I recently took a trip to Seattle, Washington for my friend's bachelorette weekend and I really wanted to make this trip memorable. One, because I had never been to Seattle and two, because we were there celebrating my good friend and to be a part of this time in her life is something I'm grateful for.
I brought along my camera to make a vlog of the trip/special occasion. I was taking pictures and videos of us on the plane, train, car ride, walking around while exploring and I realized, I'm looking at this trip from a different perspective, through a lens. I'm looking back at all those memories from a screen, which is what I would be doing anyway when I would come home from the trip and reminisce.
I decided to put my camera away and just soak in everything. For this, I'm so glad I did. We were only there for a short period of time and I wanted to make this something memorable. Instead of looking at downtown Seattle through my camera screen or from my iPhone, I decided to look at it with my own eyes. I took in the sights and sounds, the beauty of the sun setting at 4:30 in the afternoon. To see my friend looking so happy to be surrounded by people who care about her and to be sharing this with her.
Sure, I don't have as many pictures as I would like to look back on, but t least I have my stories to share. Plus, I can always Google what these places look like at any point in time. So, the next time you're on vacation, try to not Snapchat it all or record all of it on a camera.
Be present and take it all in.
Every second counts.