BETWEEN BOARDING PASSES AND BLESSINGS: THE NOTEBOOK THAT TRAVELED BEFORE I DID

By Marie. July 12, 2025

I found it while packing—a thick, weathered notebook I thought I’d lost. Its spine was softened by time, its pages slightly curled, as if it had been breathing quietly in a forgotten corner, waiting for me to return. Before my first trip to Southeast Asia, this notebook was my anchor. I had written everything: flight numbers, ticket codes, hotel addresses, embassy hotlines. Each line a thread in the safety net I wove for myself.

But what surprised me most wasn’t the logistics—it was the manifests. Pages upon pages of Susan Sprout-like affirmations, scribbled in colored ink and underlined with hope.

“I will meet kind strangers.”

“My feet will find sacred ground.”

“I am open to the magic of detours.”

I had forgotten how much I needed those words back then. How I wasn’t just preparing to travel—I was preparing to transform. That notebook wasn’t just a checklist. It was a quiet prayer.

Now, years later, I hold it again. And I realize: the journey didn’t begin at the airport. It began here, between boarding passes and blessings.

The following weren't in my notebook, but perhaps these manifests could be in yours?

Susan Sprout’s Travel Manifests: A page from the notebook that traveled before I did

☀️ I will greet the morning with curiosity, not fear.
🌿 I will find beauty in the unfamiliar.
🛤️ I trust the detours—they are part of the path.
📿 I carry my ancestors’ strength in my bones.
🌺 I will speak gently to myself in moments of doubt.
🧭 I am guided by wonder, not just maps.
📬 I will write postcards to the future me.
🌙 I will rest when the moon tells me to.
🧳 I am not lost—I am learning.