cloud” will pass. As soon as you let it.
If no one is needing hospitalization, it could be a lot worse.
I frown.
I have had speeding tickets. I may get one again.
Bad hair days? No such thing. My hair and I agreed to lead separate lives years ago. Do I need “friends” who value me for my hair? I want them to appreciate me for what’s inside my head.
This year, I have been canceling more trips than ever before. I can find excuses to frown.
BUT WHAT IF, when we are having a bad day, it’s our higher power saying, “You need to reset/restart”?
Fly to Paris for Lunch.
I have friends in Chicago who actually did this. To clarify, she is a travel agent, and airlines were more relaxed on travel agent rates in those days. And she planned it weeks in advance. It was spontaneous for her husband.
At the time, this “run-away” seemed so romantic. Nowadays, I don’t want to go to the store to buy cold cuts for lunch, let alone face the TSA.
So perhaps a champagne lunch on the Eiffel Tower is out for today. However, I am NOT saying to throw out that idea. Just for today.
Reset Button.
So what do we do to make the world go away?
Take a trip to your bookshelf. A great book can take you to exotic places within three pages.
A story set in Paris? Put some French music on very low in the background. With all the media on your TV, Stereo, watch, pad, phone, etc. dial up some French mood music.
Make yourself a cafe au lait or pour a glass of French wine and put yourself in that story.
Do you have any Grey Poupon?
How about those 14 travel magazines sitting on your coffee table? Pour a Hawaiian punch and go to the South Pacific.
Relocate
Your mental health, to me, is more important than your physical health. Take care of the gray cells.
Is there a German, French, Greek, Thai, Chinese restaurant in your town? Go for a late lunch. Table for two, you and your imagination. Or even better, a friend or partner. (double green stamps if they are one and the same).
Have a Greek salad and picture yourself amongst ruins. Have a strudel and a coffee and know just outside the door is a snow-capped mountain. How can you frown with strudel?
I call it a little imagination. Have a lunch consisting of different types of wantons. Pretend you can feel your restaurant lightly bobbing on the waves in Hong Kong harbor. Make sure the restaurant is playing the music that compliments the mood and menu.
What about that park down the street? You, sitting with a brown bag lunch, a little imagination, some sun, and maybe a book. Who is to say it’s not Central, Guell, Hyde, The Imperial Palace Gardens, Golden Gate, or the Borghese gardens? Whoever they are, avoid them.
Bring it on Home Reset.
Tonight, how about a theme dinner? Do you have a red and white checkered tablecloth? Candles? BOOM, you have your slice of Italy in your dining room. (TASTE) (SMELL.)
Some take-out from the local Italian chain restaurant and Magnifico! If you have a local place where Mama is overseeing the kitchen, even BETTER.
Alexa, a little “Romantic Italian Music” BAM! (HEAR) You’re on a piazza next to a fountain.
“Visions of Italy” on youtube, with the sound off. You already have your piazza music playing. There are hundreds of drone videos of scenery these days. BAM (SEE)
“FEEL” your frown start to melt. Bidda Bang Boom!
Really elevate it.
Do you know which closet holds your pasta attachment for your mixer? Remember the one you HAD to have for Christmas how many years ago?
It’s time to unwrap it. A little flour, a little egg, your friend(s) a little wine. Compare your tasteful Italian facemasks with a bit more wine.
Create a cooking class for you. It doesn’t need to be perfect; it just needs to reset the gray cells.
A little more wine. Have pizza delivery on speed dial in case you forget about the pasta after more wine.
Travel Begins with One Step.
Too much work? Fill the bathtub or kiddie pool with warm water.
Grab the Bacardi can from the freezer, add a little rum, and extra banana in the blender. Classic Calypso on Youtube.
Stick your feet in the warm water, lean back, and close your eyes.
Soon you will be having your own “Tales of the South Pacific”. (Ohh waiter, bring me another banana daiquiri!)
When was the last time you were in a local park with a peanut butter sandwich? Or Kool-aid, so empty of nutrition, so full of sugar, so rich with memories. Frown reducing.
No one gains a pound from one glass of kool-aid. Take a trip.
Take More Than One Step.
Is there a nearby town with a Little Italy neighborhood? Chinatown, Greektown, German chicken dinners? If you’re in the south or west, a Spanish neighborhood and Cantina?
I know margaritas and chips by a fountain have reset my gray cells more than once.
Now Build on It.
That Nicoise salad was great. The pasta was like eating clouds. That entree didn’t taste like chicken.
Next year, you are going to visit the birthplace of the Nicoise Salad!
Sample cloudlike pasta in Northern and then in Southern Italy? (it IS different).
Have Asian street food on the street… IN Asia.
Looking forward to something can help repel frowns.
Use your 2-3 hour reset as your launch button.
Once and for all, start planning THAT trip. Google it, watch videos, follow experts on the area, and make it happen. We are dead for a long time, don’t start now.
Hit a bump? Hit reset again.
To put it in techno-jargon: unplug. Count to ten. Start again.
To put it in medical terms: Take as needed. Side effects may include peace, less stress, wonderment. Prolonged exposure can result in laughing when you least expect it and happy memories.
… And no frowns.
See more about Planning.
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“What have you done recently to inspire a smile?”
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“See the World” Continued on Page T3. “Taste the World” Continued on T11.
I recently went on a “Traveler in my own State” 5-day trip. It was very relaxing, not too expensive, and gave me an opportunity to explore the treasures I had never taken the time to visit the place I have lived my whole life. There are a few benefits from this trying time and I am thankful for the experience.
Just yesterday my sister and I decided we needed tomatoes. So we put on our masks, googled “farm stands” and took a great drive exploring new areas around Baltimore. We found our tomatoes – literally on the edge of the farm’s fields – and then went into nearby Annapolis for exploring, shopping and lunch. No frowns allowed!!! We are healthy, live in an amazing country with wonderful people and places. Life is what you make of it – either lemons or lemonade. Thank you for the “reset” reminder!!!
Our family has been going out for a drive in the country after dark. With no city lights and no buildings for miles, the stars have been beautiful, and we were able to see several shooting stars and the most recent comets and meteor showers. Being right next to a cornfield in the dark is a little scary but good for a nervous laugh or two! No children of the corn sighted as of yet! Thanks for reminding us that we alone are responsible for taking action to keep our spirits up during these challenging times! It can be done!
We just returned from six days in a house by the lake. It wasn’t the vacation we’d envisioned when we first planned it. No restaurants, no museums. However, a bit of boating, communal cooking/experimenting and board games with our son and D in Law felt like a huge break from the quarantine everyday. SO SO glad we didn’t cancel!