I’ve been traveling consistently now for over eight years. In that time I’ve visited around seventy countries, many of them several times. But how I travel has changed considerably over those years.
While I might think that there are some “wrong” ways to travel, I don’t think that there is one correct way to do it. Goals and circumstances change, and different travel styles accommodate those changes.
Maybe more than anything, I’m using talking about travel to illustrate something that I like to harp on: the idea that you should constantly reevaluate your habits and patterns to make sure that they suit you. Sometimes we build identities around things we do rather than things we are, and that’s unhealthy.
My first serious international trip was nine months long. Todd and I sold everything, packed small bags, and circled the world. Some of our stops were short, but several lasted for a month or two.
Back then my goal was to just see and understand the world. I had a vague idea that my outlook on life was limited by my surroundings, and I wanted to see what life was like in different places. Staying for long times and removing myself from the United States accomplished that.
I can’t say now that I’ve seen and understand the whole world, but that’s no longer a weak point. I understand a lot more and have seen a lot. So while I still move closer to those goals when I travel, they’re no longer the primary reasons I do it.
Now I travel in much shorter bursts. I’m in San Francisco for three days, was just in Las Vegas for four, Austin for two, and San Francisco for a few before that. I don’t think I’ve been in any one place for more than three weeks consecutively in the past three years.
At the same time, I return to the same places over and over again. It’s impossible for me to count how many times I’ve been to Tokyo, Vegas, San Francisco, the island, or New York in the past few years. Budapest is new on my radar, but I’ve been four times in the past year or so.
A big principle in my life is flexibility. I try to build myself into a flexible person. I don’t need to be a master of too many skills, but I strive to be proficient at a basic level across as many disciplines as possible. At some level I can program, dance ballet, speak ten languages, rap, lead groups, entertain people, write, do construction, appreciate art, cook, and do many other things. I’m a beginner in many of those areas, but having any proficiency gives me a lot of flexibility in what I can achieve and where I can be useful.
This principle also extends to travel. My goal is to be able to be anywhere at any time if the situation calls for it. If there was a good reason to be in Shanghai tomorrow, it wouldn’t be a big deal to get there. I’ve got frequent flyer miles banked, can counteract jetlag, can work on the plane as well as at my destination, and can get by in Chinese. In the same way that someone’s day might be altered but not totally disrupted by a change in weather, my life is altered but not disrupted by changing my location.
While before I used to go to places for the sake of the place itself, now I move around more because of the people. I always come back to San Francisco because it has the highest concentration of good friends. My friend Nick and his family invited me to go on a cruise with them in the Baltic Sea this summer, and my friend Jimmy was planning on being in Europe afterwards, so I’ll spend the late summer and fall in Europe.
The hassle of switching locations used to be a big deal, so I would try to minimize it by staying in one place for long periods of time. As I’ve grown accustomed to it, moving around a lot impacts my productivity and schedule far less than it used to, so I do it more.
I’ve also found that certain types of travel aren’t as valuable to me as they used to be. I used to find solo travel exciting, but now I’m most likely to hole up in my airbnb and work if I’m by myself. So if I’m going to be by myself, I just go back to Vegas where cost of living is low and productivity is high. Traveling to new countries just for the sake of seeing a new place is also less exciting to me. I still enjoy it, but it’s less revelatory, so I only do it if there’s some other reason to go.
This is how I travel now, but I expect it will change in the upcoming years. If I was traveling this same way ten years from now I’d be concerned that I had stopped evolving as a person. After all, our habits and routines should reflect who we are.
Maybe I’ll even stop traveling. It’s hard to imagine that now, but you never know. Part of being flexible is having the flexibility to stay in one place if there’s some reason to.
Travel is a big part of my life, so it’s worthwhile to examine it and make sure that it still reflects my priorities and goals, and isn’t just a vestige of an old identity. It may not be travel for you, but it’s worth examining those things that take up a lot of your time to make sure that your time is being spent in a way that aligns with your goals.
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Photo is a bamboo forest in Noumea, New Caledonia. Probably the most “off the beaten path” place I’ve visited recently.
My new book sales have been really bad! I still enjoyed writing the book, but you readers have spoken… I will only write self-help books in the future. I’ll probably write the next one I have planned in the fall.
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