The Problem with “We’ll Come Back”

Nantes, France (May 2026)

After our time in Morocco, we flew to Nantes, France to stay the night, rent a car, and begin our Brittany road trip. We chose Nantes because it was the closest international airport to Brittany. We did zero research and had no intention to explore the city.

And then we arrived. And we fell in love with Nantes, beginning with Île de Nantes.

We loved the vibe, the food, the people, and we were so disappointed that we had less than 24 hours to explore.

I was so focused on exploring Brittany that it didn’t occur to me that Nantes would have so much to offer.

After seeing as much as we could (enjoy our latest video adventure, We Had Less Than 24 Hours in Nantes…It Wasn’t Enough), we both decided that we needed to go back to Nantes. It’s a two-hour train ride from Paris so we can easily slip in a few days the next time we are in France.

But do we go back?

Returning to a place after a short visit isn’t always easy or even possible. And what if the magic you experienced the first time can’t be repeated?

This is the dilemma of traveling and of choice.

Zeke would be happy never to visit France again but he knows he’s married to me and knows I would love to live in France someday. Not now, but some day.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have serious FOMO. Just like Verruca Salt, I want it all, and I want it now. Fortunately I’m mature enough to moderate my foot stomping as we plan trips, and decide on how we are going to spend our limited time and financial resources.

We’ve learned through our adventures that we like to get a taste of places we visit, exploring in swathes, hoping that one day we can return to places we love for a deeper dive, or expand our exploration area.

For our fall trip, we really struggled with coming up with an itinerary that appealed to both of us in terms of activities and scenery. We also wanted to spend as little time as possible in a car, on a train, and most especially, on a plane. There were too many planes on our spring trip.

With so many cool places to visit, how does one choose?

For me, it takes research, maps, and seeing how something feels as I build itinerary after itinerary.

But none of this compares to experiencing a place in person. And sometimes we get it wrong, like we did with Nantes.

How many opportunities do we dismiss before we've given them a chance to surprise us?

Nantes was supposed to be a transition, not a destination.

With limited time and resources, we can’t do it all. We have to make choices based on incomplete information, either by choice or because the data simply doesn't exist yet. This applies to not just travel but to most of our life choices.

No amount of research would have told us how Nantes would make us feel. Some things simply have to be experienced.

In choosing to revisit a place, we are choosing NOT to visit someplace new, someplace we may absolutely love. I asked my son Adam about this and he said, “Go with what you know.” When I asked him to clarify he said, “You loved Nantes, go back and experience it again.”

“But what if it’s like Toulouse, which I loved the first time but didn’t love the second time. Wouldn’t it be better to leave it as a fantastic memory?”

His response? “But what if it’s amazing again?”

I’m stressing myself with this dilemma as I write it. There’s no right answer. There’s just a choice.

We finally planned our fall trip and pulled together the road trip for Albania, North Macedonia, and Kosovo. I’m still working on Romania and Bulgaria. Because we only have so many days, I had to sacrifice places and experiences for the sake of the trip. We aren’t interested in being like the Griswolds at the Grand Canyon, nodding three times, and moving on. If we are only going to get a taste, we want it to be more than a lick.

The bottom line here is that there is no right answer. Do we go back? Maybe. And if we don’t, we have one hell of a set of memories and a great video to go with it.

Watch it, and let us know what you think.

❤️ Terri