Travel can be the greatest thing that we ever do with our lives, or at least one of them. There are many ways that we have learned to make the most out of our travel experiences, so here are a few of them…
1. Prepare!
We all love that whimsical, fairy tale image of spontaneous travel, where we just drop all commitments, point our finger at a spinning globe with our eyes closed and magically vanish to wherever it stops…and why wouldn’t we? It’s a beautiful image after all! In truth though, without preparation we wouldn’t get much further than spinning the globe. Be it medical, financial, safety, paperwork, visas – or any other less-exciting details we don’t necessarily write about in our journals – if we take some time and effort to prepare for the important things, then we are free to put all of our time, energy and attention into the really good stuff, knowing that the boring (important) stuff is taken care of.
2. Set your travel goals – Travel with purpose!
Travelling can be completely care-free, with little purpose, no agendas and minimal direction, which at first is amazing, as you reset your body and mind and slowly shed your skin of whatever pressures and expectations came with your life back home. After a while though the excitement fades, the days start to blend together, our human tendency for complacency kicks in and our amazing new life starts to feel ‘normal’ again. This is where our goals come in, our sense of purpose and achievement. Having a goal and a purpose gives a direction to our travels – to learn a language; to learn new skills; to climb mountains; to build a school; to become a better person (whatever that means) – when you travel with a goal and sense of purpose, you get something out of every day that you’ll remember forever.
3. Get Local Advice – Burn your guidebook!
Ok, so maybe ‘burn’ is a little strong! The guidebooks have their uses, but the best way to experience a new place is find the little spots that only the locals know, how to travel like a local, where to get the best local food at real prices, where the local parties are, maybe even the best way to talk to local girls or guys! You’re never going to get your hands on this kind of local know-how from a guidebook, because as soon as it’s in a guidebook, it’s simply not local anymore.
These days, more and more travelers are out there in search of the most local experience possible and there…
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