Monday, July 13, 2009

Santa Fe Epiphany

Being on vacation means leaving the country. Or so I believed.

Deciphering accents, learning new customs, and fighting the time change always seemed to do the trick.

Last Thursday, as we flew over Georgia O'Keeffe's precious southwest, I pretended the "New" in New Mexico was purely for decoration and I was indeed travelling to a Spanish speaking country.

To my dismay, no one checked my passport, everyone spoke English, and the bathrooms were squeaky clean. I wouldn't have to adjust my travel lens. But something amazing happened as our dear friend Todd (I pretended he was a hired driver for a while) drove us from Albuquerque to Santa Fe: I turned off my Blackberry...and kept it shut off the entire weekend.

Every day I raved about how relaxed I felt. Picking out a necklace from a local artist, it suddenly dawned on me: my refusal to pay international cell phone charges forced me to leave my phone at home. Could it be? Was the reason I felt truly on vacation connected to being totally unreachable?

Guilt started to creep in as I delighted that being out of reach meant a break from expectations, demands, and obligations. I quickly reminded myself how much I loved texting and talking on the phone, yet vowed never to bring the CrackBerry on vacation.

As we devoured delicious Southwestern specialties in first class restaurants, soaked ourselves in Ojo Caliente's springs, experienced Santa Fe's World Class Opera, and visited the museum quality art galleries, I realized you don't need to leave the country to 'really' travel. Who knew?






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