Have you ever taken a trip, yearning for transformational travel but you followed the rules and returned home, feeling thoroughly disappointed? Do family, friends, and social norms drive your travel itinerary? Where’s the YOU in that? This is where travel personality comes into play.
I remembered an association business trip and was like UGH for most of the weekend. Yes, I liked a few things, but on the whole, I resented being herded around like cattle. Everyone else seemed to go along. But I wondered how many of them wanted more out of the trip than being lead from one place to another without the WHY.
I’m the Curious Traveler, and riding along in a bus, is not my travel style!
Do You Follow Along?
The association trip was for business, but how many of us go along with random suggestions, never really voicing our true desires when vacation planning. Do you really, understand one another’s travel needs? The conversation between Brené Brown, and her husband on their upcoming trip to Disney is priceless. It’s the quintessential TRAVEL personality moment! They get each other and gently remind one another about the “why” of their vacation ⏤ spending time and connecting with family.
Transformational Travel the Art of Perfect Imperfection
Today, we also have the pressure to travel like your favorite Instagrammer. Are you getting stressed our just thinking about the perfection of it all? Travel isn’t perfect. People aren’t perfect. Places aren’t perfect. Breathe it all in and relax knowing your trip is going to be perfectly imperfectly! The new travel mantra: Travel Perfectly Imperfect! I think Sophie Michelle will agree 🙂 – Loving her first release.
Travel in a Social Media World
“We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. ⏤Pico Iyer
When you start planning a vacation are you thinking about an experience rich with opportunities to find yourself? Or are you thinking, yeah this looks like the place to capture the perfect SELFIE? Selfies are fine, but I believe, and have witnessed over the last ten years the preoccupation with getting the PERFECT photo — that word again — reduces the moment to something superficial.
An interesting article from VOX.com, “77 percent of Americans now own smartphones, and many rely on them for memory support. If the phones are subtly shifting how human memory works, the effects will be widespread.
As with many topics in psychology, there are currently more questions than answers on this. But in many cases, scientists are finding that constant photo taking actually DIMINISHES our ability to recall our experiences, diverts our attention, and takes us out of the moment.
Do you think a radical new way to travel is needed? Stay Tuned.
Travel Personality Typing
The Vox.com article was crushing to me. We don’t need more ways to divert our attention and take us out of the moment, moments are all we have. Savoring soul-filled moments is one of the reason’s I’m developing What’s Your Travel Personality: Let Your Inner Guide be Your Travel Guide. This revolutionary way to travel starts by tapping your inner travel guide, as I like to call it, your 24/7 higher-self concierge, which helps to reveal your unique travel truths:
- True Desires
- Superpowers + Kryptonite
- Travel Triggers
When we plan vacations, most of us dive into the physical world first. Try something new, break the rules and look inward before being seduced by the physical world. When you only see the physical attributes of travel, you tend to leave your soul behind, which can become disconnected from the travel experience. The physical aspects typically motivate consumption, while the inner travel journey typically inspires transformation.
Transformational Travel
I define transformational travel as a way to encourage and shift perspectives, self-reflection, and growth; interwoven with a nourishing relationship with nature and culture. This can be tough if your beliefs are still veiled. Travel personality typing helps reveal and lift the veils.
A quote from Jiddu Krishnamurti, a famous spiritual leader, “I think it is essential sometimes to go into retreat, to stop everything that you have been doing, to stop your beliefs and experiences completely and look at them anew, not keep on repeating like machines whether you believe or don’t believe. You would let fresh air into your minds.”
Is he suggesting we break away from the expected vacation and retreat? Is he also suggesting we rethink our life experiences, beliefs, and conditioning? I like the way he THINKS. For me, a retreat can be a spiritual getaway, a week of hikes, or time spent in an area that doesn’t reflect social media; hip-restaurants, photo-worthy backdrops, and top-rated hotels?
I can hear extrovert travelers saying NOOOOOOO; they love all of the action! But you can break the travel rules and do it Your way regardless if you are an extrovert or an introvert. It’s all about connecting into your unique travel personality aka your higher, soul-self.
Go ahead, travel different and be transformed by it all!
The intention of this blog is to help you look at travel in a revolutionary new way. Travel for me has always been about changing your life in some small way. It’s about growth, creativity and the stimulation of new ideas. Or new ways to be in the world. I’ve been given a great gift, the gift of travel personality typing. I can’t wait for you to unwrap personality typing. I believe it will revolutionize the way you travel, forever.
What’s Your Travel Personality?
If you haven’t had a chance, you may want to listen to my radio interview What’s Your Travel Personality; Let Your Inner Guide Be Your Travel Guide, here’s a direct link to the podcast. The interview aired on Speaking of Travel archived on iHeart Radio with host Marilyn Ball.
Thank you, Marilyn, for believing in me, even when I didn’t
Please visit #WYTP page, which presents the premise of What’s Your Travel Personality: Let Your Inner Guide Be Your Travel Guide. Here you’ll discover the role travel personality typing plays when planning and taking vacations.
Happy Summer Sojourns to all! And if you’re called, sign-up to receive updates, travel tips and insights on What’s Your Travel Personality?
Photo Credit: Pixabay
