5 tips for a memorable trip
A great trip starts the moment you get the urge to go and stays with you long after you return home. Often times, what you encounter on your travels is truly a reflection of your inner state.
Here are five ways to enhance your travel experience and prepare yourself for the journey ahead, whether you’re taking a regular vacation, a self-contained vacation, a pilgrimage to a holy site, or an island adventure. Or a simple and fun weekend trip to a nearby city.
1. Set your goals and get inspired
Before you go, focus on your goal and set a goal for the trip. What attracts you to the original destination? What are you trying to do? Read memoirs or poems about the people and culture there to transport you to the spirit of the destination. For example, “To a Mountain in Tibet” by Colin Tabron is a good memoir if you are planning a trip to Tibet or Nepal. Rumi’s poems are great to have with you before traveling to Turkey or whenever you want. Let yourself be inspired by the words of those who have captured the essence of your destination.
2. Leave your comfort items at home
If your intention is to unplug and disconnect from your daily life, leave your laptop at home, choose silence. It allows you to be present and see things differently. Getting into a different rhythm than your normal life is part of the travel experience. And yes, it’s okay to be away from loved ones at home. When you leave the familiar behind, you’re in a different time, place, and frame of mind. Use travel as an opportunity to reconnect with yourself, discover new perspectives, and see the beauty in everything.
3. Get in tune with your surroundings
In Colca Canyon, Peru, a shaman told me, “Feel the energy of the mountain. Let it come through you, flow with it.” After listening to him, it was much easier for me to adjust to the high altitude valley. How do you “tune in”? Just take a deep breath in consideration of your surroundings and feel the breath and energy of the place enter every cell of your body. It becomes you. When you are attuning, you can also feel the different energies of nature – more feminine and turbulent in rivers and seas. And more masculine and energetic in mountains and forests. By attuning, You also respect and acknowledge the power of nature, let it calm you down or energize you.
4. Let serendipity come
The joy of travel comes from an open mind, and often the best travel experiences are those unexpected, spontaneous moments created on a whim. Get off the beaten path and when you find a place you love, hang around longer. Leave room for future precious moments with the least possible time. We must be vulnerable and open to serendipity and guidance. Think about it, haven’t your best memories in your travels been the ones that happened unconsciously? These personal moments are the most memorable part of your travels.
5. What you experience stays with you
In the foreword to 100 Journeys for the Soul, the great travel writer Pico Air writes: “The journey of the soul begins only in a place of wonder. Wherever we are, it continues through doors opened by wonder.” The power of a place that touched something in you can linger long after the trip is over.
Source: doyou