Best of 2009 – Best Trip

This post is part of The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge, started by Gwen Bell as a prompt to essentially recap the year in review.

2009 has been a game-changer for me; so many things happened, so many people came into my life, and so many decisions led me to where I am right now: embarking on a journey exploring yoga, new cities, new relationships, myself, and my passions.

I sincerely believe that to move forward, it’s always important to understand where you came from.  So here goes

December 1 Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?

Easy.  Vegas, June 5-7, 2009

It was a surreal feeling, as though I was going to a reunion of sorts with my best friends, although I didn’t know they’d be my best friends yet.  There was a common sense like we all knew each other, though most of us had never met before.  There was the feeling of being slightly starstruck – there SHE was, live and in person, someone whose words you’d fallen in love with over the past months and years, and there she was in all of her she’s-a-real-girl! glory, right in front of you ready to pick up right where you left off last.

I won’t re-recap the whole thing, but there was the stuff we caught on film – the yard margaritas, the dancing in fountains, the hugs and kisses, the cheese plates, the hours in a cute little trattoria in the Venetian, the world’s most amazing bathrooms, the high-fives.

But the real magic was in the feelings that wove their way through the fountain-jumping and wine-drinking.  I caught up with Renee last weekend while she was in Minneapolis spending the Thanksgiving weekend with her husband’s family, and we started reminiscing about the Vegas weekend and all of it’s magic.  We spent very little time talking about the physical moments and spent more time talking about the sense of wonder and of inspiration that stayed with us.

We talked about how inspired we were to be surrounded by so many other women (and men! but that’s not what we were talking about, sorry) who were the embodiment of what we believed to be true feminism, true portrayals of what it means for women in this time in our culture to really have choices about the direction of their lives.  From women who strive be successful ladder-climbing career women, to those that want nothing more than to be wives and mothers.  To women who want to change the world by meeting and connecting everyone, to other women who want to change the world by starting within their own community.

Renee and I discussed the freedom that we are so fortunate to have in that we have the choice to be young professionals, the opportunity to work our asses off to be self-employed, to let our hobbies take more of our waking hours than our jobs, to choose to raise families in cities and in suburbs.  And to celebrate the differences in all of those choices, and to let each person’s unique background and life direction change and influence our own in some way.

Vegas was pink dresses, singing by the Bellagio, hugs and kisses, slumber parties, taking risks, sharing stories, and really, REALLY good food.

It was inspiration in new friends you didn’t know you needed.  And in all of the traveling I did in 2009 – likely the most I’ve ever done in a single year – this was the best trip.  Hands down.

Let’s go back, shall we?

Tagged as: #best09, Travel, Vegas