Trust.

I am a planner. I have three calendars (two online, in case one fails to back-up) and a physical one, because there is a whale on it and I absolutely loved the design. I use them rigidly, they structure my day and I love spending time updating them (that being said, also a huge-time-waster…). That’s not to say that I don’t like the thrill, the unexpected, the adventure… So no wonder when A told me to pack my backpack without telling me where we were going, I was 100% in. A told me to pack enough clothes for 10 days (no access to a washing machine) and take everything with me from my bathing suit to my winter coat, plus it should all fit into my carry-on. Let me assure, that was no easy task but somehow I managed to stuff all my clothes into my little carry-on and still got room to spare.

The next morning we found ourselves at the airport and about 12 hours later we landed in Vancouver. A only told me as much as I needed to know, which generally was very little and let me tell you that was a fun conversation at the customs… But that is a different story. Whatever questions I asked, A would not answer, he would smile (sometimes), laugh (most of the times), and shake his head (almost constantly) and although all of that was super annoying, I (and A) absolutely enjoyed every single moment of it.

I followed A like a puppy and got excited at every turn. We got a rental car and A had me navigate to our destination, instructing me not to look at the final destination (I doubt though that if I would have looked, I would have realized where we were going or why). Eventually we got to a ferry terminal (me still clueless as to where we were headed). Now. I’ve never been on a ferry like that and I think that Canada takes their ferry-business to a whole new level. We came to realize that ferries are a way of living and that neither A nor I fit into that life-style. I am barely a train-commuting person, but a ferry-commute? More times than not we were several hours delayed and somehow the only people that seemed to care were A and me… That being said, I can, however, totally get used to this:

Eventually we made it to Victoria and stayed at a marvelous hotel with an amazing view. When I asked A what we were going to do here, he smiled and said, “that’s for me to know and for you to find out”. When I asked how long we were staying, he shrugged his shoulders, when I inquired about when to get up the next morning, A just said, “go with the flow”. And that’s pretty much how the next ten days went down. Always the same question, always the same answer. A soaked it all up, every single reaction I had to any action, he would bask in it and I think (even tough planning this trip and keeping it a secret was though, I’m sure) he secretly loved it to pieces.

See, it’s hard giving over the reigns, letting someone else be in charge of your life, disregarding your rigidly planned day-to-day and I’m definitely not saying that you should do that with just anyone. But you should do it with the one person that means everything to you. I had not the slightest clue what to expect of the days (or how to dress appropriately), I just lived into the day and trusted that everything would be amazing (which it was). And this well-needed small time-out from everyday life allowed me to look at A and (again, for like the millionth time since the new year started and the bazillionst time ever since we first started dating) fall in love with a man that I trust not just with my life (that’s a big one already) but also with my vacation. That’s an even bigger one! So yes, trust is important, especially when it comes to a 30th birthday and by trusting A with my birthday planning (which I take VERY seriously) he took me halfway around the world and trust me, you are going to want to hear more about this…