Travel can make you feel many things, from crippling anxiety to pure bliss in some cases.
Climbing gas prices and the current state of air travel may have you stressed before you even step outside your door but the potential for a new experience, to unlock a hidden emotion or feeling is right around the corner.
Travel may provide comfort if you're returning to a familiar place or making a routine trip. That was certainly the case for me on a recent road trip to Maryland's Eastern Shore to attend a funeral service for a beloved relative.
It's a trip I've made what feels like a million times throughout my life. More often than not it is a two-hour drive to spend the holidays with family so the time and effort spent is always rewarded with good company, awesome food, laughs and good memories.
It's far less fun to make that trip when it's to say goodbye to a loved one who played such a big part in those memories.
But that's when the routine trip can prove therapeutic.
Passing all of those unmistakable landmarks, stopping to gas up and grab snacks at the familiar gas station and maybe even making a brief side quest to that coffee shop or fast food restaurant you don't have back home can provide instant distraction and relief in a time of grief and sadness.
There's comfort and peace of mind in traveling a path you know so well. It's not something you can obtain so easily from your bed or couch.
Travel can make you feel many things but never take the comfort of routine travel for granted.
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