Actually just hearing about your getting ready for a trip makes ME excited, too. :-) It's just fun to even plan a trip, isn't it?
You are right, you have choices on the pace of the trip. You can make it as a relaxation opportunity or a chance to explore. As long as we can balance those two factors to our liking and be flexible about them, I think the trip is a success no matter where we take it.
You have a few months till taking off, so share with us whenever you make a step toward the actual trip. Because I think that preparation itself is a journey, too. Oh, to answer your question, to me "a journey" is something that has a process which has some meaning to me.