Troy & Vanae Hug America

Vanae

Life & Dating Coach

Best dating tip: “Take time to get in tuned with yourself to be in a place where you don’t NEED to date in order to be happy. Your soulmate is always there, when it’s time.”

Biggest life lesson: “You can run all you want, but you can’t truly escape. So stop for a moment to embrace and understand yourself. You’ll be happy to catch your breath.”

Naturally, after an amazing adventure like this, it’s fun to reflect back on the highlights and lessons we’ve learned. I came into this journey thinking that I would be accomplishing a fun goal of spreading positivity and traveling around unknown territory but I gained a lot more than that. I learned more about myself and other valuable lessons:

- I’m not as patient as I think I am, but I am still a patient person aiming for more patience.

- Roadtrippin’ in a U-Haul would have been a disaster. Thanks to Mr. Chafin, we rode comfortability and safe! and thank goodness, Troy has experience driving in snow blizzards and rain!

- Though young people are more receptive to FREE HUGS, the few seniors who weren’t hesitant and embraced the hugs, made it THAT MUCH MORE SPECIAL.

- The highlights of the trip were the unexpected ones:

*pulling over the freeway to hike and play guitar in the beautiful Texas Canyon.

*how much I loved the southern hospitality and people calling me ‘sweetheart’ and being super polite (we need more of that in the city)

*the majestic Grand Canyon tipped with snow. i was in total awed, especially since I wasn’t looking forward to it in the beginning.

- Determined to eat salads and greens on a roadtrip is a MUST, in the midst of all that fast food options and fried stuff.  My body thanked me for this one!

- Truly found my hobby of photography! I’m planning to open an ETSY shop to sell my photography and learn to shoot people (maybe even wedding). Did I just say ‘shoot’…hmm..you know what I mean.

- Complacency: what sometimes happens in relationships, is also mirrored in our personalities. Sure, it’s easy to stand back and be the wallflower, but to put in the extra effort to ‘ask a question’, or say ‘yes’ to the next opportunity, THAT breaks the plateau in the social dynamic. So pushing to SAY YES! and DO!

AND of course, I have to thank Troy: my great travel companion: He was trusting, patient, understanding and pretty flexible. Thanks Troy for making this memorable.