Everyone travels, but very few do it in the real sense. Not every vacation you spend with your close ones is one hell of an experience. After you have been briefed about the basics of traveling, it’s time to take the game a notch up!
This article is aimed at making you learn all the ways in which you can become a traveler and a tourist. The difference between a tourist and a traveler is that a tourist visits places but a traveler lives in places. It’s always better to choose being a traveler than going for the tourist option. Tourism is boring; traveling is exciting.
Start randomly
Sitting in your office cubicle one fine day, you decide to take a trip to a far away waterfall location. That’s how those who really travel start. Despite all that has been said about careful planning and days of organizing bags, a random decision to go travel to a destination can beat a monotonous trip any given day. However, make sure there is no long-lasting harmful consequence of suddenly leaving your busy life and scooting off to a deserted destination. Clear your pending works, stay updated about the weather, keep your bags packed and just press the go button whenever the mood kicks in!
Choose Unconventional Places
Everyone loves traveling to famous tourism destinations. Pick up any tour monologue and you will find the main attractions of a particular region all listed down in alphabetical order. That’s totally not how traveling should work.
Instead of paying a visit to the already crowded and frequented places of attraction, select something different. It could be a deserted moor no one has paid any attention to. Or it could be a beautiful waterfall Mother Nature has kept hidden in its laps for hundreds of years now. Choose unconventional destinations and start a trend. Never visit a place twice. Take everything that you may need for emergency circumstances for unconventional destinations might require you to put in more efforts than necessary. Be prepared for the worst.
Spice it up!
Have you heard of the phrase kBeg, Borrow7 or Steal”? A lot of travel enthusiasts take to this phrase too seriously and decide to travel based on this. Pack your rucksack with everything essential to your journey and keep in cash handy. Hit the highway and ask for a ride from a stranger. Of course, you must exercise caution since it is always dangerous asking for a lift from just anyone off the road. But the thrill involved in the satisfaction that you reached your destination in the minimum of budget; off lifts and asked favors, is pure and pristine fun in itself.
Avoid Tour Agencies
There is really no fun in being escorted around by travel agencies that take care of your travel from your departure to the moment you step back into your house. Although they take a major burden off your shoulders, they also charge heavily for the same. If you are in the mood for some excitement and want to not empty your wallet, you can always plan your travel according to your own whims and fancies.
Don’t visit: Live
The true fun in traveling is to not simply visit places but to actually live places. Whatever your destination is, go and spend a quality time there instead of merely roaming around a lot of places one after the other. If you are someone who is trying to escape the hassles in life, a trip to one destination followed by a month of living there is what is recommended.
Collect Memoirs
Memories of your travel will always be there. But in order to strengthen such memories and provide a proof of the same, always remember to collect a souvenir from the place you are traveling to. Such memoirs could vary from a simple pebble to a brightly colored traditionally made hanky.
Every place on this planet has its own rich culture. Every culture gets reflected in the place’s daily life things. Pottery, embroidered shawls, china dishes, personalized sea shells, rice grain with your names written on it- souvenirs can be picked from a variety of options.
Shoot yourself: with a Camera
A camera works as your personal assistant; jotting down everywhere you went, the experiences you had and the journeys you enjoyed the most. Always make sure to keep a camera handy. These days, a camera is not even a separate instrument to carry. Mobile phones come with really cool cameras that save space and give you equally amazing
pictures of great quality.
Travel Alone
There is no fun in family vacations. Of course you get time to spend with your close ones but traveling alone is a different kind of experience in itself. When you travel alone, you get to discover a newer you. Traveling puts you in a position from where you have to handle everything on your own. There will be days you will have to go to sleep without supper. There will be days you will face a case of real emergency. In a land scarcely known to you, you will meet strangers that have not a single clue what language you are speaking. Despite all such hardships, you are to survive, enjoy and come back with a truckload of memories. Such a time, that you have spent along with your own self, encountering difficulties, solving them; will be special to you. There will be only one person on earth who will know these trying times – You.
Do Not Prefer Fancy
One smart way to experience a proper traveling experience is to prefer simplicity of fanciness. For example, for the purpose of accommodation, you can always choose a hostel instead of a posh hotel. Preferring locally made street food over a fancy restaurant is advisable. That way you will not only develop your palates but you will also learn how to adapt in different and testing conditions.
Economic Choices
A lot of travelers face economic issues three days into their trip. This happens because they are simply awed by the variety’ of local materials available to buy. Such travelers are poor decision makers as they end up buying anything and everything they encounter in the local market. Refrain from such practices.
Before you buy anything, visit the entire place first. Weigh your choices and tastes. Give a second thought to whatever is your final choice. If possible, delay buying anything till the last date of your stay. If you buy stuff in the initial days, it will only add to your carrying load.
If you are heading abroad, compare the currency rates of your country and your destination country. Choose a country whose currency unit is less in value than yours.
Enjoy
It serves no purpose if you are able to enjoy your travelling. The very point of this all is that you spend some good time away from your usual place of residence. It does not matter where you go, as long as it’s a nice change from your usual place.
One mistake that most travelers do is rushing. They simply create a list of places to visit, and do everything to tick off each and every place off the list. In the mad hullaballoo to do so, they forget enjoying their experience. Always remember that even if its just one place you are able to cover in your trip, as long as you are enjoy it, it doesn’t matter whether you missed any other locations or not. A traveler is someone who travels for no other reason than enjoyment.
