All too frequently, the typical trip activities we undertake, especially when we join an organised tour with its stops for photo ops and shopping sprees, remove us from the present moment. We are whisked off to same vague point in the future, instantly transported forward to where we are showing off the pictures we have taken, or gleefully displaying the souvenirs we’ve come home with.
Planning for your next trip should be about more than just affording it. No matter how you save up to fund your next travel adventure, be it long-term savings or a Bitcoin betting windfall, here are some steps that can ensure that, camera in hand or not, you are more mindful, connected to your heart, and engaged with your surroundings on your next adventure.
Prepare Properly for Your Journey
Setting an intention is just as important as making your hotel bookings and ensuring you have the maps you need. Why are you going where you are going? Is it to reconnect with nature, or explore history? Do you want to spend more time with your significant other, friends, or family?
Commit to a purpose for your trip by sharing it with your companions or simply in a journal.
Take Notes of Your Experiences
While it could be said that writing things down necessitates missing out on something else, there can be advantages to taking even basic notes as you enjoy your trip.
Give up the idea of making a chronological trip diary. You are almost certain to fall behind, and end up going home with a few days recorded accurately and in detail and the rest abandoned and lost in frustration.
Practice mindfulness on your travel by allowing your journal to simply happen. Keep a list of impressions in the back of your book, and then flesh them out when you get a chance. Perhaps in the evening just before you go to sleep, while sitting in traffic on the bus, or when everyone else has headed out to do something you haven’t signed up for.
This practice can go a long way towards keeping you present, periodically clearing your mind of things that you may be scared of forgetting. This way you can remain open to new experiences as they come along.
Participate in Present Day Life Wherever You Are
When you are travelling somewhere with a rich past, this can sometimes become all you focus on. But enjoy the here-and-now as well!
You have no doubt seen tourists is unlikely places at home -perhaps in your local grocery store, or some other feature of where you live that you have grown so used to you don’t even see anymore.
Haven’t you noticed, however, that one of the nicest things to do in a strange place is visit a market -that place’s version of your local grocery store? Our senses come alive in the stalls we discover, however they may be housed, their way of eating, and tasting, smelling, and touching the unusual vegetables, fruits, and spices is always a great experience.
On your next trip, make sure you take the time to taste some of the local cuisine. Try out the standard breakfast the locals enjoy, or grab a supper shish kebab from a streetside stand. Getting engaged through your senses is a great way to make sure you are in the moment.
