Mandatory Fun (Travel Inspiration Edition)
ALL HANDS: Mandatory Fun (Travel Inspiration Edition).
Greetings, Fellow Travelers!
BLUF: Anything can inspire you to travel. Whether it be price, a movie, schedule, or word-of-month, traveling is about having a great adventure and an enjoyable time on your terms and no one else’s.
Today’s ALL HANDS focuses on how to inspire yourself to travel.
I recently asked a millennial friend of mine what inspires him to travel. He was quick to say, “Price!” While he’s a no-fear, no-holds-bar traveler, he lets price dictate where he goes and for how long he stays. Over the past year, he’s been exploring Eastern Europe since it’s both incredibly affordable and diverse. With price as his guide, he looks for hiking, kayaking, cross-country skiing, and cultural opportunities within his means. He purposely budgets a set amount each month for travel and commits to it. After each trip, he’s inspired to keep traveling within his allocated funds and to never miss an adventure.
Another friend of mine (father, married, two young sons) coordinates his travel around his and his wife’s work schedule, and, most importantly, the sons’ school schedules. Here, “time” is what primarily drives his travel inspiration. While the school year is filled with hockey practice, science projects, and, of course, work, Spring and Summer Breaks are packed with family travel. Whether it’s a trip to an amusement or water park or a visit to Orlando, he and his family don’t let the crowds or price (within reason, of course) deter them. They have the drive and energy to travel during these times, so they buckle down and get moving.
For me, I take a more comprehensive approach to travel. As a kid, I was always fascinated by the amazing locations I saw in movies and tv shows. Whether it was James Bond visiting a underground baccarat game in Shanghai or a nature show tracking kangaroos in the Australian bush, the world always seemed so big and out-of-reach. Still, I knew I had to see it.
As a young adult, thanks to the US Air Force, I was stationed both in Guam and Italy, so those locations were ideal for jump-starting travel adventures. Back then, commensurate with budget and energy level, I got a taste of Asia-Pacific and European destinations. I visited Australia, Japan, and many European capitals.
Now, as a married and not-so-young (ha!) adult, my travel inspiration is sparked from a myriad of people and places. It was a work colleague who, while at his going away, talked about South African wine country and Table Mountain which got that trip moving. It was a prolific travel blogger writing about a mileage redemption sweet spot on Thai Airways Royal First between BKK and SYD which pushed me to book an Australian and a New Zealand trip. It was an interior designer posting on social media about his favorite refreshed hotel club lounge at the Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur which put the Malaysian capital on my calendar. It was an article in an inflight magazine highlighting Easter Island’s airport as the most remote in the world which started my planning on how to get there.
In sum, let anything and everything inspire you to travel. Get out there and have an adventure.
Happy Travels!
Vr,
Albert
Albert Guerrero, USAF, Ret.
“Let’s Travel Farther, Together!”
Follow my travels on Instagram: @albert_traveler
