Travel Advice - Know yourself and your destination

Asking “What do you like to do  and  dislike doing while on vacation?" produces responses that are critical for travel planning, especially when hoping to plan a successful vacation. Consider including your favorite activities in every vacation you plan. If there are activities that you do not enjoy, there is little reason to suspect that trying them in a new location will produce a different result.

If you are traveling with someone who does not enjoy some of the activities you enjoy, let them find something else to do while you experience whatever it is that they "don’t do".

• Try to find vacation destinations that meet everyone’s needs.
• If that is not possible, graciously agree to try something that is one of your companion’s favorite activities or find something else to do.
  • When I have seen enough art, I take the afternoon off for a snooze, shopping, or a walk while my companion enjoys seeing and, then, telling me about what I missed.

Before you exclude any activity from your list of potential "to-do’s", ask yourself if your dislike is with the type of activity or your previous experience with similar activities.

• For example, don’t discount the great museums of the world because you expect them to mirror your local museum, which features dioramas of moth eaten, stuffed animals (curiously, usually beavers and moose), the ever popular "Hall of Gems", and the perennially out of order planetarium. The great museums of the world feature exhibits that are unique, unparalleled, and well worth a trip just to explore their wonders.

Do not make the mistake of assuming that places that sound similar will produce the same kind of vacation experience.

• For example, the enjoyment you found walking the “trendy” beach in Santa Monica or Laguna Beach, California may be missing when walking the windswept and, often, rainy beaches of the rugged Oregon coastline.
• Each of these geographies offers different delights and, generally, attracts visitors with different perspectives.

So, know yourself and know your destination. Familiarity with both will lead to great vacations.

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