This post will be a bit different - now that we've been 'on the road' for a while, it's time to share a little insight!
We've been rubbing shoulders with quite a few travelers and conversation invariably lands on travel... in this post, I hope to highlight some of the main reasons people leisure-travel today - the current travel reality might surprise you!
Even people who are ostensibly happy with their lives relish the occasional getaway. So, why is leisure travel such a big deal?
Intuitively, people travel for different reasons, but they're generally in search of:
Note that 'FUN' isn't on the list - definitions of 'fun' vary wildly. For some, boating is fun, for others, it's unnerving - you get the idea.
Is it really worth it?
For some, the answer is a resounding no. But, based on current travel stats, for a growing number of people, the answer, clearly, is YES!
The internet is a potent truth serum - most travelers use pictures and reviews to make educated decisions and mitigate risk.
A property you find on Expedia is also likely listed on Agoda, Google, TripAdvisor and, say, Booking.com. It will be independently reviewed in each of those apps. Reviews can vary quite a bit, especially for mid-to-lower cost accommodations and tours.
Cross-checking reviews is a great risk-mitigation strategy - one we use frequently! While checking reviews on different platforms, it's a good idea to compare prices too - this can save you some real $$!
If you book a 1st class flight with hostess service, a 5* hotel with a hotel-organized airport transfer and you hang around the hotel, for a week you're very likely to travel smoothly... but your trip may lack some authenticity.
In contrast, if you ride the subway into town, walk to your AirBNB apartment and book 3 excursions with the money you saved, you'll meet people, accumulate experiences and learn more, but you'll likely encounter some hiccups.
Despite a good plan, unforeseeable things can (and do) occur - like a hotel cancelling your reservation, a tour operator missing your pickup or a volcanic eruption closing down an airport.
Buying insurance and booking with a reputable company can take the sting out of even unforeseeable mishaps... but not always - no insurance is going to erase 4 'happy toilet' days or a case of Novel Coronavirus 2019!
Many of the travelers we've met agree that you don'thave to burn a ton of cash to travel safely... but it helps to make a travel plan that balances your finances and your risk tolerance.
As a traveler, you have no choice but to roll with the punches - how quickly you get back up is likely to be a function of how well you planned ahead, your attitude and how much money you put into protecting yourself.
Consequently, day-to-day lives can become routine. We wake, we work, we eat, we shop, we chauffeur, we play and we sleep. Routine helps us get a lot done, but it can feel dystopian, Orwellian or at the extreme, even soul-crushing!
Efficiency is key. As my family quickly discovered while camping our way across the US and Canada - the appliances of modern life make it possible for us to be so productive - no wonder western countries have a killer GDP!
Indeed, in today's society, the time-crunch is often so intense that we schedule 15-minute time slices. We come by our routines honestly - we need them to succeed... yet so many of us savour the moments of 'freedom' that punctuate them... the time in between.
We know many households that split their waking weekday hours like this:
50-70% work and commute
10-15% cooking and eating
10% routining (chauffeuring, calendar hawking, phone-calling, etc.)
This leaves precious little time and energy to meet the needs that travel satisfies! You might, right now, be diving into this familiar argument: "... but if you pick the right job, you can do what you love, everyday... and be fulfilled, everyday."
Though that may be true, I have my doubts ;) Let's run the numbers... there are 5 Billion working-age people on Earth... all vying for the 'ideal job'. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the vast majority of us work jobs that don't feed our souls!
Even if you love selling houses or teaching kids to ski, you likely still yearn to take a surfing lesson, dance on a beach, learn to cook killer tacos or dive off a cliff into a turquoise ocean!
Travel offers us an escape - a pressure release valve. It gives us a chance to breathe life into parts of our personalities that we have to stifle to fit into the work world.
Nothing in life is guaranteed, not the least of which is your health! Will you still be spry enough to tackle Machu Picchu in your 60's?
With the internet at your disposal, a modest budget and some patience, you can mitigate much of the controllable travel risk - power to the people!
Whether it's our intrepid human spirit that drives us or just a need to break up a demanding routine, travel offers us unparalleled learning opportunities and a sample of what retirement might taste like when we get there!
To fly or not to fly? I say fly - and I'm clearly not alone!
Couldn't we get inspired closer to home? Couldn't we educate our kids in Canada and just visit new places in books and with technology? Couldn't we relax at home? Could we not volunteer to help our fellow Canadians? Couldn't we get a better view of ocean life from the Blue Planet TV series?
The answer to all these questions was, of course, yes - we didn't need to leave home at all... and a staycation would have come at a fraction of the cost and effort! But it just didn't meet our need for adventure. We knew that if we didn't make a clean break from our routines, we wouldn't get as much out of our time off.
We asked ourselves:
We ultimately had to pick a mix of countries to visit and a length-of-stay in each. With ~200 friendly countries in the world, this wasn't easy!
In the end, we picked a route that prioritized our pocket book (retirement 101), personal safety, breadth of experience and ease-of-travel. Moving 5 bodies around the world can be an ordeal - it had to be worth it.
Our north stars were:
- Safety first
- Hands-on learning trumps reading, any day
- Uninterrupted family time is precious
- Gas-pedal the kids' education
- Tackle age-appropriate adventure
- Stay on budget
- Prioritize experiences over destinations, and savour each one
- Embrace as many cultures as possible
At this point in our travels, we have stayed true to all of these ideals. We are enjoying this trip more than we ever thought possible and we know it'll have seriously shaped our kids' outlook on life.
You can talk till you're blue in the face at the supper table about a conflict or a historical figure or a natural disaster or an amazing building, but nothing can compare to seeing it all first-hand (perhaps interacting with locals who lived it) to give you real perspective and to bring it all home.
Traveling with kids is all about learning! Hands-on experience is the best kind! Here are a few examples of those hands-on experiences.
The learning opportunities are truly endless... and kids are the best learners out there!
Thanks for reading - I hope this post shed a little light on the current travel boom, what's motivating it and what kind of opportunities it's opening up for travelers.
I'm really interested in your feedback on this experimental post - don't be shy!
 |
| Uninvited guests - small and big surprises! |
We've been rubbing shoulders with quite a few travelers and conversation invariably lands on travel... in this post, I hope to highlight some of the main reasons people leisure-travel today - the current travel reality might surprise you!
Motivation
I recall a corporate leadership training exercise - participants were all asked "if you could do more of one thing in your life, what would that be?"... +90% of them said: travel.Even people who are ostensibly happy with their lives relish the occasional getaway. So, why is leisure travel such a big deal?
Intuitively, people travel for different reasons, but they're generally in search of:
- ADVENTURE - new sights, sounds, smells, tastes, people, etc. and 'living on the edge'
- UNPLUGGING - escaping routine, relaxing, cell phones off
- SOUL FOOD - inspiration, self-discovery, finding meaning
- SOCIAL - family time, couple time, time with friends
- ME TIME - self-improvement / growth, education, re-centering, sport
- GLOBAL CIVICISM - volunteering
Note that 'FUN' isn't on the list - definitions of 'fun' vary wildly. For some, boating is fun, for others, it's unnerving - you get the idea.
Flies in the ointment
If we're being honest, there are a ton of really good reasons why not to travel:- POOR SLEEP - Jet lag, lousy beds, noisy locations, awful smells
- STRESS - hotel cockroaches, missed flights, misplaced passports, foreign healthcare
- EFFORT - planning, managing, communicating
- HEALTH RISK - gastro bugs, mosquito-borne illnesses, crazy driving, air or water quality, bed bugs, dietary restrictions
- DANGER - political risk, petty crime, extreme sport
- EXPENSE - flights, hotels, food, FX rates
- ENVIRONMENT - travel-caused carbon emissions
- TIME CONSUMING - big distances require more time
Is it really worth it?
For some, the answer is a resounding no. But, based on current travel stats, for a growing number of people, the answer, clearly, is YES!
Making it happen, safely
So many people plan ahead online these days. Booking 6mo. out is not uncommon - even for those that don't run on a schedule!The internet is a potent truth serum - most travelers use pictures and reviews to make educated decisions and mitigate risk.
A property you find on Expedia is also likely listed on Agoda, Google, TripAdvisor and, say, Booking.com. It will be independently reviewed in each of those apps. Reviews can vary quite a bit, especially for mid-to-lower cost accommodations and tours.
Cross-checking reviews is a great risk-mitigation strategy - one we use frequently! While checking reviews on different platforms, it's a good idea to compare prices too - this can save you some real $$!
If you book a 1st class flight with hostess service, a 5* hotel with a hotel-organized airport transfer and you hang around the hotel, for a week you're very likely to travel smoothly... but your trip may lack some authenticity.
In contrast, if you ride the subway into town, walk to your AirBNB apartment and book 3 excursions with the money you saved, you'll meet people, accumulate experiences and learn more, but you'll likely encounter some hiccups.
Despite a good plan, unforeseeable things can (and do) occur - like a hotel cancelling your reservation, a tour operator missing your pickup or a volcanic eruption closing down an airport.
Buying insurance and booking with a reputable company can take the sting out of even unforeseeable mishaps... but not always - no insurance is going to erase 4 'happy toilet' days or a case of Novel Coronavirus 2019!
Many of the travelers we've met agree that you don'thave to burn a ton of cash to travel safely... but it helps to make a travel plan that balances your finances and your risk tolerance.
As a traveler, you have no choice but to roll with the punches - how quickly you get back up is likely to be a function of how well you planned ahead, your attitude and how much money you put into protecting yourself.
What's the rush?
Many westerners live their lives playing the 'long game' - steering a course towards a healthy retirement. In the work-world, consistency is key - to get (and stay) ahead, you have to be seen as reliable, trustworthy and stable.Consequently, day-to-day lives can become routine. We wake, we work, we eat, we shop, we chauffeur, we play and we sleep. Routine helps us get a lot done, but it can feel dystopian, Orwellian or at the extreme, even soul-crushing!
Efficiency is key. As my family quickly discovered while camping our way across the US and Canada - the appliances of modern life make it possible for us to be so productive - no wonder western countries have a killer GDP!
Indeed, in today's society, the time-crunch is often so intense that we schedule 15-minute time slices. We come by our routines honestly - we need them to succeed... yet so many of us savour the moments of 'freedom' that punctuate them... the time in between.
We know many households that split their waking weekday hours like this:
50-70% work and commute
10-15% cooking and eating
10% routining (chauffeuring, calendar hawking, phone-calling, etc.)
This leaves precious little time and energy to meet the needs that travel satisfies! You might, right now, be diving into this familiar argument: "... but if you pick the right job, you can do what you love, everyday... and be fulfilled, everyday."
Though that may be true, I have my doubts ;) Let's run the numbers... there are 5 Billion working-age people on Earth... all vying for the 'ideal job'. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the vast majority of us work jobs that don't feed our souls!
Even if you love selling houses or teaching kids to ski, you likely still yearn to take a surfing lesson, dance on a beach, learn to cook killer tacos or dive off a cliff into a turquoise ocean!
Travel offers us an escape - a pressure release valve. It gives us a chance to breathe life into parts of our personalities that we have to stifle to fit into the work world.
Travellers, everywhere!
The global tourism industry is becoming increasingly massive. With 1.4B international tourist airline arrivals annually (10-20% of humans) and an airline industry CAGR of ~5%, clearly, people want to see the world!
People are touring in unprecedented numbers, though the US is still the juggernaut. This has a huge impact on both the authenticity of travel experiences and how 'smooth' a destination can be - well trodden paths tend to be traveled more easily.
As a result of this travel boom, there are tourists EVERYWHERE, and an industry steadfastly aligning itself to meet their demands.
Take Japan, for example. In 2011 it saw 6M foreign visitors and in 2017, it received 29M - that's 483% growth in 7yrs! Our cooking class teacher confirmed these numbers for Kyoto.
The crush of tourism is especially pronounced in areas newly opened to it - take the Phi Phi islands in Thailand. After the Leonardo DiCaprio movie The Beach, authorities finally had to shut down parts of the island due to tourist damage!
Many of the Maldivian islands are newly opened to tourism and the ensuing boom has been formidable. Infrastructure can't keep up with the new demands placed on it!
Many of the tour guides, hoteliers and restauranteurs we've met are quick to acknowledge the positive economic contribution tourists make. Locals not involved in the industry can be less enthusiastic, but we don't know anyone who has met with 'resistance'.
Many of the tour guides, hoteliers and restauranteurs we've met are quick to acknowledge the positive economic contribution tourists make. Locals not involved in the industry can be less enthusiastic, but we don't know anyone who has met with 'resistance'.
In short, the world is as ready as ever to receive travelers.
To fly or not to fly?
It seems to me that our daily routines, though invaluable, cheat us out of some joie-de-vivre. Balance is, seemingly, the key - the old adage: everything in moderation is sage advice! Travel is one way to achieve better balance.Nothing in life is guaranteed, not the least of which is your health! Will you still be spry enough to tackle Machu Picchu in your 60's?
With the internet at your disposal, a modest budget and some patience, you can mitigate much of the controllable travel risk - power to the people!
Whether it's our intrepid human spirit that drives us or just a need to break up a demanding routine, travel offers us unparalleled learning opportunities and a sample of what retirement might taste like when we get there!
To fly or not to fly? I say fly - and I'm clearly not alone!
Our plunge
When we were planning our big trip, we did a lot of soul-searching!Couldn't we get inspired closer to home? Couldn't we educate our kids in Canada and just visit new places in books and with technology? Couldn't we relax at home? Could we not volunteer to help our fellow Canadians? Couldn't we get a better view of ocean life from the Blue Planet TV series?
The answer to all these questions was, of course, yes - we didn't need to leave home at all... and a staycation would have come at a fraction of the cost and effort! But it just didn't meet our need for adventure. We knew that if we didn't make a clean break from our routines, we wouldn't get as much out of our time off.
We asked ourselves:
- What itches could our jobs not scratch?
- What aspects of public education in Canada could use some bolstering?
- In what ways did we need to challenge our kids' assumptions about the world and themselves?
- Which religions were we, collectively, ignorant of?
- What economic situations did we not understand?
- Which political plights are under-reported in Canada?
- In what ways are we unknowingly privileged?
- Can we access to any 'other side' history?
- What regions in the world might not be accessible in 30yrs due to global warming?
We ultimately had to pick a mix of countries to visit and a length-of-stay in each. With ~200 friendly countries in the world, this wasn't easy!
In the end, we picked a route that prioritized our pocket book (retirement 101), personal safety, breadth of experience and ease-of-travel. Moving 5 bodies around the world can be an ordeal - it had to be worth it.
Our north stars were:
- Safety first
- Hands-on learning trumps reading, any day
- Uninterrupted family time is precious
- Gas-pedal the kids' education
- Tackle age-appropriate adventure
- Stay on budget
- Prioritize experiences over destinations, and savour each one
- Embrace as many cultures as possible
At this point in our travels, we have stayed true to all of these ideals. We are enjoying this trip more than we ever thought possible and we know it'll have seriously shaped our kids' outlook on life.
You can talk till you're blue in the face at the supper table about a conflict or a historical figure or a natural disaster or an amazing building, but nothing can compare to seeing it all first-hand (perhaps interacting with locals who lived it) to give you real perspective and to bring it all home.
Kids and travel
Kids are generally quite flexible - most can roll with things better than adults can... and what they find fun can be surprising! Kids don't care about 5* hotels. They're more fascinated by cool LED lights, funky music and friendly faces than they are about luxury.Traveling with kids is all about learning! Hands-on experience is the best kind! Here are a few examples of those hands-on experiences.
 |
| Athletic reflexes |
 |
| The thrill of high-stakes learning |
 |
| The art of negotiation |
 |
| Safety lessons |
 |
| Bunkers - war history that "sticks" |
 |
| Learning to fry - yeah Tom Petty! |
 |
| Atmospheric science |
 |
| Keeping Strong bonds strong, everyday |
Practical science
Testing limits
 |
| Remembering where you come from! |
 |
| Making art (an up-shot from under water by Chelsea) |
 |
| Challenging oneself |
 |
| Submerging in learning |
 |
| Walking on sunshine |
 |
| New skills! |
 |
| Exceeding your own expectations |
 |
| Courage - it came at a good time! |
Bravery (6deg C water)!
 |
| Triumph! |
 |
| Geothermal energy 101 |
 |
| Hard work yields ice-cold successes |
 |
| Understanding the beliefs of others |
 |
| Physics lesson |
 |
| Understanding honour |
 |
| Valuing friendship |
 |
| Just diving in! |
The learning opportunities are truly endless... and kids are the best learners out there!
Thanks for reading - I hope this post shed a little light on the current travel boom, what's motivating it and what kind of opportunities it's opening up for travelers.
I'm really interested in your feedback on this experimental post - don't be shy!
Comments
Post a Comment