The Importance of good luggage – 5 Reasons we should travel (More)
So, your bags are packed, wait, the clothes are picked out, the bags aren’t yet packed. You have, however, picked a day in your head when absolutely everything will be ready before your trip. So now you just need to find your crappy suitcase, with the stuck wheel right!
Before you throw the cases in the taxi, you need a reason to pack. You need to book a Vacation, right?!
Do you find yourself sacrificing time to travel and dream of far flung places, always justifying why, next year will be the time for that dream trip to Ireland or Spain. Many of us simply don’t take enough time for ourselves to travel this amazing planet with all its wonders. The justifications come in many forms, l’m too busy at work, l don’t have enough money or l don’t have anyone to go with. All very valid reasons if you make them your reality and ingrain them with such a strong sense of truth.
Chances are you can plan to take the time from work, we are not as important as we like to think, see opening scenes of Jerry Maguire, “let’s see how they do without us”! As the office springs back into life the second he hits the exit, we can all save money if it is a priority and you have the best person in the whole world to travel with, he or she stares back at you each day in the mirror, just find the confidence to do it, what will come later will be the reward.
From personal experience, after my initial 10 years living in Vancouver, l had only taken 3 vacations of any note – One was a ten-day trip to Hawaii, the other two were separate one-week trips to Scotland, where I played very bad golf. There had been the odd long weekend thrown in here of there but when l look back, it’s not something l would do again, l would structure my life differently. Getting so caught up in work that l forgot to feed my soul with what travelling offers was a regret. l say “was a regret” that time has now passed, l can only look forward.
5 reasons to Travel
1. Stop the routine.
Routine is great for many a good thing, from a baby’s sleep schedule to the well-honed training schedule of an Olympic athlete. When it comes to the daily grind of getting up and heading to the office or wherever you find your own job it can get tiring, but l don’t need to tell you this! Knowing that something that excites you is on the horizon is a veritable tonic for the mind, body and soul. As kids we all revelled in the thought of the impending visit of Santa and what great goodies would we have earned this year? We anticipated it and looked forward to it with such energy. If Santa wasn’t your thing, l’m sure there was some other event that you had where the same sense of impending excitement occurred. Well for us working adults, it comes with the excitement of future travel and sand between the toes. A place you’ve always dreamt of going or a place you’ve been many times, a trip to see long lost friends or simply a break from that norm. So, break your routine, get amongst it, put down that marker to travel and look forward to it like you’re a kid.
2. Excite yourself
Planning your much deserved trip comes with an entire myriad of ancillary benefits. New outfits to pick up, perhaps some new noise cancelling headphones for the plane ride and that’s before your go! Then there is the planning, which hotel?, which arrondissement? Checking out new and exciting places to eat, things to see, great landmarks, both man made and natural the list is endless. Get excited before you go and be excited when you are there, you are after all making memories.
3. Meet new people
I’m not going to get into the isolations theories that social media can bring, or how smartphones are becoming our social arena. What l will say, is when you travel, say hello to people, you may never see them again. Talk to other travelers, talk to people in the markets, the squares and on the beaches. I am not advocating being a chatterbox when someone is taking that long awaited silent retreat or relaxing at the spa, but you know what l mean, connect with others, share a smile, share a hello, share a story, share some of your time, it will not be something you regret, it will add to the richness of your experience.
You are on vacation it’s the perfect time.
4. Learn about yourself
You can look at this two ways if you like? Travelling can be wonderful and it can feed the soul. On the other hand, it can be a steady diet of delays, line ups, be taken for a ride and food poisoning. How you navigate some of these challenges when travelling can teach you a lot about yourself and maybe a little about where you want to get to on the Zen scale of levity under duress. We all could do with a little more grace under fire.
One of my own recent trips tested my ability to stay calm after coming out of the grocery store near Marseille to see my rental vehicle with a sizable dent in the door panel, not by my doing either. Needless to say, l declined the excess coverage when l rented the vehicle, one day in the future it will be a story with a punchline over a beer. At the time it was certainly “breathe deeply” moment.
That’s one way, what about the other? Travelling gives you time for you. Time to think, time to reflect, journal, look inwards. Take that time, it’s precious. I feel this is a very underrated aspect of what taking trips can offer. In fact, some people travel explicitly to do this very thing, a mindful retreat, which is wonderful. However, despite the trip you take, find some time to learn about you, you may find out you are cooler than you give yourself credit for.
5. Build Memories
“Live in the now” we keep hearing and that makes so much sense on many levels, stop thinking of the past or the future and thus getting handcuffed in the present! All well and good. In reality though, much of what we do builds memories both good and bad. Let’s focus on the good, travelling builds a veritable cornucopia of material for great future memories. Some of these memories are shared with friends over a drink, some of these memories actually become part of our DNA, helping shape our thoughts and positive outlook on the world in which we live. So please stop waiting, go and make memories that make you laugh uncontrollably, cry with excitement, connect with others and that give you sheer wonder.
Above all, get rid of your crappy suitcase, get a great set of luggage, it’s worth the investment, consider them a travelling buddy, when you think about it, your bags on the conveyor belt are usually the first welcome sight when you touch down!
Spencer Bromley