I went to bed very late last night and the night before and even later the night before that. This typically happens when I get caught up in something (this time it was travel planning) and get all excited. When I do this I wake up in the morning a shell of myself, hollow eyed and so lethargic it feels like a physical ache.
It is a horrible habit that I need to learn to break.
But I have booked a family trip for Christmas! It will be my first flight and travel outside of Hong Kong in over 3 years. Having searched various sites, hotels, airfare and played the tricky and elusive tango of getting everything to align (for 7, potentially 8 people!), I pulled off a miracle in this new stage of frenzied revenge tourism.
We are "only" going to Cebu, and basically an all inclusive resort at that, but it's progress. They have a beautiful marine sanctuary on site, connecting rooms, lots of swimming pools, kids activities galore, and decent food.
When I look at the physical proximity of the geography I have traversed in the blur of the past 36 months, I can barely prevent myself from wincing. My previous drop-everything-to-go-anywhere-can-do-anything adventurous self feels shrunken, diminished.
After all my hours playing travel agent I now have reawakened my wanderlust and have a long list of places and things I hadn't dared let myself even think about for the past 3 years. Just having something booked, even if it's still a long way away, tentatively on hold / fully cancelable in case we need to change plans, makes me feel soooo goooood.