How I will Achieve more Amazing Travel in 2017 and You can too!

I have sat here with a blank screen for quite some time as I started writing this post. One of our readers asked us what we are planning for 2017 and hoping to achieve in travel. The question caused me to pause because I really don’t know for sure what we are doing yet. This had me to laugh a little bit because I realized as I type this I brought in the New Year in Nang Trang, Vietnam and we are eight months into our year long trip. So I guess it’s accurate to say we’re starting the New Year off with travel!

With our current style of travel, we literally often do not know where we will go tomorrow. We will arrive to a town usually have booked two nights and then if we like it we will extend our stay. Prior in this trip I was so sure we’d be in Cambodia by December as we had only applied for a 30 day visa to Thailand. Chris getting bit by a dog changed all that so we paid to extend our visa and stay in Thailand a month longer.

 

That said, we do have a rough sketch of what we are thinking for 2017:

Vietnam >>> Myanmar >>> Nepal >>> India >>> probably home >>> probably VT State Parks for summer season >>> probably early Christmas with families >>> unknown next travel adventure. That is what we got so far!

 

I realize not everyone is able to be as fluid with their travel plans. If you are limited to a few weeks or a month you might need some more concrete plans. But no matter your travel style, I thought I could still share our mental process of how we think about and decide on our travels.  I believe that how we think about balancing our life and travel makes a huge difference on both how much we travel and how satisfied we feel with what we will achieve.

For me, there are some main themes I need to have in order to fill fulfilled with both travel and life. I think they can apply to all of us no matter if you are a weekend warrior or a yearlong backpacker.

They are the ability to have: freedom, passion, goals, community and impact.

Even if I had endless money, the way I think about then act with these areas in mind directly affects my happiness and well-being.

Here is how I think about each of these:

Freedom: what do you need to feel free?

I think freedom first stems from our attitude. If you can form the habit of consistently having a positive attitude, your life will be leaps and bounds easier than those struggling around you. One of the best books I have ever read on this is Viktor Frankl’s Man’s search for Meaning. Frankl is a Holocaust survivor and the father of logotheraphy. There are many things in this life that will happen to us, both in and out of our control, but the one thing no one can ever take away from us is the power to choose our own attitude. Read this book and talk about it. It’s good.

Achieve Vagabond Way Vietnam

Passion: what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning?

Passion is a word that gets thrown around a lot and people are like, ‘What does it mean to have passion?’ Well for me, passion is directly related to having a light at the end of my tunnel. I love so many things: travel, art, writing, coffee, eating, hiking, wildlife, oceans, pens (yes, I really like having a favorite pen!) and a lot of other things. So in order for me to go and pursue my passions, i.e., take a year off and travel around Southeast Asia or have the funds to spend almost a week on a small island in the Great Barrier Reef reachable only by small plane or just have the money to buy my next favorite pen, I need to take ownership of all my actions that will either allow or disallow me to pursue those quests. Over years I have created (along with Chris) the habit of having almost all our actions to be positively contributing and aiding in the ability for us to follow our likes, ambitions, goals or passions. So when some people feel drudgery having to get up for a job, I’m like bring it on! I’ll do that and I will happily do whatever it takes to complete that job because I know that choice is directly going to help me be able to follow through on pursuing my passions.

Achieve Travel Vagabond Way

Rise and shine! Time to get up and start the day!

Goals: What are your goals? Both big and small?

Setting goals is something that can still send me into a roller coaster of emotions if I am not careful. It’s so easy to pick up a magazine and think my IRA savings is not big enough or to look at someone else who is traveling around the world with no money and writing some really cool book about it. My goal is to use this time I have been given. One only needs to look at key major influencers like Steve Jobs or Carrie Fisher. For all intents and purposes, they had the ability to have access to best possible health care available, yet no amount of money could keep them from death. There is nothing we can do to safe guard nor guarantee our time. I plan for the future and act accordingly, but I don’t put all my eggs in one basket. I live for now, not a future that I hope to make it to with good health.

Achieve Travel Vagabond Way

Aim high for your goals. Work hard so you have the strength to make it all the way.

Community: what do you need for a community?

I have come to really appreciate having community in my life. This was something I really understood and felt after I went to Vermont. I also feel a very strong connection to the people I have met while traveling and have a large network of travel community friends and bonds. Our families are always our back bones of support as well. Here’s the amazing thing when you meet someone while traveling: we get to see each other for who we are and want to be. It’s not what you were when you were in high school or how everyone thinks of you in relation to your job. When you meet someone on the road, sure you might ask what you do, where you’re from, but there is this unspoken and shared bond created just by the joy of each of you being out of your home country and traveling somewhere new. For almost every person doing this has made sacrifices and choices to make this happen. Ask any traveler, young or old, full time job or part time job, retired or still working, they consciously make sacrifices and choices to enable themselves to travel. There is a million other things they could have spent their money on (better cars, clothes, more money into a retirement account “for later.”) Each of us have clearly said, by our actions, that travel is what is important to us. And when you do that, the experiences and people that travel brings into your life can be very powerful.

Achieve Travel Vagabond Way

Impact: having what you do feel like it ‘counts’

Ok, talking about or defining impact can be kinda tricky. Simon Sinek touches on this in some of his leadership speeches if you want to check them out.  I think the majority of people want to feel like they have a “positive impact” in the world. I think we get hung up on this or misconstrue what it means to ‘have impact’ or what ‘that should look like.’ We tend to get focused on believing it means we must possess these super altruistic characteristics and that we have to work at non-profits or volunteer extensively or just do *something* that clearly signifies or shows we will ‘have impact.’ My thoughts have changed on this over the course of my life. I think that to actively pursue, scrape and claw your way through this life, to fall flat on your face and get up again and to do whatever it takes to figure out what will get you to be excited to get out of bed in the morning is the best possible way to use your time and give this world impact. If you can figure out what will drive you to keep going on your personal development goals no matter how difficult the obstacles, the positive ambition will spill outwards. Even if you are not sure what it is you want to go after, if you don’t put all your effort into finding what you like, even if you have to try a million things you realize what you don’t like, it will probably be impossible for you to achieve the feeling you are seeking. (And I think that feeling is different for everyone. It may not be travel for you, but it is your job to find out what drives you.) When we are driven to act in a way that allows us to feel fulfilled, that feeling will spill outwards. Sacrifices don’t feel like such big sacrifices anymore. They become conscious choices we make so we can achieve our goals and work towards the life of our dreams. When our internal processing works like this, feelings of satisfaction and motivation will raise exponentially more.

Achieve Travel Vagabond Way

So, if the question is asked of me, “How are you going to achieve more travel in your life and what are you going to do?” The first thing I am going to do is keeping working on all the things above. I realize I could have written a list post or had five more ways to save money for travel type of deal. But the thing is, if your attitude is off track, you can read all the goals lists you want – it’s quite unlikely you will succeed in taking sustained action on them. It’s easy at first to cut back on Starbucks to every other day or to ride your bike to work two days a week, but if you can’t figure out the why, why you want to make a certain sacrifice or change a thinking habit, there’s no way you’ll keep it up. Why would you? It’s like, ‘Give me the instant gratification now. Please.’

 

Just so you know too, I constantly struggle with all of this. I go through ups and downs, internal battles and having the keep myself in check from thinking the grass is greener for other people. Sometimes I do a really terrible job at this, other times I do better. But the one constant is, no matter if I feel like I am flying or trying to drag a hundred pound ball and chain behind me, I do the work.

 

If you are at feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, uncertain or self defeating like ‘I could never achieve my true dreams,’ one piece of practical help I can offer is to actively have inspirational books and audio in your life or some sort of positive way to get the message ‘yes you can’ over and over to your brain.

Achieve Travel Vagabond Way

For my personality whenever I let this habit fall to the wayside, the difference is night and day. I will feel so down and discouraged about everything. I need the help of others around me to keep my spirits high and help propel on my journey. Whenever I am doing more passive work online that doesn’t require intense thinking, I will have a youtube channel on with something that is uplifting and inspiring. I will listen to it over and over and over again. It’s just on in the back ground, not ever that loud, but just enough to bring in the energy that “yes I can do this” over and over again into my brain. I also put active work into building connections and community with other people who have similar goals, such as Brandy and Paolo from Art of Living on the Road or my amazing artist friend Jess whose art you can see here. We encourage each other to be positive, create and share both our successes and misses with each other.

Some of my recent favorite influencers that I find very uplifting on youtube are: Jim Rohn, Marie Forleo, these motivational compilations, Ted Talks and just so many others that pop up on the side bar. For books, I still love SARK, The Power of Now and The Way of the Peaceful Warrior.

 

So if you want to travel more, achieve more or feel more satisfied with the direction you are going, put effort in being kind to yourself and figuring out the best way to create healthy habits of the mind. If you can figure out your why, you can figure out a way around any obstacle that may fall into your path. Very best wishes to us all as we figure out *why* we want to get out of bed every day for this year and beyond.

***

What do you think? Can working on your mindset really help you travel more?

***

Advertisements

19 Responses to “How I will Achieve more Amazing Travel in 2017 and You can too!

  • There certainly are a lot of lofty goals and a GREAT determination here! It’s so much easier keeping a positive attitude when you’re doing what you love. Keep it going…

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thank you! Although I think it’s the keeping a positive attitude with the things you don’t like is what can really help to make a difference too. There are plenty of things that may be things I need to do for a commitment I’ve made and they may not be my most favorite thing ever. But knowing that big picture I am working towards goals that motivate me, that makes everything so much easier! 🙂

  • T T T, a lot of thoughts, a lot of travel a lot of things….it is your “tapestry of life” and how you “weave” it ! Remarkable….I think maybe a “flying carpet!” and it is beautiful
    mare

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thanks Mare! Yes, I do believe in some form or another, we each can choose to play an active role in creating our own beautiful tapestry. 🙂

  • Oh my good, really i admire you because i cannot even find time to have two travel yearly. Ok but I need to do a promise in 2017 i willl do three times vacation and travel somewhere!!
    Johnny Q recently posted…Snugpak chrysalis 3 sleeping bag review for the backpackerMy Profile

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thanks Johnny! Let us know how your travels go! 🙂

  • That is a very well written article however travel is not necessarily a goal everyone should strive for. On the other side of the coin are the people who are content with where they are and what they have and don’t need to be constantly searching for that next sight or experience to make them feel fulfilled. To take it to the extreme, if many more people became travelers then all the unique places you’ve seen would be overrun with people and would loose that specialness you were looking for. So if your goal is to encourage people to travel, be careful what you wish for

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Hey Tom! Well I definitely agree with you that travel is not for everyone. This post was written in mind for people who asked the question of how to travel more. I kept starting to write this post over and over because the thing was I realized it’s not a question of ‘how do I travel more’ but rather ‘how do I identify what I think will cause me to fill fulfilled and then how can I achieve that goal in my life.’ My hope in writing this post was to convey a wish for each person to figure out what gives them internal motivation and to chase that with everything they’ve got. So whether that’s travel, art, family, science, whatever or some combination of it all, I so sincerely hope for individuals to feel driven to want to get out of bed in the morning. Thank you for your comment.

  • You make great points about travel and life. Having a positive attitude, remembering your goals, and feeling that you have an impact makes a huge difference in any aspect of life. Thank you for sharing your insights and reminding readers how to find what matters to them.
    Brooke of Passport Couture recently posted…Chinese New Year 2017 InspirationMy Profile

    • tiffany
      7 years ago

      Thank you so much Brooke! Yes, having a positive attitude just makes such a difference. I hope for everyone to go out there and find what they are looking for! Thanks for the comment. #flyawayfriday

  • amazing post about travel. You are a goal driven!
    I’m really so excited to see all your travel plans for 2017
    Mahmoud recently posted…Hidden Stories of the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Tahrir Square, CairoMy Profile

  • Making some great points about traveling and enjoying life! Can’t wait for what you’ll be sharing with us this year! Woohoo! Thanks for joining Fly Away Friday, hope to see you again this week!
    Kana recently posted…10 Tips & Tricks for Business TravelMy Profile

    • tiffany
      6 years ago

      Thanks so much Kana! Just so much traveling to be done! 🙂

  • Love this!! Once you put where you want to go out there and figure out how you’re going to make it work is the best way to make the plans actually happen. We had a lot of goals for 2016 but we never saw them through fruition since we didn’t plan it out!! I’m so excited to see where 2017 takes you!!
    Chloe recently posted…Half Day in Zion National ParkMy Profile

    • tiffany
      6 years ago

      Hey Chloe! Well, I often take heart in remember that Tim Ferris often says he achieves (don’t quote me on this) but like 30% of the goals he lays out for himself. He makes some analogy like this, so I’m like, ok, I’m probably human on making way more goals than I can achieve. Hope 2017 was good for you! 🙂

  • Hi Tiffany,

    This is a super post!

    I totally agree that attitude is the cornerstone that makes everything else possible. Sure, there will always be obstacles but with the right attitude they become learning experiences and not things that keep us from doing what we want and love.

    2017 is already a great year of travel for us. We didn’t travel enough last year, but we’ve already changed that this year.

    My husband and I are travelers by heart but we’ve neglected that passion for a couple of years. So, I’ve started a travel idea board to keep the motivation going and to help us focus when we get bogged down.

    The points you mentioned here are going on our board to remind us of the way forward when things get ‘too busy’.

    Thanks a bunch,
    Astrid
    Astrid recently posted…Best Canned Food for SurvivalMy Profile

    • tiffany
      6 years ago

      Hey Astrid, Ah….thank you so much for your comment. Well I think all of us go through phases where we ‘neglect’ something for a bit of time. Sometimes I think the plus side to that is that then when we do cycle back around to it we are pumped and full of energy to charge into it. Hope you had a great 2017! 🙂

  • I would like to thank for the great quality information, I really, really appreciate your time and efforts for writing this. it really helped me a lot. Thank you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge