On Travel

Wife and I are back home and acclimated again to our time zone. Life is normal. I'm working. Mrs. de-I is hard at work getting control of the home remodel project (exciting pictures coming soon), and we're being called upon to help our middle daughter, son-in-law on their move to Florida (more on that in another post)

However, I did want to write something on travel since there are a number of you who commented on wishing you could travel and I know the make up of those who read but don't comment that there are some in that group as well.

Travel is something I think you have to decide is worth having in your lifestyle. What do I mean by this? What I mean is that you have to make some tangible choices related to:

• Money
• Time
• Comfort Level

Money - Travel costs. You can do lots of things to save money, get more for less, etc. but it still requires money. So if you decide travel is going to be in your lifestyle then it has to be budgeted for or you have to decide it is more important than other things you might spend money on. In the case of Mrs. de- I and I, travel has been very important to us and we make lot's of choices that reflect that importance. We don't spend money on electronics (up until two years ago we still had a TV that you had to turn on manually!). We spend very little on cloths. We buy cars very occaisonally and usually used cars. I'm not saying anyone else should do this. I'm just saying that for us we'd rather spend our money traveling.

Time - We all have only so much time off. Where are we going to use it? If you want to travel, you may have to look at your time off patterns and make some changes.

Comfort Level - I think this is the biggest hurdle for most people since they don't like to go into situations that they are not comfortable in. Traveling to new places by definition puts you into areas where you are not familiar. Though the more you travel, the more you become comfortable doing things that are different. But people have all kinds of different levels of comfort. So it's a very personal thing.

Some Tips for Getting Started

If you've never traveled, I suggest starting small. How about a long weekend to a place in the U.S. you've never been to? Know why I live in New Mexico? We couldn't afford a trip to Europe and we wanted to go somewhere in the US that was "different". We ended up loving it so much we moved there.

How do you do it? You use your library, bookstore and the Internet. No matter where interesting you want to go, there is something written on what to see and do. Use the internet to figure where to stay and how to get there.

Want to dabble in foreign travel? What about Canada. It is a different county but they speak English and it's close.

Want to do Europe or something like that? Maybe a tour. I think cruises (river or ocean) are a good way to get acclimated because they will provide a turnkey solution and you only have to unpack once, unlike bus tours. How about Puerto Rico - It's a US territory.

Don't just go to a resort. Doing Cancun is not visiting a foreign country. It's just the US in another location.

Want to save money? Go on the off season. Want to save more money? Get a couple to go with you and share an apartment. Pick any city you want, plug "apartment vacation rental of xyz city" in your browser and see what you come up with.

Conclusion

I think travel really widens once world outlook and enriches ones life. I would urge any of you who think you might want to experience it to give it a try.