Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Big Cities, the Beach, Birthdays and a Book! Summer 2024

The calendar says it's still summer and upon reflecting on the past few months, I've come to the conclusion that my first year of retirement has landed me exactly where I want to be! AND I am so excited to see where the next years take me.

Let's explore the summer of 2024 and how we've embraced Seldom A Dull Moment with BIG CITIES, THE BEACH, BIRTHDAYS, and a BOOK!

Let's Go to Vegas and Los Angeles! An Epic Mother/Daughter Trip...

Our 2024 EMDT (Epic Mother/Daughter Trip) is about to commence!

Our last mother/daughter trip was in 2019 when the three of us tackled Disney World for 4 days. We've all changed a lot since that trip, and a lot has stayed the same. I've realized that traveling with my big kids is so much fun. It's a whole different adventure from traveling with toddlers...school age kids...tweens and teens. For one, everyone will be 21+ on this adventure! That puts a whole new spin on what we might do, and the three of us have come together many times prior to departure to plan/design this vacation with all of our interests and vacation styles in mind. Through lots of active listening and flexibility, I truly feel that this trip is going to be epic!

Below are some pictures from our previous mother/daughter trips! Lots of memories created and lots more memories to be made in the very near future!

2019 Disney

NYC trip with Rina to see Frozen on Broadway

Disney, 2019

Our 2024 EMDT (Epic Mother/Daughter Trip) is to celebrate Katie's college graduation. As a member of the high school class of 2020, she did not get a 2020 graduation trip, and there was a lot of heartache as we canceled 10 days in Paris for June, 2020. A promise was made that in 4 years, her college graduation trip would be epic!

Europe was put on the back burner, and discussions were had about other big cities that she'd like to explore within the United States.

Can you tell from our Bingo Card where we are heading?

Yep, we settled on Las Vegas and Los Angeles, with a little bit of Disney thrown in. :)

The DREAMING phase of our vacation planning began over a year ago. What did we want to do? Where did we want to go? What do we want to get out of this vacation? Beyond a grad trip, why are we going on this vacation? How do we want to feel when we return?

These early conversations involved all 4 of us, we've always traveled as a family unit for our big vacations. Knowing that flexibility, compromise and active listening would be key to a successful vacation with our big kids, we came to the mutual conclusion that Don would not appreciate this vacation as much as Katie and I would. Carleigh loves traveling and seeing new places, so she was in from the beginning (even though her vacation preference is outdoors and nature). A family decision was made that Don would enjoy this vacation from a distance (through texts and pictures), so the vacation planning began for our 2024 EMDT!

We moved into the DESIGNING phase of the trip planning, and started talking about what we wanted to do...California Disney was at the top of the list, as was a "dress up" evening in Vegas. We threw around a lot of ideas and settled on Vegas (3 nights), Disneyland (2 nights) and Los Angeles/Universal Studios (4 nights). We had the destinations, the length of the trip and the amount of time in each location.

Now to move onto itinerary building and getting more specific with hotels/reservations/transportation and all the FUN stuff!

Three adult women, three strong opinions and three sets of ideas...can we make this happen, where everyone gets what they want? It took about 6 months of conversations and I think we are there! I became the "chief vacation planner," and started booking flights and hotels. Prior to any booking, I reached out to my college daughter and my school-teacher daughter for opinions and feedback. Both were not local, so lots of quick calls and facetime conversations.

We continued to talk about what we each wanted through those months of planning, and plans were coming into focus. Our matching Disney shirts were ordered (and have a TYPO...stay tuned for that reveal)! Our VIP Universal Studios tour was booked. Our fancy Vegas night was designed! There were also times of compromise and asking why during our conversations.

Did we really need to buy tickets for The Sphere Experience in Vegas? The conclusion was yes, after understanding why it was important to one of us.

Did we really need to do a 2 1/2 hour private tour of The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank? I could have just said yes (my bucket list item) and through conversation, I helped the girls understand why this was important to me.

Why should we spend time finding Indy bookstores and cafes while on this vacation? Because it was important and offered the "down time" that would help with the rest of the vacation.

These realizations and compromises came through the ongoing conversations we had during the designing phase of this trip. It wasn't KATIE'S GRAD TRIP or MOM'S TRIP (because I was paying for it). The vacation belongs to all three of us and we all have ownership of parts of it, while understanding and recognizing the importance of the other parts. We are celebrating Katie's graduation, and all 3 of us are equal travelers on this vacation!

So, now we are entering the DEPARTING phase of the trip. What are we packing? What's our countdown? What time are we leaving? How are we getting to the airport?

We will all be together the night before departure and I can already hear the laughter and excitement as we anticipate our adventures. AND I know Don will appreciate the vacation from a distance. As he has stated numerous times during the last year...he will gladly miss the 3 P's, PEOPLE, PAVEMENT, and PRETEND! Though I wish it was a 4 person Rahn family vacation, I know that our EMDT will create family memories that will last forever!

I will be live blogging when possible, and if you want to follow along on our adventures, you can find me on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok (yep, I did it!)

Stay Tuned for our

Seldom A Dull Moment adventures

as we depart on our

EPIC MOTHER/DAUGHTER TRIP

to

Las Vegas and Los Angeles!

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Seldom A Dull Moment, The Next Chapter

It's been a while! I've been thinking a lot recently about the last year. It was this time last year that I was getting ready to retire from 33 years as an educator. It was the only thing I knew, and with a lot of anxiety and excitement I dove into retirement in July, 2023.

It's now May, 2024 and I am so excited about everything that I have been involved in during the past year and I have my wonderful husband to thank for it! My two favorite quotes have proven true during the past 12 months

Walt Disney:

Gretchen Rubin, Author:

And I've adopted another quote and have it prominently placed in my office:

So, let's start with why I need to thank my husband....In May of 2023, upon deciding to retire from education I was thinking about what my next chapter would be. One evening Don shared a CNN article with me about Travel Coaches. I was intrigued and investigated further, well...if you know me, I didn't just investigate, I jumped head first into researching what a travel coach is. I had been an instructional coach for the last 7 years and was trained in cognitive coaching and had lots of practice with coaching teachers and administrators. I loved travel and my "dream job" had always been travel agent because I love planning trips for my family and learning about new places and adventures.

Could there really be a way to blend my coaching training with my passion for travel? The short answer to that is yes!! Link to CNN article that dare I say, changed my life and helped me find my "second chapter."

I immediately registered with the Travel Coach Network and enrolled in the Travel Coach Certification Program. I emailed with the CEO and felt connected and valued right away. I held off starting the program until the end of summer. Don started back to full time teaching, and I started the training to become a Travel Coach. (photo below from the TCCP site)

November, 2023 and I became a certified Family Travel Coach, accredited by the International Coaching Federation. I had planned on taking the whole academic year to work slowly through the certification program and I got so excited about that I finished 6 months ahead of my planned finish date.

It was time to START MY BUSINESS! It didn't take long to decide on a name. In fact, Don and I had had many previous conversations about what our joint retirement years might look like and our family mantra was always a part of it...Seldom A Dull Moment. Our Seldom A Dull Moment years include lots of adventures, lots of traveling and a little bit of relaxing and soaking up all that is happening around us. This blog started in 2010 when we started our big family vacations and has continued since then with over 200 posts and over 122,000 views.

We went from a nice piece of ETSY art in our kitchen, to the name of our business.

I learned a lot about starting a business in Virginia and by the end of January, 2024 we were official. I had registered with the state of Virginia, obtained a business license in Loudoun County and also a home base business permit. Seldom a Dull Moment was in business as Seldom A Dull Moment - Family Travel Coach. Eventually, we will be adding Seldom A Dull Moment - Photography and a side of Seldom A Dull Moment - Instructional Coaching as needed.

Through the certification program, I created a business plan, identified who my ideal clients would be and deeply explored my why for wanting to be a travel coach. I learned quickly that a travel coach is different from a travel agent.

To quote Sahara De Rose De Vore, the CEO of TCN, "Unlike travel agents, travel coaches don't focus on the booking phase of a trip. Instead, they help people set intentions for their trip and better understand their "why" for travel so that they can use travel as a medium for transformation, healing, self-discovery, growth, and more."

My why for this second chapter was a little easier than I expected. Through my years as an instructional coach, I had been asked multiple times to share my "identity." I struggled with that, and ultimately realized that my identity had a lot to do with being a military BRAT. My younger years as a child of an Air Force dad really helped form me into who I am today.

Our Air Force family

My passion for travel and exploring new places came from my 17 years of living in 9 different places, included 3 years in Italy as a teenager. Leaving school in January to move across the country or even to a new country helped me learn how to adapt, be flexible and relate to different people. I always loved packing up my room and setting it up in a new house. I got used to entering a new school and making friends, while leaving old friends behind. My 3 years in Italy really opened my eyes to how transformative travel can be. I was immersed in another culture, even though I attended a DOD school, I was living among other Italians and traveling Europe with my family and also on my own with friends and school groups. That time in Europe from 8th - 11th grade changed me and ignited my passion for seeing the world and sharing it with the people I love.

Here are some pictures from those transformative years:

windsurfing in Majorca, Spain

9th grade Laura in our front yard, Naples, Italy

bartering on artwork in St. Tropez, France

French club trip to Villefranche, France

skiing the Italian Alps

I also finally have an answer to that icebreaker question, "Where's your hometown? Where are you from?"

The Dandelion story from MilitaryBrats.com is all about me!

"The great thing about dandelions is that, even though they are considered a “weed”, they do not take nutrients from their surroundings. Dandelions do not dare to be the submissive plant, nor the dominant plant. They live as equals in their surroundings. Look at the grass around the dandelion. Is it not just as green as it was before? The grass and the dandelion live side by side. When a dandelion is plucked and a wish is made as the seeds are tenderly blown, the seeds float on the wind, finding a new home. There, the seeds find a new home and flourish, living side by side with their new neighbors. Only a dandelion can understand another dandelion and the journey the dandelion has been on." (militarybrats.com)

That is the reason that the dandelion is in the middle of my branding.

So, here we are! Almost one year later and I am a Certified Family Travel Coach, an entrepreneur and one year retired from my first passion, teaching. I've got a few other Seldom A Dull Moment secrets in the works that I'll share when the time is right.

Since January, I've started my Seldom A Dull Moment Facebook Group with close to 100 members, worked with clients to plan trips to California, Italy, and a multi-generational family trip to Disney World and I've been able to spend quality time with my adult daughters, husband and lovable dog.