I Forgot My Herbal Tea on Vacation... and My Partner Thought He Had the Perfect Solution

Not the smartest thing I have ever done, but yes I have to confess something.

A few weeks ago, I did something I never thought I'd do.  I forgot my herbal tea.

Now, before you roll your eyes and think, "It's just tea," let me explain.

Every morning starts the same way at our house. I don't jump out of bed ready to conquer the world. I shuffle into the kitchen looking like I've just lost an argument with my pillow, put the kettle on, and make a cup of herbal tea.

It's my quiet time before the emails, the orders, the phone calls, and everything else the day throws at me.

Apparently, I've done this for so long that my body now refuses to fully wake up without it.

So when we packed for vacation, I remembered hiking boots, jackets, chargers, sunglasses, snacks, and enough clothes for weather that never happened...

...but somehow left every single herbal tea sitting in my pantry.  I didn't realize it until the next morning.

I walked into the kitchen of our vacation rental, opened the cupboard, and immediately knew something was wrong. Coffee. Coffee.  More coffee.

There was enough coffee in that cupboard to keep a truck stop awake for a month.

My herbal tea?  Nothing. Not even one lonely peppermint tea bag hiding in the back.

That's when it hit me.  "I forgot my tea."   I actually said it out loud.

My partner looked at me like I'd announced we'd forgotten a fork.

"You'll survive."  Easy for him to say.  He drinks exactly one tea.  Earl Grey.

Not Earl Grey today and something different tomorrow.

Just Earl Grey.  Every single day.

He has found his tea and sees absolutely no reason to ever cheat on it.

Meanwhile, I'm standing there wondering if I should spend my vacation driving around looking for herbal tea.

Spoiler alert...   That's exactly what I did.  The first grocery store had an entire aisle of tea.

I got excited.   Then I started reading the boxes.

Chamomile.

Lavender chamomile.

Honey chamomile.

Sleepy chamomile.

Apparently, if you're on vacation, everyone assumes your biggest goal is taking a nap.

No offense to chamomile, but it wasn't what I was looking for.

So we tried another store.   Then another.

By now, my partner had become my unwilling chauffeur in what I'm sure he privately called
"The Great Tea Expedition of 2026."

After the third stop, he looked over at me with complete confidence and said,

"Why don't you just drink my Earl Grey... and when we get home you can go back to coffee?"

I just stared at him.  He honestly thought he'd solved the problem.

Let's unpack this suggestion.   First, drink Earl Grey.

Second, go back to coffee.  Coffee?   Coffee and I broke up years ago.  It wasn't ugly.

We (Coffee & I) just realized we wanted different things out of life.

And Earl Grey?  I'm happy he loves it.  Really.

That just means there's more herbal tea left for me.

So I smiled, thanked him for his "help," and continued my search.

Ironically, if he hadn't suggested giving up and drinking Earl Grey, I probably would have settled for the first tea I found.

Instead, I kept looking.  And that's when I saw a bright ruby-red box of hibiscus tea.

Funny thing is, I'd probably walked past hibiscus a hundred times before.

Maybe more.  I'd never picked it up because I was always buying my usual favorites.

Vacation forced me out of my routine.  I brought the box back to the rental, brewed a cup, poured it over ice with a squeeze of fresh lemon, and took one sip.

I actually laughed.  Where had this tea been all my life?

By the end of the week, I'd gone back and bought two more boxes.

Now that I'm home, hibiscus has its own place in my herbal pantry.

Not because it replaced my morning tea.  Nothing is replacing my morning tea.

But every warm afternoon, you'll probably find me sitting outside with a big glass of iced hibiscus tea wondering why it took forgetting my favorite herbal tea to discover a brand-new favorite.

My partner?  He's still drinking Earl Grey.  Every.   Single.  Morning.

Some things never change...... but maybe on April Fool's Day I will brew him some Oolong tea, and see if he notices...... and when he does, make sure I am walking away so he doesn't see me laughing. 

To everyone who has a morning rital tea, make sure that is the first thing you pack in your luggage!

Happy Vacationing To All