Travel is amazing for a plethora of reasons: to learn about others, to increase your intercultural awareness, to eat great food, and to experience new ways of being in the world, to name a few. People make bucket lists to achieve milestones in travel – and ways to plan their goals. But when you’ve been sick, or have been in poor health, travel can seem like the furthest thing from your mind. 

Whether you’re heading into medical treatment - researching the heck out of internet, finding Tesetaxel taxane therapy info, drug interactions, or recovery times for surgeries - or exiting your treatment plan (congratulations!) with a better bill of health, any time is a good time for celebrating life. Travel makes you happy!

We don’t need a bucket list for this – we just need a distraction from the chore of it all, a celebration of making it through, a way to remind ourselves that life – in all its bodily aspects – is good.

Whatever you do, however you do it, go at your own pace, and make your own choices. You’ve earned it!

Here are 5 ways to celebrate life by traveling

Reconnect with Loved Ones

Perhaps your loved ones have been along for the slog, helping make doctor appointments, xrays or scans, blood draws, rehab, chemo, and the like. Or, perhaps, they have been stuck far away and felt guilty about not being able to help. Travel – whether together or to visit – can help you reconnect with loved ones. 

If your partner has been all hands on deck while you’ve been healing, travel is a great time to get away from hospitals and focus on your relationship as life partners, instead of taxi driver/hand holder/caretaker. Celebrate life by going somewhere you love, as you are able. Hold hands romantically, not in fear of diagnosis or as a source of strength during procedures. Don’t ignore the elephant in the room (your health), but focus on other topics and things that you have enjoyed together – movies? Sunsets? Great food? 

Maybe you want to reconnect with family before or after your treatment? Visit – or have them come visit. Maybe your energy levels or medical condition means that you can’t have them at your home, but the ability to be together, talking, laughing, reconnecting, and hugging is, in itself, medicine.

Exploring

You’re sick of the same four walls (whether it is at home, or in a hospital). You want to get out and see colors, hear the landscape around you, revel in the taste of a foggy morning or the feel of a dock under your feet. Where do you want to go? It can be near or far – even a 5 minute drive is exploring, especially when you’ve been inside and in one place for a while.

Doing Things You Love

My very favorite thing, ever, is to be in the water. So for me, a trip without water is not something I’d choose. I find pools, plan trips to beaches, rent a house on a lake. What do you love most? Incorporate these things into your travels. You’ll revel in the joy of being ABLE to do things you love – in a new place – perhaps something that was far from your thoughts and abilities during treatment or rehab.

Learning Something New

Maybe you love coffee and haven’t been able to drink it, or have a favorite dish but haven’t been able to eat much. Take a coffee tasting class or a cooking class on your travels. Plan your travels around learning something new, whether it is coffee tasting (my favorite), ziplining, taking a hot air balloon ride, painting with local artists, or taking a photography class. Travel will change you. Peaceful activities or vibrant ones - you’ll not only be learning something new, but taking joy in it. 

Celebrating Life

Wherever you go, take time to use all 5 senses. Meander through lavender fields. Break off a hunk of freshly baked baguette to go with your cheese, at a park in Paris. Sit and glory in the sunrise or sunset. Attend a concert. Dance. Sing. You don’t need a bucket list – you’re celebrating life!