Traveling is a lot of fun. It opens doors for us as people and can inspire us to do new things. It can make us happy, and full of life. So why not share that with others? At first it seems like a grand idea and you decide that for your next trip you want to invite others to go with you. People are excited, you get happy smiles, enthusiastic replies like "Yes let’s do it!" or "That sounds amazing! Let me check and see if I can go!" and you are excited because you think that they will save the day, save the money, and go with you on this glorious adventure you planned. You wait and wait and wait. Everything seems ok and you are sure that they wouldn’t bail on you because hey, they are your friends and they said they were excited for something so amazing. So of course you keep your spirits high and you continue about your days making money, checking on places to go on this trip, price ranges, and so much more. Before you know it months go by and you’re so ready, you can feel the days getting to single digits and you start messaging others to make sure that they are still on board with it and that you will all be going on this adventure together. 

Then reality takes a sick and twisting turn. They bail. Worry crept into their minds and made the overthink everything that is going on in their lives. Instantly your images of happiness and fun with your friends is shattered and all you can do is tell them that its ok. The truth is that you are really upset with them and you want to let it go. You want to be able to move onward so you try your best. You call the others that you planned to go with and instantly all of them are dropping around you, telling you that they can’t go because of so many reasons. To you they sound like excuses. After all they had months to figure this out and they are just now telling you all this information. The money saving is an excuse. The pets are an excuse. Boyfriend not being able to go? Excuse. All of it comes to you and you feel like you’ve been betrayed in a way. Your friends were so excited and they seemed so ready for this amazing adventure. After all you talk about your trips often and every time you do people get enthusiastic and make comments like "I want to go with you sometime on a trip" or "Let’s do something like that together next year or something". Instantly they become liars in the back of your head and very unreliable. 

I’ve experienced this over the years and it has made me a lone traveler. Well, for the most part. I travel with my Dad on some trips and that’s pretty cool but when I’m going somewhere that I planned to go with friends and then they bail....well I go alone. I don’t let my "friends" dictate weather I go on this amazing trip or not. I learned this the hard way when I was in High School. I had bought tickets to a band that my friend absolutely adored. It was a Christmas gift and the tickets were $30. The place the concert was being held just so happened to be where her Dad lived in South Florida so room costs were out of the expenses. Save money and have a blast? Sounds like a perfect trip honestly. All you have to pay for is food, gas, and merch at the concert. To me that is hardly anything now. So easy to do. At the time though it was a golden ticket that came very few times and so we both were super pumped for this trip. 

As we got closer to the time to leave I got messages from my friends mother that she couldn’t go and as a result everything crashed and burned right then and there. $60 down the toilet instantly. In desperation to find out why I had made an attempt to see this friend and find out what was happening. Her mother had told me that something was going on with her and she thought it might have something to do with her boyfriend at the time but she wasn’t sure. Figuring that my friend would tell me what was happening I messaged her and instead of an explanation I got nothing in return. Silence. Anyone who knows me knows that I HATE it when someone doesn’t give me reasons for their actions. It drives me crazy and because of that I do what I can to find out the truth. So in an attempt to check on my friend and to get an answer I went to her job at Tropical Smoothie. Yes, I went to her job. Extreme? To me it seemed logical. After all I wasn’t gong to interrogate her but I was going to see what was happening and maybe she would speak to me if I was there in person. Sadly I was very wrong about this. 

  <------------- This is the two of us doing some graduation photos together. I didnt want to show her face. 

I got to her job, ordered my usual Smoothie and quickly realized that my friend was avoiding me. We live in a pretty small town so I knew the majority of the staff there and without hesitation one of the girls told me that something was wrong and that she was avoiding most people. They wouldn’t tell me why and I knew that they had the answers. I watched as my friend disappeared in the back and that was my instant clue that I did something wrong. This wasn’t a "boyfriend" problem, this was a friendship issue. For weeks I tried to get an answer out of her. I messaged her on all types of social media and every.single.time I was ignored. No matter what I did I never got an answer and each time I was bypassed. As a result we both missed the concert that year and I was very devastated. I missed a concert, lost money, and one of my best friends at the time. To this day I still don’t know what happened. She’s moved on, became best friends with someone we both knew (I had also claimed to them years before that she was going to stop being my best friend and look who was right) and went into the military. She now lives far away and yea there are times I miss her but I also know I learned a lesson that day. Just because someone is your friend and plans to go with you to a fabulous even of a life time doesn’t mean that they will pull through. They may ignore you and never reply. They may do a complete 360 and never come forward. That day I learned that people may not be who they say they are. 

So, If this happened to you, don’t be discouraged. Get in that car, go to that concert, event, or place you have been wanting to go to and just do it. Don’t think twice, take it and ENJOY your time. A trip with a friend may just turn into a nice quiet trip where you can take some time to yourself. Be bold, live large, and never back down from what you planned. 

 


Also this artwork is still for sale but the price has been lowered! $20 to whoever is interested!