Two winter coats, a pair of boots and a supply of softcover books won my bags an excess weight tag at the Air New Zealand check-in desk. Over-packing is my specialty; but, as immediate plans fall prey to the rules and regulations of  situations beyond my control, I’m reminded that patience didn’t factor high enough on my packing list.

Waiting – that state of controlled inaction – is a limbo with which travelers should be familiar, stuck between the decision and the movement forward. Yet I wake up every morning, hankering for results.

May the following travel quotes help us all through our delays:

“Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears”.  -Barbara Johnson

“The secret of patience is to do something else in the meantime.”  -Croft M. Pentz

“There is no such thing as preaching patience into people, unless the sermon is so long that they have to practice it while they hear.  No man can learn patience except by going out in the hurly-burly world, and taking life just as it blows.  Patience is but lying to, and riding out the gale.”  -Henry Ward Beecher

“Patience is the art of hoping.”  -Luc de Vauvenargues

“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.”  -John Lennon

“‘For a while’ is a phrase whose length can’t be measured.  At least by the person who’s waiting.”  -Haurki Murakami

“Even a snail will eventually reach its destination.”  -Gail Tsukiyama

“The longest 60 seconds in the world occur when someone says, ‘I’ll be there in a minute.'”  -Jarod Kintz

“The world is always open, waiting to be discovered.”  -Dejan Stojanovic

How do you remain patient while you travel?  What helps you through the waiting?