Mar

Travel Tips: Check in More, Carry on Less

by Joyce McGreevy on March 13, 2017

Instead of packing in more and more, reflect on traveling light. (Bergen, Norway)
© Joyce McGreevy

Lessons Learned from Traveling Full Time

Travel is packed with learning experiences, like when to check in and what to carry on. Here are a few travel tips and lessons learned from traveling full time.

Don’t get jet-lagged before the flight.

An in-flight view of Arizona inspires a writer’s travel tips about what not to carry on, like stress and too much luggage, lessons learned from traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Don’t fry before you fly. (Somewhere over Arizona)
© Joyce McGreevy

Does your travel checklist rival the Labors of Hercules? Racing from mall to mall, turning down invitations from loved ones, packing at 2 am for a 6 am flight—that’s no way to transition into travel.

Other countries have stores, too. Currently, I’m on a tiny Greek island located a day’s journey from anywhere. With a population of around 1,000, there are just a few shops in the island’s only town—and each is remarkably well stocked.

Leave it, don’t lug it.

A cat curled up in an open suitcase inspires travel tips about what not to check in or carry on when traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

You can only carry so much. (Evanston, Illinois)
© Joyce McGreevy

If you wouldn’t wear x number of outfits in a month at home, don’t pack x-times-y-squared that number for a week abroad.

On one 3-month trip, I hiked in the mountains, swam in the sea, attended a wedding and went to a movie premiere. Everything I wore fit in one small suitcase—and there were still items I never needed.

Know your own essentials.

I always pack a favorite apron. The kitchen may be rented, the country as yet unknown, but the moment I put on my apron, I feel at home.

For me, travel includes cooking, chatting with greengrocers, and a local cooking lesson or culinary walk. It deepens my sense of home, wherever home happens to be.

A man selling figs in Kadikoy, Turkey inspires culinary travel tips and other lessons learned from traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Eat the food, drink the water, talk with strangers. (Kadiköy, Turkey)
© Joyce McGreevy

Never let complainers rain on your plane to Spain.

No matter when you travel, someone will say you shouldn’t. It’ll be too crowded, deserted, hot, cold, expensive, touristy, and so on.

About Barcelona I was told, “You’re going in winter? That’s totally the wrong time.”

“What time of year do you recommend?”

“Don’t know, never been there. But winter, yuck. I hear it rains all the time.”

Do pack your sense of humor.

It didn’t rain that winter, but that’s beside the point. One summer I had an unexpected layover in Reykjavik. With 10 hours before check in, I’d pre-arranged a private tour. Excitedly, I exited the airport.

A rain-obscured view of Iceland inspires travel tips about keeping one’s perspective and other lessons learned from traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Behold! The beauty of Iceland!
© Joyce McGreevy

The wind shoved me back into the terminal like a wall of NFL linemen. I had two choices:

carry on, as in rant and rave at the weather gods.
carry on, as in do the limbo under the gale and go meet my driver.

I shocked Stefan by showing up and then spent the day absorbing insights while everything around us absorbed the rain.

Photo ops be damned. It was a marvelous day—and Iceland will still be there when I return.

Likewise, don’t be too quick to bypass places that others dismiss. It’s often just a matter of broadening your radius. Walk around, meet people who live there, and see for yourself.

A tower at Malmöhus Castle, Malmö, Sweden inspires travel tips about visiting underrated cities when traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

When people say things like, “Oh, Malmö, Sweden isn’t really Sweden,” go anyway.
© Joyce McGreevy

Don’t turn precaution into paranoia.

Yes, there are places where pickpockets and others of ill intent operate—it’s called Earth. Travelers anywhere should take sensible precautions. Just don’t believe everything you read online, including about your own community, or you’ll never leave the house.

Separate facts from urban legends of the “OMG my friend’s cousin’s dentist knows this tourist who got into a taxi and had a kidney stolen” variety.

Be for real.

Don’t be the person who keeps asking, “How much is this in real money?” or “What time is it really?” The money’s real and the time zone that matters most is the one you’re in.

Hikers above Royal National Park in New South Wales, Australia, inspire a writer’s travel tips about enjoying simple pleasures while traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Hiking in Australia: Our packs were light, but our hearts were full.
© Joyce McGreevy

Try local foods and brands. At a sacred pageant in Italy, one dialogue shattered the hush:

Traveler 1: “Didn’t the drugstore have deodorant?”

Traveler 2: “Yeah, but not American deodorant.”

School yourself.

Consider a travel tip every schoolteacher knows: Build background. You’ll create rich context for your experiences.

Here in Greece, I’ve been taking classes in Greek history, language, and mythology. It’s about experiencing shivers of recognition, epiphanies about the culture, and the sheer joy of deepening my sense of place.

Saving up long-term for travel? Building background is a great way to stay motivated. Listen to Italian as you fold laundry. Find cross-cultural connections in your local museums. Follow a podcast like “Londonist.” Read Turkish novels, listen to Bulgarian music.

Glasgow's Kelvingrove Art Gallery inspires travel tips and other lessons learned while traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

Heads up! Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery shows why museums are must-see’ums.
© Joyce McGreevy

Do take a second look.

Sinclair Lewis said that those who see one cathedral ten times have seen something, but those who spend half an hour in each of a hundred cathedrals have seen nothing at all. Revisiting places is revelatory. Go beyond “been there, done that” and take a closer look.

An ancient stone lion in Bodrum, Turkey inspires art-centric travel tips as a writer checks in about lessons learned from traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

In Turkey, art may imitate cats . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

A scene of feral cats posing like statues in Istanbul, Turkey inspire art-centric travel tips as a writer checks in about lessons learned from traveling full time. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

. . .and vice versa.
© Joyce McGreevy

There’s a world of places to explore—wherever we are. Take travel tips from the Slow Food movement: Don’t rush. Do savor.

Oh, I see: The most important lesson learned from traveling full time is that we’re all traveling full time. Eventually, our mortal passports won’t be eligible for renewal. Until then, check in more often, carry on less “baggage,” and be here for this journey of a lifetime.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 2 Comments

Art of Travel/Life Lessons/Worldwide Sites

Nov

The Awe-Inspiring Monterey Bay Aquarium

by Eva Boynton on November 28, 2016

Silhouettes of people visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium, showing the awe-inspiring experiences from two sides of the glass (image © Sam Anaya A.).

Travelers embark on a journey to another world.
© Sam Anaya A.

Worlds Connect Through a Sheet of Glass

The sea is as near as we come to another world.*

Imagine entering a forest of moons, alien ellipses all floating and pulsing with color in a dark blue environment. Their long arms extend, overlapping like tangled branches in a floating forest. Welcome to the world of jellies, one that seems light-years away from our own.

Sea nettle Jellies swimming at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, showing awe-inspiring experiences that connect travelers to different worlds (image © Sam Anaya A.).

Watch these jellies long enough, and you will be transported to another world.
© Sam Anaya A.

We often travel to discover a world different, distant, and new. We search for surprise, intrigue, and awe from foreign landscapes. But here at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, an awe-inspiring world is just on the opposite side of the glass.

Plunge Right In

In travel, jumping right in to a new place often reveals immediate and eye-opening surprises.

I start my travels in the Monterey Bay Aquarium that way. Walking past the entrance, underneath goliath sculptures of grey whales and orcas, I check my map. It says I can stay to the shoreline and work my way gradually to the deep canyon exhibit. But I decide to plunge right in, and head first to the giant tank that captures a piece of the open ocean.

Pacific sardines swimming in a ceiling tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, illustrating awe-inspiring worlds (image © Sam Anaya A.).

Silver lights swirl above, Pacific Sardines mimic a whirlpool.
© Sam Anaya A.

The environment in the aquarium changes and a deep blue quiets all travelers. Space opens up, and the tank’s wall of windows reveals another world. Though my feet are on terra firma, all senses tell me I’ve been submerged into the open ocean.

An open ocean exhibit with the silhouettes of visitors in front at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, showing what kind of awe-inspiring connections made to an underwater world (image © Sam Anaya A.).

Travelers pause to take in the destination.
© Sam Anaya A.

My legs and arms are dappled with light from above, just like the sea life I see in front of me. A Green Sea Turtle slowly glides to my left, and a school of Pacific Mackerel swims toward me as if they will cross the glass border and pass me by. Plunging right into the aquarium at these deep-water tanks struck me with awe and inspired me to keep traveling.

Explore the Depths

Traveling gives us an opportunity to explore the depths of life in another place. Looking past the glass barriers, I let the open ocean take me on a journey into a deep blue that resembles a world of zero gravity. I press my face against the glass to get a better look at a Cross Jelly.

A tiny jelly at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, showing the awe-inspiring moments from a world that resembles outer space (image © Sam Anaya A.).

In this world, aliens and UFOs are real.
© Sam Anaya A.

This little spaceship, lit by a bioluminescent band around its edge, floats through the stars. Its muscles contract and relax to pulse through the water, as if sending a Morse code to us humans on the other side of the glass.

A moon jelly at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, showing how awe-inspiring moments can be collected when visiting another world (image © Sam Anaya A.).

This moon rises and sets with a skirt of tentacles.
© Sam Anaya A.

I let go of my footing on Earth and let the ebb and flow of the ocean current carry me. To my right, Moon Jellies drift by like lunar dancers suspended in time. Suddenly they pulse their translucent bodies to change direction. I feel that same sense of awe that travelers feel when they immerse themselves in a new world.

Appreciate the Unknown

When we travel with an open perspective, a foreign environment can be beautiful, elegant and, extraordinary, allowing us to appreciate differences, make connections, and learn something new. My trip to the aquarium was just that.

A squid swimming in an exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, showing what kind of awe-inspiring moments that take place in a different kind of world (image © Sam Anaya A.).

Life underwater dances, glides, swirls, swims, and sways.
© Sam Anaya A.

When I met a Big Fin Reef Squid, it was hard to make a personal connection. These alien ballerinas, translucent dancers all, ripple their tutus and shoot air to propel them backwards.

While I try to make sense of these unbelievable creatures, a five-year-old boy approached the glass and said, “Aw, look at these little cuties!” This little traveler’s sense of wonder and curiosity surpassed barriers, seeing another species just as worthy as his own.

A pacific octopus changes colors in the Monterey Bay Aquarium, showing an awe-inspiring creature from another world (image © Sam Anaya A.).

Can you recognize the creature in the dark?
© Sam Anaya A.

I move on to the dark realm of the Giant Pacific Octopus. A master of disguise, this octopus transforms its color to match its surroundings.

I’m in awe. Right before my eyes, I see colors change from a silver grey to a dark maroon red. With the color change complete, the octopus lifts off the rocks and descends like a red parachute to the glass that separates our worlds. I put my hands to the hard surface, hoping to feel the suction cups that unfurl across the glass.

These two creatures move, look, and live so differently than me, but still I can find a connection and appreciate the ocean’s infinite variations.

Oh, I See the Travel Connections

Traveling is about making awe-inspiring connections with different worlds. The Monterey Bay Aquarium transports us as travelers to an underwater world while still breathing our own air. Though separated from that world by glass, travelers feel a part of it.

In front of the towering kelp forest, volunteer Christine clarifies for us another important connection: “Just remember, everything ends up at the beach.”

Just as new worlds affect us (and we are often never the same), the people and places we meet on our travels are equally affected by us. As travelers we must acknowledge that effect—the “glass” that separates our worlds is actually much thinner than we think.

Visitors in front of the kelp forest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, showing an awe-inspiring interaction between worlds (image © Sam Anaya A.).

When worlds connect, neither is the same thereafter.
© Sam Anaya A.

*These apt words appear at the entrance of the Open Ocean exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, whom we thank for its constant efforts to connect our worlds. And thank you, Scott Stratton, for connecting me with the aquarium.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Eva Boynton 3 Comments

Art of Travel/Nature Discovery

Nov

Inherited Wanderlust

by Eva Boynton on November 8, 2016

Three kids walking through a valley in Switzerland, illustrating how wanderlust is passed down in traveling families (image © Peter Boynton).

A family legacy can begin anywhere. My brother and I inherited our travel inspiration hiking through Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland.
© Peter Boynton

Traveling Families—At Home in the World

We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us. —Anonymous

Do adventures need to end when a family begins? “Absolutely not!” say families who choose to spend months or even years connecting and learning as they travel the world.

What does it take to get the show on the road?

Share the wanderlust. Make travel a priority by putting value on the experience; if it’s important to you, then it’s important to show your kids.

Meet two traveling families, who share the kind of “Oh, I See” moments that can happen only on the road. They may inspire you to create your own family legacy of wanderlust.

The Bicycling Family

Chris, Julie, Leo, and Charlotte Conk began their family travels in the summer of 2011, cycling 1100 km (683.5 miles) around Lake St. Jean in Quebec. Leo was 6 (pedaling) and Charlotte 4 (pulled in a chariot).

But they did not stop there. In 2015, they jumped at their chance to travel for a year. They sold their home in Quebec, bought bicycles, and pedaled 7,400 km (4,598 miles) to Guatemala. Leo, now 11, rode his bike, and Charlotte, 8, who started in a tandem bicycle, changed to her own bike along the way.

Four family members on bicycles, showing how traveling families share their wanderlust. (image © Conk family)

“Can you believe a family of four sold their home, bought bicycles, put everything on their bikes and pedaled to Guatemala?” asks Chris Conk.

Julie and Chris were both travelers before they met in Chiapas, Mexico. They recognize the personal importance of travel and the growth that comes from it. Chris explains, “We took this trip because we wanted to give our kids some perspective.”

A traveling family cycles on a dirt road surrounded by tropical plants, showing parents who share their wanderlust with their kids. (image © Eva Boynton)

Julie adds, “It’s important to keep doing what makes you, you, as a mother. It’s important for me to share my deepest values with my kids and stay true to myself.”

Travel gave the Conk family a chance to imagine together . . . daily. For their children, it was education by astonishment, world schooling, living education. It was also the freedom to daydream.

A young girl, part of a traveling family, draws at a picnic table, as she experiences her family's legacy of wanderlust. (image © Conk Family)

The Conks built their relationships with each other and the world. They teamed up to choose routes, find campgrounds and lodgings, try new foods, watch out for each other, and play together.

A young girl and boy playing in the water underneath a palapa in Guatemala, members of a traveling family that shares its wanderlust. (image © Sam Anaya A.).

On the road, they participated in random dance parties, drew their surroundings, wrote about their experiences, created cross-cultural connections, collected bottle caps in Cuba, and spoke three different languages across 8 countries. Most important, this traveling family came away with more dreams and fewer fears.

My Traveling Family

In 1938, our family legacy began with my grandfather, who traveled 3,000 miles around Europe by bicycle.

When my parents met, they explored Europe together, wandering through the Swiss Alps, French backroads, and Greek caves. My mother traveled overland from Europe to India (through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) in 1977. My father started a tour company that took Americans (and his family) overseas to hike and cycle throughout Europe.

Little did they know, their travels were forming a family value that my brother and I would inherit.

Kids playing on a playground in Switzerland, showing how traveling families pass down inherited wanderlust (image © Peter Boynton).

My first memories of travel are of hiking and sliding in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, looking up at the surrounding snow-capped mountains. I remember cycling on roads with fields of lavender on each side in Provence, France. I complained about cycle travel then, though ironically it has turned into a life pursuit and my favorite mode of transportation and travel.

My brother and I grew up among the kindness of strangers. My mother explains being wonderfully surprised at how strangers “were so welcoming and interested when we traveled with little kids.”

A man carrying his son in France, showing the inherited wanderlust passed down in traveling families (image © Normi Burke).

On one occasion, my parents were traveling with my brother as a baby. They entered a store to spend the last of their travel money. Without hesitation, the owners of the store, an Italian couple, began kissing my brother’s pudgy arms and legs. They refused money from my parents and sent them away with free snacks and souvenirs.

My brother and I inherited wanderlust at an early age from seeing the beauty of the world and being surrounded by different cultures and languages. It is a family legacy that I have continued today and that my brother intends to share with his children.

Oh, I See the Family Values

Traveling families—like the Conks and my own—see travel as a critical family value. As my mother explains, “It changed me to travel. I became much more open-minded and aware of other people. Why wouldn’t I want that for my children?”

Through our family travels, I developed a comfort with change, the kind that comes from sleeping in a different bed every night. And I hold close the legacies of my parents—the wanderlust, the open-mindedness, and that comfortable feeling of being at home in the world.

Leo and Charlotte will likely know these legacies, too. And that’s a priceless inheritance.

Two silhouettes of people jumping in the Alps of Switzerland, showing how traveling families take advantage of their inherited wanderlust (image © Eva Boynton)

Follow the adventures of Bicycling Family.

Want the secret to how families make travel happen? Check out 14 Nomadic Families. See more about the Conk’s trip in this video.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Eva Boynton 1 Comment

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