Travel Advice - Being in the right frame of mind will help you enjoy your vacation

Approaching travel with the right attitude is a must. Sure, there are a lot of things to arrange before you go. Yes, managing all the travel tasks and meeting your obligations at work do vie for attention before your departure.

If you are not looking forward to your next vacation because your last vacation was a drag, make sure to plan your next trip appropriately (See our other articles on travel planning).

•  A trip during which the only "events" that happen are good ones is usually the result of modest travel planning  and is not very hard to accomplish.

Having a good time during your vacation depends on you being in the right frame of mind when you set out.

• Remember that vacations are your time to enjoy yourself and your family.
• You will be in a new setting of your choice, doing the things that you want to do, seeing things that you do not see everyday.
• What could be better and who wouldn’t want to be having that kind of fun?
• Once you are out the door, you need to be sure to put yourself in the frame a mind to have a great time.
• After all, going on vacation is an elective; you do not have to do it.

During your travels, if one of your vacation activities was not what you expected, consider it a lesson to be learned and make the best of it.

• The examples of “gotchas” are endless and since you cannot control them, learn from them, so that they do not influence you more than once.
• Read our Information Guide on Travel Tips to avoid many of these surprises.

Everything that happens to you on a vacation is an experience that you should embrace and enjoy for all that it is worth. Even when an event isn’t what you hoped for, it is likely that it will sound like an epic adventure when you are relaying it to your friends.

There will be times when something does not go right that is completely out of your control (flight delay/cancellation, traffic jam, rain/snow, etc.).

• When something goes wrong, you need to accept that this is part of life and don’t let it ruin your vacation.
  • After all, your irritation with these situations will only make you crankier but not change the facts.
• In other words, "Get over it".

For example, during a road trip through the Western US, we stopped at the Grand Canyon. It was late in the season (early October) but we were hoping to see a panorama of distant vistas bathed in the brilliant sunlight common to the Southwest.  Sounds great, doesn't it?

• When we arrived, it was snowing and massive banks of clouds were blowing around the rim, obscuring the views of the Canyon’s impressive sandstone formations.
• It was cold, wet, and not the kind of weather we desired.
• Conversely, we had never seen the Canyon in snow and many of the pictures that we took were stunning, showing a delightful contrast between the snow and the reddish sandstones of the Canyon.
• While we were not able to do some of the hiking that we had hoped, we were able to see the Canyon from a new perspective.
  • We adjusted our schedule by spending less time at the Grand Canyon and, instead, stopped at many of the overlooks on the Little Colorado River that we could now fit into our schedule.
  •  By the way, the overlooks provided great views and photo opportunities. It was not what we hoped to see but it was beautiful and lots of fun.

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