Unexpected Lessons from a Week in Buenos Aires, Argentina
I recently got back from a trip to Argentina and am starting to feel more grounded after getting home last week. As of this morning, I have finally unpacked, had an hour of practice at my home yoga studio, and am slowly easing back into life here in the rural part of Charleston, South Carolina.
This was actually my first international trip with my husband, Graham! We met during COVID (June 2020) and did a lot of traveling in that first year of our relationship. Since we weren’t tied down to any jobs at the time, we were able to road trip all across the East Coast and down through the South - showing each other the places we’re from, me from New York, and him from Memphis, TN.
A Trip Filled with Firsts
There were a lot of firsts on this trip! Our first time…
on a plane together
crossing borders
leaving our new home/property for more than a weekend
food poisoning
YEP - sadly, on our third day, Graham woke up with food poisoning. Luckily it was only bad for the first 24 hours, but he didn’t feel like himself until the day we left for home.
Highlights of Buenos Aires
Not dwelling on the bad, this is what I loved about Buenos Aires:
The city is so walkable! Being from a small town and living in NYC for a few years, I LOVE being able to get anywhere on foot.
The neighborhood, Palermo. We stayed at the AWWA hotel, and it was the best area of the city to explore and eat food.
The Italian food and Argentine food was amazing (we had medialunas - con queso y jamon - for breakfast every morning)
How nice the people were! Every Argentinian we met was so kind and very patient with our mediocre Spanish.
How affordable things were when traveling from the US (my husband and I got four tattoos total because they were so inexpensive, and we found a great tattoo artist)
Longing for Home
The one thing that felt challenging on this trip, other than the food poisoning bit, was how much I missed my home.
I missed my dogs and this new house we bought that feels like my safe haven. Being out in the country means I’m used to the quiet - and any big city is the opposite of quiet.
I felt myself feeling overstimulated for days at a time. I didn’t have a yoga mat to flow for a little and unwind at the end of the day. And every single day we had plans and jumped from one thing to the next. Graham getting food poisoning did cause us to slow down and take more rest at the hotel, but I feel that if we had a day or two in nature to ground and relax, it would’ve made a huge difference.
It’s funny, when I was planning this blog post before I left - I thought it would be about how different it was to travel to a new country with my partner vs. solo traveling. And as different as it was in some ways, I think the big thing that I noticed was how jarring it was to spend so much time in a big city.
When I traveled in my early 20’s, I was used to living in NYC - the most overstimulating place in the world (that I’ve been to at least). But now, I’m married, I have my dogs, a home to maintain, and responsibilities in my career that keep me grounded and at peace.
I recently told a friend that I feel even more happy being back home in comparison to how I felt in Buenos Aires and she responded with, “I think that’s how you know you’re in the right place.”
And she’s right. I do feel like I’m in the right place.
When I was traveling after college, I felt so lost.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a career, I didn’t know where I wanted to live, I had no direction in life.
And it might sound cheesy, but I truly believe I met my husband at the perfect time. We both were coming out of big transitions in life and helped each other grow into who we needed to be to step into our power.
Now, I feel like the most true form of myself. I have the support to keep stepping into this next chapter with authenticity and openness. I have so much around me to keep me going.
Thank you, Buenos Aires, for providing a break from life and an unexpected gratitude for the life I’m living.