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Another Travel Skill You Need

August 19, 2008

A few months ago, I responded to an email about what I thought was the most important skill a traveler needed. I said adaptability. Without the ability to adapt to the constantly changing conditions of the road, a traveler is not going make it. There are so many highs and lows on the road that without being adaptable and flexible, you are going to end up having a frustrating time. Plus, remember, all those wacky mishaps make for the best stories.

But adaptability is not the only skill that you need on the road. Another important skill that goes hand in hand with adaptability is patience. Without patience to accept the changes you’ll encounter, you’ll spend most of your trip annoyed and irritated. Many unexpected things will happen to you on the road. Buses run late, trains get delayed, hotels overbooked, and flights get cancelled. If you spend enough time on the road, something will wrong. Murphy’s Law is never wrong. In fact, something could go wrong on any trip- it doesn’t matter the length.

Our modern busy life creates a lot of pressure and anxiety. It’s always rush, rush, rush. In that environment, it’s easy to get worked up and annoyed over the smallest incidents. You have to make a meeting but you’re stuck in traffic. There’s a baby crying on the bus. Your mortgage is due. Your car payment is due. You have a million errands to run. It’s very stressful. And it’s easy to take that frustration on the road. After a life in Boston, I developed a lack of patience. Boston is fast moving city and we have no time for distractions. When I first started traveling, I was frequently annoyed. Patience is not my greatest virtue. I wanted people to get out of my way- I had things to see. I had escaped the rush of Boston only to rush the thing I wanted to take slowly. After two years on the road, I still struggle with it sometimes but it is another skill you learn on the road. It is also one that you can use anywhere in life.

As a traveler, it’s important to develop patience. You didn’t come this far to get frustrated and turn around. You came to see the world, relax, and escape the high pressured life back home. When you find yourself getting irritated, think- I’m on holiday. Everyday is Saturday. What’s the rush? Take a deep breath and put things in perspective- you’re a nomad. You have nothing but time.

One of the thing’s I’ve learned on the road is that things always resolve themselves in the end. Just relax, smile, and wait- your problem will be solved. My hostel last weekend was overbooked but I simply asked if they had any other beds in a different type of room- they did and the problem was solved. I got stuck on the runway in London for one hour- I could have been really annoyed and irritated but what’s the rush? I’ll get there eventually.

By cultivating patience, you’ll be able to enjoy the little things of your trip more and come to see this irritations as growth opportunities not hindrances. Relax. It will work out. The best travel skills are ones you can use on and off the road, and the ability to have patience is certainly one that is useful anywhere.

Motivating Yourself to Travel

June 30, 2008

Fear keeps most people from traveling. When I first went away in 2006, people always wished they could do what I was doing. For some people it is easy to just jump ship and travel. We have it in us all along and we just need a gentle nudge. For me, all it took was a trip to Thailand and jealousy before I was quiting my job and telling my friends I was going to travel. For others it is a lot harder. They are more tied down, more afraid, more uncertain. They want to do it but, instead of a nudge, they need a full on push.

What keeps people back? A counter argument to people’s fears.

“I have too many responsibilities.” This is the biggest excuse people give. But when you leave, you have none. Bills disappear, car payments go away, errands you have to run become non-existent. It is often said that the more stuff we own, the more our stuff owns us. The modern world creates a lot of baggage that ties us to society’s approved path. Once you make the decision to go, you’ll find that all those bonds quickly disappear and those responsibilities vanish. The only responsibilities I have are the ones I create for myself, the only bills I have are those of my everyday needs. Once you come back, you’ll also realize you can do with less too.

“I don’t have the money.” People are always under the illusion travel is expensive. It’s not. There’s a plethora of ways to travel cheap. I traveled the world for about 40 dollars a day. You can backpack Asia on $20 a day. Same with Central America. Europe can be expensive but if you Couchsurf and limit your restaurant dining, you can do it on $40 dollars a day. I’ve heard of people who do it on less. There’s a lot of resources on the web that can help you. Travel is not expensive, you just need to make it a financial priority. In the end, we regret the things we didn’t do. So why not use that money for something you want now- you can’t take it with you when you die.

“I won’t gain any skills.” People think traveling is a luxurious holiday- it’s all fun and games in their mind. Taking time off from their “real world” jobs won’t advance their career or give them any marketable skills. NOT TRUE!!! Travel can be work. Landing in an unknown country and finding your way takes talent. In fact, there are a lot of skills you gain while traveling:

• Negotiation. Ever try talking down a vendor in India or Asia to reasonable price? That takes skills. You need to know what they want and what you want in order to come to an agreement. Bartering and haggling for prices from everything from hotel rooms to bus tickets to goods requires the ability to artfully negotiate. You need to know when to push more, settle, and walkaway. That’s a skill you can take right back into the boardroom.
• People Skills/Networking. You walk into the room at a hostel and there’s twenty people chatting and having fun. Then there’s you. You can either go break into that group or sit by yourself. What do you do? Travel forces you to develop people skills so you can meet new people and socialize with them. You learn to be comfortable enough to talk to anyone and introduce yourself to anonymous strangers. The most sociable people end up at the top. If people don’t like you, you’ll never land that top CEO spot! (Also, the better your people skills, the easier it will be to negotiate with them!)
• Adaptability. Travel teaches you how to adapt to sudden and unknown changes in situations. It teaches you how to be versatile. In the business world, you adapt or perish. Just another skill you can use!
• Cultural Awareness. In today’s globalized world, it is important to know and understand other cultures. Traveling exposes you to cultures and people of the world. You gain insights into how people do things. Back in the “real world” that skills becomes hugely important as companies from around the world interact with each other. If you’re the only person who has been to China then when it comes time to work with a Chinese company, you’ll likely be picked to work on that project.

Those are just four skills you pick up traveling. Traveling isn’t a career break, its a way to harness those soft skills you won’t learn in a book. The ones that truly matter at the end of the day. Companies can teach you systems and best practices but they can’t teach you these skills. You learn these yourself and what better way to do it than while traveling!

“The world isn’t safe.” Despite what CNN and FOX News might say, the world is safe. People aren’t killing each other in the streets. Everyone around the world wants what you want. They have jobs, families, things to do. In fact, American cities don’t even rank in the top ten of the worlds safest. I believe the safest American city is somewhere around the 40th safest in the world. People aren’t going to terrorize you for being American. Travelers from all corners of the globe are criss-crossing it at any moment without any problems. As long as you use street smarts to avoid dodgy situations (just like you would back home), you’ll be fine.

How to stay motivated

Now that you’ve seen that your fears are unwarranted, there’s a couple of ways to keep yourself motivated for getting out on the road:

Watch the Travel Channel. There’s good programming on 24/7 and I’m always watching. It’s full of great tips, advice, and will give you ideas for future trips. Seeing other people there will make you want to be there too.

Research places to go. Keep looking up places you want to go too and eventually you’ll get there.

Read travel blogs. There are lots of travel blogs out there. Read sites like mine to stay motivated and jealous. I read a ton of blogs and they all keep interested in traveling. Reading the adventures of other travelers can you show that it is easier than you though, give you advice and tips on the art of travel, and teach about places you’ve never heard of. One day you’ll get sick of living their life ad go out and create your own travel stories. Click here to get a list of travel blogs.

Buy a guidebook. Planning your next trip and looking through these books will keep you wishing and dreaming and making your trip closer to reality.

Learn a language. Join a language class and pick up a language you might use on the road. Once you’ve learn the language, you’ll hate to waste it and the only way to not do that is to travel to where they speak it!!

The fears people have about traveling are unfounded. Once you get over your fears, there’s nothing holding you back from traveling now. Once you make the decision to go, there are a lot of ways to keep motivated. As you slowly shed your baggage, you’ll have doubts. People will try to talk you out of it, you’ll wonder if you can do it. Change like this can be scary and people naturally get nervous. But by focusing on travel you’ll keep yourself motivated and stay on the path to breaking free from the cubicle.

Solo Travel

June 18, 2008

This is the last part in our discussion about solo or group travel. Guest Blogger Blissful Travel started it off with discussing her preference. Last week, we talked about the benefits of group travel. Today, we’ll bring it to a close with why I like solo travel.

I get a lot of questions when I tell people I travel alone.

“Don’t you get lonely?” “Is it safe?” “How do you meet people?”

People are amazed that I’ve traveled so much by myself. “I couldn’t do, especially for so long.” They say. Yet I wouldn’t do it any other way. Traveling alone was the best travel decision I’ve made and the only way to go if you are traveling long term.

People often assume that solo travel means alone travel. For from it. I meet more people on the road than I ever thought possible. When I left to travel, I was worried that I’d go without meeting people or that it be extremely difficult to make friends. I was wrong on both accounts. I often couldn’t get away from people! I was meeting so many people that it sometimes was friend overload! Even when I wanted some alone time, there was always someone around to chat up. Everyone I met was so friendly that I found it easy to make friends. Travelers make for kindred spirits. I recently got into this conversation with a co-worker, who was worried about this very thing. You meet people I said. You have too. Otherwise, you’ll spend all your time alone. Solo travel forces you out of that bubble.

I met many people who said that when they were traveling with friends they found it harder to meet new people because they had someone to talk to and were less likely to make an effort. Going alone forces you to make new friends otherwise you wander bored and depressed. It brings you out of your shell and forces you to be comfortable saying hello to random strangers and adjust to new situations.

As you meet people on the road, you head to new destinations together. I picked up travel partners everywhere. I found roommates on boats, lifetime friends on beaches, and girlfriends on buses. I was always jetting off to new places with perfect strangers. It’s one of the most enjoyable things about traveling- the ability to constantly interact with people from all over the world. And if I didn’t like who I was with or where I was, I simply moved along.

That is one of the other great advantages of solo travel- flexibility. You go where you want when you want. Don’t like a town? Just leave! Simple. Beautiful. Easy. When you travel alone, you only have to answer to yourself. In away, it can make your more selfish because its all about you but the upside is that you discover you. You discover your likes, dislikes, all you can do, and can’t do. You learn to survive and adapt. You learn to deal with new cultures and calamities. Solo travel is the travel of self reliance.

However, don’t think I never want to travel with people. I travel to meet people, to discover new cultures, and make new friends. Sometimes you want to share that moment or share that adventure with someone. No one wants to always party alone or eat by themselves. But group travel has too many downsides for me. There’s too many opinion, needs, and desires. The larger the group, the worse it is. I rarely ever travel with more than four people. In the end, I always leave home alone, not because I’m a loner…far from it…but because I like to explore the world and on my own terms. I love meeting new travelers and new people but I’d rather set out on that journey alone. Because, isn’t it all about self-discovery anyways?

Related Posts
The Skills You Need
Solo vs. Group Travel
Group Travel

The Skills You Need

June 16, 2008

I recently received an e-mail I answered in the Ask Me! section that I think deserves more attention than the few lines I gave it. The person had asked me:

“Have you noticed a particular set of skills that come in handy abroad? What should I learn to best prepare myself for living and making $$ while traveling?”

It’s a great question because travel, especially solo travel, requires a lot of skills. So when I was asked this question this question, a few traits came to mind but one more than any other: adaptability. It is the most important thing I think a traveler needs to have. You can suck at reading a map, you can have dietary restrictions that keep you eating only lettuce, and the ability of a dog to learn a language but if you can not adapt to new situations, you won’t make it.

People are scared to travel sometimes. They might dream of spending their days roaming the world, exploring ancient ruins, and lounging on the beach but they don’t. The world isn’t full of nomads- it is full of worker bees. Why? A lot of the reason why people don’t travel is that they don’t make it a priority. They keep the dream in their head. But another major reason is that they don’t feel they have the traits to do so. They feel they won’t make it. They’ll get lonely, mugged, bored. The list goes on. But one thing they always feel is that they won’t be able to adjust to their new surroundings.

Without the ability to deal with the unexpected, you’ll fail. But you can learn this trait. You can do it. You don’t need to have this ability before you go. You can learn it on the road. In fact, the longer you are gone, the more you learn to deal with unexpected situations. If there is one constant in travel, it is that eventually, something goes wrong. You break down in Australia, get lost in a jungle, lose your camera, miss a flight, get sick, or stuck somewhere where no one speaks English- something will happen to you. It’s Matt’s Law- the longer you are on the road, the more likely it is that something goes wrong. Falling into the ocean with my camera wasn’t on my list of travel goals. Neither was breaking down in Australia. Likewise about my travel companions taking me a different way then I had expected.

But I got over it. Because I could adapt. It took me awhile to become totally comfortable with that. When I first set off on the road, I was rigid. I stayed in my box. But the more I traveled, the longer I went, the more unexpected things that happen, the more comfortable I got. I found beauty in the happy accidents of travel.

You need to know thy self though. In my tip for new travelers, I gave a list of things I’d tell a new traveler. If I had to add another, it would be start at your comfort level. Know your self. Maybe jumping head first isn’t the best idea. Maybe you don’t want to see just how adaptable you are. Well, that shouldn’t stop you from traveling. There’s a lot of alternatives so you can dip slowly into the pool of travel. Maybe a tour group is good or maybe travel with friends. But whatever it is, you need to get out on the road first! Adaptability is a skill you can learn and traveling is a great way to learn it.

Many things will happen to you while you travel- some good, some bad, some in between. No matter what though, if you aren’t open to the experience, you will always been longing for home. You’ll have a miserable time and won’t be able to enjoy the cultures you are in. So if there is one thing I think you need when you travel, it’s the ability to adapt. The road is constantly changing, you just need to learn to change with it!

Things I’d Tell A New Traveler

June 13, 2008

Hope. Fear. Excitement. Traveling for the first time provides us with a wave of conflicting emotions. When I left for the road, I knew nothing. I read some bulletin boards but I was green as they come. I followed my guidebook, wet my feet with tours. You could spot me a mile away with my guidebook and my backpack. A big sign hung over my head “SCAM ME.” I was young and I was inexperienced. I made rookie mistakes.

If I could go back and tell my rookie self anything, I’d tell him this:

Don’t be scared. Despite what they say on CNN and Fox news, the whole world is not out to get you and it’s not a scary place. People are just like you- they have hopes, fears, want the best for their children, hate their jobs, and are just trying to make it through the day. 99.99% of people don’t care where you are from. They aren’t out to get you so don’t shy away from the locals- that’s why you went in the first place. If you’re semi-street smart, you’ll avoid .01% who do care.

You don’t need a lot of stuff. When I went on my first trip, I brought a big bag filled with tons of stuff, hiking boots, hiking pants, a fleece, and more toiletries than CVS. But I didn’t use even half of the stuff. When I went away again, I took even less and still didn’t use it all. The lesson: Pack light. It’s less to carry and less to hold you down.

Stay connected: buy a cell! You meet a lot of people on the road and they’re all going different ways but you may find your paths will cross again. Well, it’s hard to plan events around e-mail. Did they get it? Will they be there? I don’t know! Invest in a cheap cell and you’ll solve this problem and meeting up with people in no time.

The more you plan, the worse it is. Want to stay longer? Leave Sooner? Change hotels? Well, if you pre-planned your trip that’s something you can’t do. When everyday is planned out, when there are time tables to follow, you get stressed. Any kink in your plan and you don’t know what to do. There’s no room to experience the happy accidents. Travel brings a lot of unexpected events that can cause you to change your mind about a lot of things. Put some flexibility into your schedule and go with the flow. It’ll make for an enjoyable and less stressful experience.

Take more than you think. I could do Asia on 15 dollars a day or Europe on 80 but I take a lot more than that because you never know. There are a lot of unexpected costs on the road and no matter how well you budget; you’ll never plan for them. I never expected to buy a new camera in Italy. I never expected to change my plans and live in Amsterdam. Maybe you decide that you are going to learn to scuba dive after all. No matter what happens, something will come up and eat into your budget. Take more than you need.

Throw away the guidebook. Guidebooks are good for an overview and maps but you’ll never find the best stuff in there. Even if it’s there, it’s dated information. The locals aren’t hanging out at that bar and if they were, once the tourists came in, they leave. How many locals do you see at the tourist traps in your home? For the best stuff, hook up with the locals and ask them. Talk to the locals. People are you’re best resource for information. The best places I’ve been are never in guidebooks. You’ll never find that underground hot spot in a Lonely Planet.

Go Slow!! I know it can be tempting to try to see it all. Who knows when you’ll get another chance? But DON’T! With limited vacation time, we are always trying to squeeze in everything- rushing through twenty cities in twenty days, a 100 countries on our RTW, etc. In the end, all we have to show for it are photos, stress, and a whirlwind of experiences but no real deep knowledge of the places we went too. When you travel, less is more. It allows you time to drink deep from each culture and soak it up. Get to know the place- where the locals go, where they eat. Make time to spend a relaxing day in the park. Go slow and you’ll experience more.

Good Group Travel

June 10, 2008

Blissful Travel began our blog series on the merits of solo and group travel by discussing her opinion on which was better. More often than not, the question is not should I go alone or with friends but should I go alone or on a tour. Today, the discussion continues with looking at organized travel.

As an independent traveler, people often think that I have a predisposed hatred towards organized tours. It’s no secret that I’m a big supporter of traveling alone. There are a lot of benefits to solo travel and I always try to cultivate the vagabond in everyone. So it may surprise you when I come out in support of organized tours.

My first holiday was on a tour group to Costa Rica through Gap Adventures. They tend to focus on independent tours. I spent 14 days exploring the country, getting lost in the jungle, and making new friends. Most of the people on the tour were also alone and in their late 20s. The trip infused me with the travel bug and also introduced me to great people.

Most people think of tour groups as filled the Bermuda shorts wearing, camera toting, never leave the hotel package tourists. It’s true that many tours are like this. You’ve seen them in the double decker bus driving through countries- in a country but never really experiencing it. These plush package tours promise to show you a country without you ever having to leave the resort. I hate these tours and the tourists that come with them. They come all the way to a new country but never leave their Marriott. All they are really only after photos and all the benefits of their travel go to big multinationals. For all their trouble, they could have just stayed home and photo shopped themselves into some pictures. I do not advocate those tours!

However, not all organized tours are like that. There are some organizations that specialize in eco-tourism: tourism that not only leaves a small environmental footprint but also supports local businesses and operators. Many of the companies design their tours so you aren’t shuttled around like cattle but are allowed to wander and spend time getting to know each location. Most simply take the hassle out of the booking process. Companies like Gap Adventures and Intrepid Travel are two of the bigger ones that offer “independent, eco tours.” (You’ll find small, local companies where ever you go! Sustainable travel is the new black.)

A tour can be appropriate for a lot of people. Tours offer a lot, especially for new travelers. They can:

• Provide comfort.
• Reduce Stress.
• Give you people to hang out with.
• Provide a local expert.
• Reduce planning.
• Convenience.

Not everyone is comfortable with just picking up and going to an unknown place so tours can reduce the stress and anxiety that comes with your first trip and make people more willing to travel. Many people are anxious about meeting people and find it hard to just chat people up. Tours give people a chance to get comfortable and make that leap. After that, that second step could be travel alone. For the anxious, tours can be a great way to ease you into the unknown world of travel. Traveling alone requires a lot of skills and some people just aren’t ready to dive head first.

An organized tour isn’t the bad word travelers make it out to be. Sometimes, places and journeys require organized trips. You can’t just show up at Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti, Halong Bay, or the Galapagos Islands. These sites are designed to be done in tour groups- doing it on your own is often more expensive, more inconvenient, and sometimes illegal. In fact, most anti-tour travelers take tours without even realizing it. You’ll find them on hill tribe treks in Asia, trips to Fraser Island or Kakadu, or the Inca Trail.

Moreover, not all tours feature bad tour guides. My guide in Costa Rica got out of our way. My Aboriginal guide in Kakadu national park helped make for an amazing experience. He knew a lot about the land. I’ve had bad guides too- the guide Belize needed to silence himself, the guide in Thailand needed to be pushed off the boat, and the guide in Vietnam was one of the rudest humans I’ve met in my life. However, many of the tours you want to go on- local, friendly, informative- hire goes who enhance your travel experience. (Cool Travel Guide recently became a believer!)

Tours can be a helpful way for people to ease into the vagabond lifestyle. If you’re a first time traveler and nervous about heading out on your own, considering starting off with an organized tour. You may get the bug and anything that gets people out of their homes and on the road in a constructive way, is something I support.

Here’s some good companies and resources on sustainable travel:

Gap Adventures
Context Travel
Viator
Intrepid Travel
Go Green, Travel Green
Defining Eco Tourism
Eco-India
Eco Kenya
Official Site of the Ecotourism Society

How I do it, part 2

April 22, 2008

As I said, I work and I save. I don’t go out on big nights and am careful about what I spend. I make travel my monetary priority. That’s the most important part of the puzzle. Don’t waste your money. If you are always spending on something else, travel will always seem out of your reach. You need to make travel a priority too. Once it becomes important, you begin to find ways to save.

Once you do that, you have to make sure you spend your money wisely. People, especially Americans, have this image of travel and hotels, of fancy things and shopping, and luxury. All they see is dollar signs but you can have a comfortable vacation without comfortably spending your life savings. A good alternative to hotels are local guest houses and bed and breakfasts. House swap or couch share. They offer comfort, breakfast and laundry but with a more local feel and less impact on the wallet. The owners aren’t big corporations but locals who are thrilled to be sharing their part of the world with you.TRAVEL IS NOT EXPENSIVE!!

TRAVEL IS NOT EXPENSIVE!!

Step out of your guidebook and find those little tiny local restaurants with great food and little tiny price tags. Eat where the locals eat not where Frommer’s tells you. The locals aren’t spending a fortune living in their neighborhood and you shouldn’t either. You travel to see new places not new hotels. So see the place and you’ll find that living locally and traveling differently will save you money and give you a richer travel experience.

This site is dedicated to keeping you motivated, telling tales, and showing you how to travel frugally. The point I’m trying to make here is that you don’t need a lot of money to travel you just need to think differently. Forget packaged tours and expensive hotels and overpriced restaurants and souvenirs. You can still have a luxury vacation without a luxury price. You just need to think different and do a little work to get the deals. Booking that package on Orbitz isn’t going to save you money!

That’s how I do it. That’s how you can do it!

Down on the Dollar

April 17, 2008

A little piece of me dies everyday. Or I should say a little piece of my wallet dies everyday. As an American, I live on the world’s worst currency- the US dollar. Over the past few years, the value of the American dollar has steadily declined. The dollar now only get .50 to the pound, 60 euro cents, and, for the first time in 12 years, less than 100 yen. The Australia dollar has gone from being worth .50 cents to par now. The Canadian dollar is worth more than the greenback. Needless to say, it’s hard being an American tourist right now.

Crash Landing

April 16, 2008

American airline carriers have certainly been in the news lately. Over the last few weeks, numerous airlines, most notably American Airlines, have cancelled thousands of flights due to safety issues. Aloha, ATA, and Frontier airlines have all gone bankrupt while Delta and Northwest just recently announced that they were going to merge.

All this turmoil makes you wonder: What’s going on with flying in America? It seems pretty grim lately and I’m not at all surprised. After having flown in many different parts of the world, flying in America is by far the worst experience I can think of. It makes those long dusty bus rides in Cambodia seem like a luxury tour. Flights here are expensive and inconvenient. Service is practically non existent (Can’t a brother get some peanuts!!!) And trying to navigate the airport is even worst- long lines, delays, inane security checks, and rude guards. When I came back to America from Australia, I had to go through THREE security screenings just because the flight went to America. What was wrong with the first two!?

American passengers here put up with a lot of crap. I may not get many perks on flights around the world but when I’m paying $60 dollars, I don’t expect any. When I’m $200 dollars, I expect something (When can a brother get some peanuts!?!). All the turmoil in the industry highlights just how bad things are, and sadly, I think things are only going to get worse before they get better for a number of reasons.

For starters, America lacks real competition. There aren’t that many choices when flying the friendly skies. Foreign carriers aren’t allow to fly “within” the states and, as the recent bankruptcies show, very few low cost carriers actually make it. With all the mergers, consumers in the US face little choice. When you are the only game in town, why charge less?

Secondly, the US uses a spoke and hub system that routes flights through a major hub from the smaller spokes (minor airports) and back out again. So unless you are flying between major cities, it’s hard to go direct. Hubs are also in silly places too like Cincinnati or Memphis or Dallas. To get from point A to point B, you need to fly through point C. In a different age, this made sense but, with higher costs today, I think direct flights would reduce costs and make flying more convenient.

Additionally, American workers are pretty expensive by comparison for two reasons: health care and pensions. Pretty much every other country in the world has universal health care so companies don’t have to pay for them. Government’s also pay retirement benefits and American carriers are still paying out pensions for employees 20 years ago. This adds a lot of cost onto the airlines and doesn’t allow them to be as price competitive as they could. This also why new airlines such as Jetblue could undercut older carriers. No pension obligations! I’m not advocating any one system here, I’m just saying these are costs foreign carriers don’t deal with.

So as airlines have faced higher costs and little competition, as well as an inefficient airline model, they have raised ticket prices while lashing services. I think eventually this Delta/Northwest merger will result in cheaper flights and better options but, I think that dream is years away. For the immediate future, I see more headaches and higher prices.

With all the problems in the industry, I suspect that more consolidation is ahead. Additionally, not until airlines shed their high labor costs as well as get rid of the hub and spoke system in favor of more direct flight will consumers see a sort of reduction in airfare. Hopefully, then we will also see a return in service. However, for the distant future, flying in America will remain unpleasant, a hassle, and expensive.

(If you have any flight horror stories, please share with us!!)

How I do it

April 4, 2008

In the week I started this blog, I’ve been asked a plethora of times on how I do it. How do I travel so much? What’s my secret? So here it, the big secret that lets me travel so much:

DESIRE

That’s it. No secret trust fund. No illegal activity. No pimping myself out for Eliot Spitzer. Just simple desire to do it. After my first trip to Costa Rica in 2004, I got bit with the travel bug and have been doing it every since. I live to travel. I make the time, I budget for it, I revolve my life around it right now.

Everyone seems to suspect I have some big secret….that I must have found something out to life that they didn’t. Sorry for the let down but there is no secret to travel. Anyone who tells you so is a liar. All you need is the desire and passion to go.

So often I hear from people that traveling is out of their reach, that they don’t have the money or the time. There’s just too much responsibility they say. I don’t believe that. People do what they want. When you truly want something, you go after it. If you truly wanted travel, you would do it. You wouldn’t make excuses, you would do it. Excuses are a convenient way for people to ignore their own fears. The news media paints an image of the world has dangerous and chaotic, in turmoil and trouble. Well here is the real news- it’s no more dangerous than places in America.

There is a lot of unknown in long term traveling and a lot people aren’t ready to deal with that. However, even if you’ll never do a year around the world or dedicate your life to vagabonding, that doesn’t mean travel can be out of your reach.

Travel is a wonderful thing. Life is so short and I don’t think we were ever meant to spend it in cubicles droning away. Travel can show you all the beauty in the world- from chaotic markets in Asia, to majestic cities in Europe, to dense jungles and exotic wildlife in Central America. Everywhere you go, everyday you’re there something new happens. New people, new places, and new experiences.

People like to think that travel costs a lot of money or that you just can’t make it happen. My only hope is that by reading this blog, you realize that you can. I’m not rich but I budget well and find the travel deals. I work hard so I can play hard. A little flexibility, a little price scouting and you can get anywhere on any budget. People are always amazed when they see how cheap it can be and how little effort it really takes. I hope by reading this blog you stay inspired and informed. I’ll keep posting about all the cheap ways to travel so that you finally get up, get out, and getting going.

So see you out there over a beer!

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