Why I like to travel
I know I like to travel. I know I like, make that love, to plan travel. In fact, my better half and I both really love to both plan and do travel. We enjoy planning, looking forward to, executing a perfect vacation, and the sense of relief getting home and relaxing after the trip! Why?
I thought I would take a deep dive into what makes it so great for me. Everybody is different of course but maybe some of these resonate with you. I’d love to hear your thoughts on anything I missed!
First, and foremost, I love planning! I am a planner by nature and, in particular, enjoy travel planning. I literally could spend hours a day looking at blogs, websites, forums, emails, videos, and who knows what else!? I look for deals, hidden gems, new places, old places, in America, abroad, chasing sun, and the list goes on. I just love it!
I recently planned an incredible Hyatt suite, valued at over $1,500 a night for under $600 of points usage per night! I’ll post that link soon!
So, yes, planning is big for me. I just enjoy it. Rarely is it complete fantasy as we feel confident we can travel to anywhere in the world and make it a great time. So it’s a matter of reading and reading and reading tons of reviews, travel reports and other assorted materials to sift through and find consistencies. For example, people consistently say they enjoyed visiting Japan so that was easy to say YES to when our son suggested it to us back in 2018. What a memorable trip it turned out to be! For that one, since I was still working full time, my better half did most of the planning. Kat is really an excellent travel planner… though these days she tends to leave most of it to me as I have more time now since I work much less these days. In any event, whoever is doing it we think PLANNING is a huge part of the overall travel experience!
Second, is the anticipation of a big trip. We put it on the calendar, arrange a house/dog sitter through TrustedHouseSitters.com, and then start refining the details. I guess that’s more planning! Having a big trip on the calendar, even a year or more out, can be a huge carrot on the end of a stick for us! We signed up for our first African safari back in the middle of 2024 even though the trip isn’t until the middle of 2026! All that time to think about it, see other people experiencing it on Facebook and think to ourselves “that will be us next year,” and keep refining the details. So looking forward to the travel, or travel anticipation, is my second big thing that I love about travel!
Third, is the great feelings on the day of travel! Yes, you know it’s going to be a long flight and maybe there is even a layover somewhere… but packing, going to the airport, maybe sitting in an airport lounge, and then TAKE-OFF! It’s so fun! Yes, that’s about the time it sets in how long the flight is! I recall flying to Singapore back in 2024. I think that’s my longest flight ever! I remember watching three movies back to back to back… and then realizing we still had about 10 hours to go! YES, TEN MORE HOURS! I believe that was about 17 hours if I remember correctly! In any event, even on the really long flights, that first day of travel is super exciting… and that first moment you see the “welcome to _______ [insert your favorite city]” sign is just exciting… and often worthy of a selfie!
The fourth thing I love about travel is I definitely have less inhibitions when on a vacation. I do not normally buy new shoes, other than mandatory for work or working out, but on a vacation I am much more likely to buy a pair of shoes just because they look cool. In fact, on that trip to Singapore I bought a pair of Onitsuka Tiger’s which I don’t actually love as much now as they are a bit too colorful… but they are a great memory of that trip. Then, later in the year we went on a trip to Europe with about 75 of our neighbors. This included a 10 day cruise with stops in Portugal, Spain, Ireland and France. In two different ports I bought myself new athletic shoes… two different French brands… and I still like BOTH of those pair and where them both frequently!
Besides shopping, if I am honest, I think I am somewhat of a travel alcoholic. When I am home I could go 3-4 weeks without a drink… but on a vacation it’s rare that I would go 3-4 days… heck, sometimes it feels like 3-4 hours, without a drink! Hey, I am just being honest here! There is just nothing like having a mai tai overlooking a Hawaiian sunset… and then repeating again the next day and the next day and the next day… and sometimes more than one mai tai! I probably need to seek some counseling on this one but there is something about travel that makes me drink more!?
Ok, so beyond letting my hair down a little bit one of the biggest things I love about travel is seeing new stuff! When you are in America… correction, the United States (it was recently pointed out to us, while on a trip to Costa Rica, that there are a lot of other countries located in a continent with America in the name so they are “Americans” too) it seems that everything is the same everywhere you go. There’s a McDonalds, there’s a 7-11, there’s a Chevron gas station, there’s a Starbucks, and the list goes on. Certainly in many places around the world that is the case now… but not everywhere! However, how fun is it to try an iced tea with pineapple juice (a favorite in Singapore) or even just to see something unique at McDonalds!? For example, did you know in Hawaii the McDonalds locations have a teriyaki burger called a McTeri Deluxe? I just love seeing new stuff, unique stuff, and especially that rare destination that doesn’t look at all like the USA! I was in Pula, Croatia this summer… which I highly recommend… but other than one McDonalds location I did not see any familiar places there! It’s a resort town in northern Croatia, which actually was Italy between WWI and WW2, and it’s still very old world feeling! I love that kind of place. Yes, I love coming home to the comforts of home like a trenta cup of iced tea at Starbucks… but it’s just nice experiencing different stuff sometimes!
I think we are up to about the fifth big category…. and one that maybe not everybody feels but I do a pretty good job of putting my day to day stresses behind me when I am on vacation. I am pretty good at compartmentalizing my brain and forgetting about responsibilities back home. This summer that actually bit me in the butt as we have a rental property that needed some work done after the tenants moved out. I kept delaying dealing with it, as I felt the new property manager was overcharging, and I kept putting the whole thing off. Well, what happens when you don’t rehab your rental property? That’s right you don’t rent it out! What happens when you don’t rent out your rental property? That’s right… NO RENT… for over a month! That was my bad and will not let that happen in the future… but it’s something I enjoy about travel… putting the day to day stresses aside and focusing on the FUN!
Back to seeing new stuff… besides seeing different businesses, different menu items, and other assorted things it’s great to experience the local “can’t miss” activities! For example, did you know that Pula, Croatia has a slightly small colosseum that will make you think you’re in Rome!? According to Wiki: “The Pula Arena (Croatian: Pulska Arena; Italian: Arena di Pola) is a Roman amphitheatre located in Pula, Croatia. It is the only remaining Roman amphitheatre to have four side towers entirely preserved. It was constructed between 27 BC and AD 68, and is among the world’s six largest surviving Roman arenas.” One of the extra special things about visiting there is that it was packed with tourists but very few speaking English and almost none sounded like they were from the good ol’ USA! It felt like we were really in a foreign country which was awesome!
One way I especially like seeing new stuff is on foot. I love exploring new cities on foot as you see so much you don’t see when driving. Although you also can miss the obvious if you look the wrong way. The first morning in Pula I was talking on the phone to Kat as she didn’t come on that trip. I was talking to her and looking to my left at the harbor and all the pretty boats. If I had looked right I would have realized I was standing in front of the above mentioned Pula Coliseum… a fact I realized when I circled back through town a half hour later. Keep those eyes open and head on a swivel!
Lastly, and certainly not least, I love meeting people from around the world! Wherever we are I try to at least have some connection to the locals. Maybe it’s as small as practicing my muy mal Espanol with the tax driver while in Mexico I just enjoy those small connections. It could even be sitting by the pool in Hawaii so maybe I am just meeting someone from Seattle… well, not as exciting as a foreign country, but still fun! I try to keep it light hearted, ask questions about them, their life, and generally have pretty good responses! Perhaps I am more outgoing on vacation!?
So, with all that said I know I forgot a million things about why travel is so great but these are the ones that come to mind for me! This is why I enjoy traveling and look forward to hearing from you about what you enjoy!
