No matter what time of the year you travel, there is no perfect vacation. As much as you try to plan, things go awry. You arrive early to the airport to see your flight has been delayed or worse it is cancelled. Your hotel is noisy and the food you ate did not agree with you. Despite these travel hiccups, you can enjoy a great get away.
It is the journey, not the destination that brings travelers the most happiness. This process starts long before your first day of vacation. Travel can be broken down into 3 activities; planning, doing and remembering. Each action of the trip is of equal importance and brings its own emotional rewards.
Planning
This is a time to connect with the emotions of anticipation and excitement. You begin to plot out a plan of where to go and what you would like to do. Preparation is a part of this stage in which you find and book hotels, transportation and activities for your trip.
In addition to the concrete plans you make, begin to set your emotional intentions for the trip. This is a part of trip planning you may not consider or you may assume traveling in itself would make you feel happy. Happiness comes from the thoughts we cultivate, not the activities we do.
Write down every positive emotion you want to manifest prior to traveling. Do you want to experience fun, relaxation or novel experiences? These emotions can be maintained no matter what happens. For example “No matter what happens, I make my own fun.” This stage is a delicate balance between planning and letting go of expectations.
Doing
Congratulations, all the thinking work is done! Now it is time to show up and experience what happens in your body and heart. Allow the process to unfold, let go and trust. The more you can do this, a more pleasurable time you will have.
Practice being mindful. Mindfulness is the focus of being completely in the moment, observing your thoughts and feelings without judgement. When you awaken to the sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and feelings of your trip, you experience more joyfulness. While you enjoy the process, take a few pictures and write down the memorable experiences.
Remembering
After you return home, look at your pictures. Do you remember those notes you wrote while traveling? Now is the time to construct your travel story. You can do this by writing in a journal or a scrap book. These will serve as keepsakes for yourself and your family. Doing this activity is a part of reminiscence therapy in psychology. When we look back and remember, using prompts such as picture and stories, it not only strengthens our memory but also our relationships with others.
I have created a tradition of keeping 2 books. One book is strictly for travel photos and the other is a scrap book in which I write the stories of our travels along with pictures and maps for each page. I have found that maintaining these books requires my time and energy, yet it does not deplete me. When I invest my creativity into projects that create a positive tradition for my family; my energy is rejuvenated and recharged. My husband and I read through these scrapbooks together, laugh and bond. This is when you savor the memories, while you cement that happy feeling you began when you started planning and throughout the actual travel experience.
The fun does not have to end!
No matter what stage of travel you find yourself in, psychological research suggests the more you focus on feeling happy, the happier you will be. Whether you are in the planning, doing or remembering stage of travel, be fully in it. When you live from this type of energy, the good times from a vacation never have to end.
Appreciating this idea, Lisa, “I have created a tradition of keeping 2 books. One book is strictly for travel photos and the other is a scrap book in which I write the stories of our travels along with pictures and maps for each page. ” It makes sense as they each have a different focus. I often rush into the next project and don’t take the time to write the stories and lessons learned for the next trip…or life itself. xo L
I love this part of travel as it helps me ground my experiences into my being. It also gives me the time and space to process my emotions and thoughts. I am glad this blog resonated with you, Lore.
I love the stage of planning trips and vacations and enjoy them just as much as my vacation time. I would like to experiment with the time after, creating photo books and memories from my trips.
Have fun Rachel! I love using creativity with my travel experiences.
That’s a fun way to keep the travel memories living on Lisa! And I guess with so many online tools available these days, those ‘scrap books’ can be compiled online and then printed for keepsakes…
Yes, you could do it online as well, Tina. My artist loves to collect things and I really enjoy using the tactile sense to make the scrapbook. This is why I also love the feel of a book in my hands as I read.
My husband and I have a phrase that we use, “Making memories.” We want to have lots of good memories, and being mindful is an important way to ensure we do. That’s especially important when traveling! Thanks for the great reminder. 🙂
You are welcome Sheila. Enjoy your mindful future travels!
I traveled a lot when I was younger, but now I enjoy being a homebody. When I do travel, it’s more of a spontaneous thing and I just think of it as an adventure, and see where it takes me.
Being in the moment of an adventure replenishes my energy. Thanks Barb for that reminder.
What great fun! I love travel to open the mind and inspire the spirit. Sending good energy to you!
Yes, me too Debra! Thanks so much.
What great fun! I love travel to inspire the spirit and open the mind!
I’m very much a go with the flow kinda person…so when I travel, apart from worrying about the bare essentials like stay&finances….all else is left to what we”feel” like doing once we get there.
To-do lists make me nauseous 😉
xoxo, Z~
I like to have two places planned each day to see. I would not like my entire day planned! After I see the places we had listed, we have room to go with the flow. We have seen many glorious places unplanned that way. I know myself, I would be disappointed to get home and see that I missed out on a really cool place because I didn’t plan at all. Many of our trips are to brand new places, we may not get to see again.