Wander logo

Don't Forget Your Toothbrush

Seriously, Don't.

By Mvrq.McKnZPublished 3 years ago 5 min read
Like
You smile when you're prepared...

I get it, you’re preparing for vacation, and who wants to think of planning for a vacation as research? Sounds a lot like homework to me, and I never did much of that stuff in school. Be that as it may, it’s wildly important. I remember traveling to a city I hadn’t taken the time to research and find out information about before I got there. When I arrived, I saw that there was no public transportation [I’ll discuss why that was so important later], and saw that Uber/Lyft was not a thing there, AND it was dawning on me that I didn’t know a single person in this city. In a nutshell: I was stuck, a thing I wouldn’t have been had I done my research. Fortunately, I was financially equipped to travel back home. Though I lost out on what could have been an amazing experience because I didn’t take the time to do my due diligence, it did teach me the importance of making sure I know where I’m going.

Fact is, you’re only going to learn but so much about a travel destination by reading about it. As a matter of fact, any traveler will tell you the only real way to get to know a place is to go there and experience it for yourself. So the annoyance of “research” is more than understandable. But when I say research needs to be done, I’m speaking mainly about the logistics of your trip. There are the obvious concerns: time and money. Do you have a sufficient amount of both? Most people planning for a trip have to take time off of work, or may be using personal days/vacation time. Then there’s the concern of traveling and your pay period; will you get paid from work during your travel? Will you not? If not, are you financially equipped to cover your expenses until you do get paid again?

See, while traveling is the time you’re supposed to be able to set aside to “let your hair down”, as they say, the reality of your day-to-day life comes back around a lot quicker than you’ll realize. So even after a vacation, as enjoyable as it may have been, if you haven’t secured how you will continue to maintain your pre-vacation lifestyle. People are not kidding when they say “time flies when you’re having fun”. Before you know it, you’re back to the same four walls, running the same mill of day-to-day life.

The aforementioned advice might sound like a roundabout way of saying ‘make sure you have your money together’ –and it is– but it’s more than just making sure you have your money together. Researching your vacation destination will help you avoid a lot of the pitfalls to come along with vacation stress, pre and post vacation. For example, in the story mentioned above, I said that there was no public transportation system. I had genuinely expected there to be public busses and/or trains, so I even didn’t bother factoring Uber/Lyft, nor having friends with cars in this city into my equation. So when I got there and realized I had no access to any means of transportation, had I not already had my money together [in general], I would have actually been stuck in this city [town, really] with no way of getting back home on my own. Thankfully that was not the case, but it easily could have been. Had I researched the destination, I likely would not have traveled there at all, and the reason would have been that I had no way to get around. But that’s not a lesson I learned until I was actually there. Here’s the whole point, though: I know a lot of what I’m saying sounds like I’m reading from the book of Captain Obvious, but for me, having a means of public transportation in whatever city I’m visiting is very high on the list of things that determine whether or not I travel somewhere. I will almost always not go if there’s no means of public transportation, even if Uber/Lyft is available. For me, it’s important that these things are available. If they’re not, I have to make a decision as far as whether or not experiencing this city is [to me] worth it, even though these things, which are very important to me, are not available. The same applies for you.

When you’re doing your research, think about the things that mean the most to you. Write them down, and when you’re doing your due diligence and researching a potential travel destination, see if the city you’d like to travel to has those things [or things that you feel are acceptable replacements] available to you. I don’t just mean the things people do as tourists when they travel places, I mean things that are important to the you that doesn’t get to experience travel as often as you might want to. What is important to that person? When you do that, you’ll find that there are a lot of things that important to you, and you didn’t realize just how important they are until it’s time to plan for a trip, and believe it or not, that’s research as well.

But remember: no matter what you do, no matter where you go, no matter how many stamps you get on your passport, please, for the love of all that is Holy and pure, don’t forget your toothbrush.

solo travel
Like

About the Creator

Mvrq.McKnZ

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.