Updated by: May 8, 2026
The Trip We Haven’t Taken Yet
There is a group of us. Friends since school and university. The kind of friendships that don’t require maintenance — you can go six months without speaking and pick up exactly where you left off.
We have been to each other’s weddings. We have sat with each other through divorces. We have been the first call when life falls apart and the loudest cheer when it comes back together. One of us came out as gay years into our friendship — and not a single thing changed, except that we understood each other a little better.
We have shown up for each other in every moment that actually mattered.
We are scattered across the world now, pulled by careers and families and the general drift of life — but the thread between us has never broken.
And yet…
We have never taken the trip.
You know the one. The trip that exists in the conversation that comes up every few years, usually late at night, usually with a drink in hand. Oktoberfest. A World Cup. Something the lads can really sink their teeth into. Something worthy of the friendship.
We have talked about it for years. We have almost booked it several times. Life has always had other plans.
My biggest travel regret isn’t a destination I missed or a flight I didn’t take. It’s this — the trip we keep meaning to take with the people who matter most. The ones who knew you before you became whoever you are now. The ones who will still know you when all of this is over.
There is something about travelling with that kind of friend that is different from any other travel. You’re not just seeing a place together. You’re reminding each other of who you are.
We will take that trip. Oktoberfest. A World Cup. Something loud and ridiculous and completely worthy of thirty years of friendship.
One day. Soon.
What’s the trip you keep meaning to take — and more importantly, who is it with?
Paul Mercuri
Wake Up Here Founder
