Monday Stress Buster - Visit a Foreign Country

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Fair warning: Some of these items are a little more detailed than “make a banana milkshake”. This would be one of them.

In June 2022 my wife, our youngest son Tom and I took a ten-day trip to England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The tour was done by Go Ahead tours. We chose a tour company because we wanted to enjoy the different culture of the countries without having to figure out things like driving directions and (in this case) driving on the opposite side of the road. (Or as they say in the UK “You drive on the right side of the road, we drive on the correct side of the road”). The tour company arranged all the transportation and tours. That said, we also had enough time to explore the countries on our own.

We were treated to incredible history. We toured castles and museums, took in the beauty of the country side and enjoyed local food. Admittedly, the food in the UK isn’t dramatically different from what we eat here (outside of baked beans for breakfast, and corn in tuna salad – both of which were favorites).  

Going to a different country is a step out of your comfort zone. It can be relatively small (like a trip from the US to Canada), a little bigger (US to UK) or it can be a huge leap out of the zone (Peru for Tom and me in 2019). Whatever the choice, it gives you a chance to connect with people who live in a different part of the world, but still have a lot in common with you. In all of our trips we learned that a smile is universal. 

I knew we’d have fun (it did). I figured it would lower stress (it did). What I didn’t count on was this: We can’t wait to go back and do a longer trip to the individual countries. We are looking at a ten-day trip to Scotland next.

As I said at the start, some of these items are a little more detailed than others. Traveling to a foreign country is about as detailed as it gets. That said – you can spend five minutes right now investigating what country you want to visit as a first step. That step alone will lower your stress.









Where will you visit?


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