Traveling Is Like A Box Of Stinky Tofu
During my first time seeing (and smelling) stinky tofu, I wasn’t sure how to react. Should I be curious? Afraid? Excited? I realized that I could choose how to feel. Instead of turning my head in disgust, I decided to be brave and maybe even a little excited.
That’s when an idea hit me: choosing to be optimistic made the experience enjoyable. I didn’t even really hate the stinky stuff too much!
If more people looked at travel the way I decided to look at stinky tofu, I think we’d have a lot more globetrotters among us. Curious to learn some awesome ways that you can help boost your mood and experiences when traveling out and about? Read on, dear friend.
Know that perception and outlook will create your experiences
Wake up each day and tell yourself that it’s going to be an awesome day full of adventures. Keeping an optimistic attitude will make a huge difference in your day, especially when little things go wrong.
Travelers with negative attitudes will start crying when they miss a bus stop, but you and your awesome upbeat mood will brush the mishap off and make an experience out of it.
Maybe during that time you’ll make a new friend, find a deliciously unexpected restaurant, or discover a cool new part of the city – whatever you end up doing will be awesome because you woke up in the morning and told yourself so.
You need to socialize even when you’re not feeling it
I know, I know. Some of us travelers fall under that weird category of extroverted introverts, and it’s hard to get us to do things with people if it’s not a Friday night (otherwise known as the only night I put on pants to go socialize).
If there are cool meetups, parties, or events (Hello, RTT Events!) happening, try your best to put on a smile and your party pants and head out to meet new people as often as possible. I guarantee once you begin accumulating new friends and experiences, you’ll be glad you took this advice.
You should be open to trying new things
So, this really shouldn’t need to be said, but I’ve run across some major Negative Nancys and Boring-Ass Bobs in my life that should’ve stayed at home instead of traveling across the world to ruin my good time.
I’m not pointing any fingers here, but if you claim anything is too weird, too gross, or too dumb to try out, you fall under this category. C’mon people. Leave your comfort zones!
Sometimes you have to fake it
Oh grow up! I mean you need to fake being happy. Studies have shown that forced smiling can actually make you feel happy! So, when you’re at the end of a long week and have that one last demon class to teach, smile.
When you find out that the pool party you’ve been looking forward to for weeks is canceled because of a typhoon, smile.
When you realize that the airline lost all of your baggage and you only have the clothes on your back and your passport… well, first go make a formal complaint, have a good cry, eat some ice cream, and try your best to smile. Lost luggage sucks; sorry.
Calling all travel experts! How did you feel about making new friends and adjusting to small mishaps during travels? Was it easy to do, and were there any tips or tricks you’d give to make the whole thing easy peasy for newbies? Share your answer with other travelers in a comment below!
