Traveling is one of life’s great joys. It’s a way to see the world and learn about places you’ve never been before. Here are some ways to help you make the most of your travel experience.

 

 

 

1.An itinerary can be helpful, but you won’t be able to plan everything down to the smallest detail. How could you possibly have known about that little restaurant at the back of that alley before you arrived, or that friendly local who invited who into his house to hear him play thesanturi? Often, the best parts of a trip are a result of an adventure.

 

 

 

2. Not getting what you want or getting what you didn’t want can be a blessing in disguise

 

When you have to take a later bus or a different ferry, you have no choice but to accept it. This is how a lot of successful people learn to be happy when things don’t go their way.

 

 

 

4. Price and value are two different things

 

The cost of a trip may be a couple of thousand dollars, depending on how big you go. But the value it could have on your life and your memories could be priceless. Think about how much you are willing to spend, sure, but also consider what else you want from your vacation, who you want to meet, what kind of experiences you want to have, and how you want to remember it ten years from now.

 

 

 

5. Don’t follow others’ footsteps and find your own path

 

Traveling in a guided tour can be informative and fun, but I look forward to wandering away from the group, down labyrinthine alleys, into falafel shops and sectarian neighborhoods, to experience my own understanding of a city and its environs. The same applies to when I come home from my trip.

 

 

 

6. Living in the moment

 

Traveling is kind of like being in love. Except instead of being intimate with another person, you become intimate with a place. Those moments of pleasure when the sun hits your face and you look out onto a foreign countryside, or arrive at a new train depot in a bustle of taxis and hawkers—those are the moments you, or at least I, remember, and live for, again and again.