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This time of year it's all about giving thanks. So, we want to give a big thank you to each and every one of our readers. Just by coming by and visiting Happy Travelers or following us on social media, you've allowed us to indulge in something we are really passionate about, travel!
We hope that this site has given you helpful tips, inspiration, and a laugh here and there. So, to say thank you, we've got a giveaway for you! We've partnered up with GPSmyCity.com to bring 20 lucky readers a promo code for one of their city walk map apps, normally $4.99. If you're not familiar with them, let me tell you a little bit about them. Their app provides not only a map you can use offline, (which is huge if you're abroad and can't use data), but also several options per city of guided walking tours. You can go on historic walking tours, foodie tours, museum tours and more. There's really a ton of options. It's nice too because you're not dictated by a tour operators schedule. You can go at your leisure, and travel just the way you want. They encourage you to "Lose yourself without getting lost". Which is perfect for me because I get lost everywhere I go. I mean, there are perks to getting lost. There was the time I found this amazing shrine in Tokyo and I got to use a clever hashtag, #whereismyhotel was a legit question...don't worry, I did eventually find it.
This also could be fun to use in your hometown. If you've got friends or family visiting and want to take them sightseeing, this could be a really fun way to show them around.
Really, you've got 20 chances to win, so you can pick a map for a fun staycation, or that awesome trip to Barcelona you've been planning. Those are some great odds! Here's how you can win, leave a comment below with the city you want to visit next, and we'll announce the winner on our Facebook page on December 12th. So, make sure you're following us so you don't miss the announcement!
We hope you have a happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season. Wherever the holidays take you, always remember to travel happy.
XO, Skeeter
Comments
Solo travel is a huge trend right now. I love the concept behind it. In fact, I'd say I would totally give the advice that, "If you want to travel and can't find someone to go with, just go by yourself". I 100% stand behind that. I want to be real though. Solo travel is hard! And not hard in the "It's all about the journey" kind of way. I found it really hard because I felt so alone. If you enjoy solitary time and prefer to recharge alone, then solo travel might be the bees knees. If that's not you, solo travel might be the worst. Experiences are meant to be shared Nothing has made me feel more alone then wanting to share something and having no one there. Feeling alone in a crowd is one of the worst feelings out there. It's something they don't really talk about when they're telling you how great solo travel is. You're going to have something funny, exciting, dangerous, amazing, or completely ordinary happen and have no one else there to talk about it with. And I know that there are some people out there that are saying "shouldn't you be able to just appreciate the moment alone without having to talk about it with someone?" Yes, perhaps. People are social animals though. The act of sharing our lives with others only enhances and enriches our experiences. I always feel like I'm forcing enthusiasm when I'm trying to appreciate traveling alone. You can't depend on the people around you There have been times when I've traveled alone that I have met amazing people. They were fun, friendly, and definitely took away that alone feeling. My first year at Sundance was like that. The group was fantastic! My second year at Sundance was not quite the same. It was still an amazing experience, but my group was not as social, not as friendly, and really made me feel more alone. It made for a lot tougher week. Tears were shed in my car at night, and the next time I went, I took a friend. I just got asked back for the fourth time and I'm happy to say I have a little fun group going along. It's going to be a blast! I'll be honest, if I wasn't able to get a group together, I probably wouldn't have applied this year. If you love movies, you should definitely consider volunteering at the Sundance Film Festival. They treat their volunteers so well, and it's a lot of fun. But, after traveling on my own a couple of times, I know myself. I know that I can't depend on there always being a fun welcoming group ready to bring me into the fold. I know that I need that. Traveling makes you more resilient. When you're alone though, you have to be ready to only have yourself. It's not a bad thing to know that you can hack it by yourself, but if you don't have to, why do it? I feel safer There are a few places where I've been by myself and I've felt totally safe (Japan). There's also been plenty of places where I did not feel safe. Think dark quite street with leering strangers. It might just be a perception of safety in numbers, but I DO feel safer when I travel with someone else. Some people like the adrenaline of traveling to dangerous places. Not me. I want to roam around and take things in. I don't want to be constantly fearful of my safety. Even when you're with someone else, it's wise to be aware of your surroundings. I do find myself thinking about how I'd use my keys to stab an attacker less though when I'm with someone else. I just have to run faster than them....kidding! You get to experience more Traveling with someone else sometimes makes you try something you wouldn't have otherwise. It's an awesome way to get out of your bubble and discover something new. Simple as that. It's important to pick someone you're going to mesh well with. Check out our "10 Essentials to a Great Travel Companion" for ideas when picking someone. I have had great travel buddies, and not so great. Travelling with a bad travel buddy will make you think solo travel is the only way to go. You must choose wisely! Bill Murray's advice is spot on! Finding someone that you enjoy travelling with is not easy. When you do though, don't let them go. That's a special person right there! Traveling with someone you really enjoy will always be better than travelling solo.
If travelling solo is what you have to do, then do it! I urge you though to find someone to travel with, whether that's a friend, a family member, a spouse, a boyfriend/girlfriend, or even your dog. Life is meant to be shared. So go out there, find someone, and travel happy! What about you? Do you love or hate traveling solo? Let me know in the comments : ) Skeeter The world is full of unsolicited advice. But I do have some for my younger self, not that it does present me any good other than feeling like these passing years are making me wiser. What other consolation is there for age, if it is not experience and wisdom? So, for those of you still fully entrenched in your youth or for those who want to revel in the arrogance of my youth, read on! 1. Your body is a temple, ie. wear sunscreen dummy! Ah, look at those fresh tan lines and youthful damaged skin. Sigh. I'm olive complected, and as a child never burned. This gave me a false sense of sun protection superiority. "Oh, I don't need sunscreen, I don't burn". Well, I can and do burn under the right conditions, but regardless, the burning is not the big deal. It's your older self who is now starting to worry about wrinkles and skin cancer you idiot! 2. Some people want to build you up, some what to tear you down. Learn the difference This was a hard lesson learned. I've been lucky enough to have run into a lot of great people in my life. I do have a short list of people though that I would enjoy seeing karma slap right in the face with a fist full of nails. Woah! I need to calm it down. ** Deeeeeep Breathhhh*** Honestly though, I'm sure we have all had an experience where someone disguised their malicious intent as constructive criticism. Those people are the worst! Those are the people who come back from vacation and only have things to complain about, who always have something terrible to say. Even when they are saying something good they have to throw a little downer in there. There are people who genuinely want to see you grow and develop into the amazing person you have the potential to be. Get to know the people around you so that when someone does criticize you, you can tell the difference. Invest in the people who invest in you! 3. YOLO I generally hate YOLO as an expression. It's essentially carpe diem for dumb people. I can get behind the sentiment though, which is to be brave. This is still something I'm working on, but my younger self could have used this. There have been waterfalls I haven't jumped off, and solo trips to Europe I didn't take, and things I never said that I should have. Sticking with the cliche theme: "You're going to regret more of what you didn't do then what you did do." Truth! This is photo documentation of the time I inspected all of the rocks and water temperature and generally wasted time for about a half an hour trying to get enough courage to jump in under this waterfall. Spoiler! I didn't, but guess who did? Pat! Look how much fun he's having! What's wrong with me?! Next time, I'm for sure jumping in! At least that's what I'm saying as I'm safe behind my computer screen....no, really I'm gonna do it! 4. Patience is a virtue Sometimes good things take time. Sometimes good things jump out and surprise you when you're least expecting it. The point is, you often have no idea or control over when things are going to happen. There's so little in this life that is under your control. The only think you can really control is how you react to what comes your way, and how hard you're willing to work for what you want. So, to my younger self. Be patient. Try and stress a little less, and know that things are going to work out...speaking of which. 5. Things are going to work out Nothing is worse then telling someone fully entrenched in something terrible that "everything happens for a reason, and everything is going to work out." I know, I've been told this very thing when I was in the middle of what appeared to be a crises that I was sure happened only because some people are the worst and I was convinced that everything was going to descend into chaos for the rest of my life. It look a long time for me to realize that that terrible event, was actually a really good thing. Who knew?! You know who knew? The friend that told me everything was going to be ok. She knew! But I'm sure at the time, I gave her a look like "shut your stupid face, you don't know anything!" Granted, some "terrible" things are worse than others. I do 100% believe though, that given enough time, things really will be ok. The only way things won't work out is if you give up. So, just don't give up! 6. You get more flies with honey than you do with vinegar I've never really understood this saying because, why in the world would I want extra flies...but I digress. I used to think letting people know how angry I was about a situation would make them relent and see my side of things. It works sometimes, but being kind, understanding and pleasant works significantly better. Plus no one leaves the interaction with hard feelings. You get what you give. 7. Don't make your happiness anybody else's responsibility It's not anyone else's job to make you happy. That is honestly an unrealistic and unkind burden to put on anyone. Certainly someone's behavior can have a huge impact on how you feel and if someone is a toxic person in your life, then it's your job to do something about it. It's as simple as that. If you can't make yourself happy, how is anyone else going to do it for you? 8. You can't please everybody (including yourself) This is something I would tell my younger self, my current self, and probably my older self as well. I'm constantly being hard on my self for pretty much everything. We all are our own worst critics. I'm always telling myself (usually contradictory things) like that I should eat better/ indulge more, exercise/relax more, read/ go outside more, drink more water/wine, be nicer/stand up for myself, volunteer more/ have more me time, work harder/ be more content, put more effort into my appearance/ appreciate yourself, save more/ reward yourself... I could go on all day, but I think you get the point. All I or anyone else can really do is our best every day to live in the moment. Decide what you want (easier said than done, I know) and then make the best decisions you can based on that. That's all we can do, and that is more than ok. 9. Stop and smell the flowers I really started to do this after taking a watercolor class a couple of years ago. The teacher was great and she really made me look more artistically at things. It's weird but now I seem to notice more about things that seemed mundane before. Things seem more beautiful now. So sometimes you're going to have a whole field of daisies to appreciate and sometimes it's just going to be the way the light comes through the trees on your drive to work. I wish I had been doing a better job of appreciating the beauty all around me when I was younger. If you struggle with this, perhaps taking an art class might help. Don't worry, I don't have a single artistic bone in my body, but I still got a ton out of taking that class. 10. Try new things I mean really TRY new things. Don't do it once, and then give up. Before you can be good at something, you have to be kind of terrible at it. About six weeks ago I started doing yoga. I decided I was going to do it everyday for 30 days to really give it a go. I am so glad that I did! It's been fun, I'm more flexible that I've been in years. I used to try something and if it didn't go well, I would take that as a sign that that wasn't my thing.
If you want to give yoga a try as well, let me recommend Yoga with Adrianne. She's goofy and funny and makes it a lot of fun. I think when we are small children that we are better about learning how to do new things. There comes a time though that we stop being willing to be bad at something. We don't want to struggle with something new. Pat and I got surfboards earlier this year. It's definitely one of those things that's going to be a struggle for me. I'm going to have to keep reassuring myself that it's ok to be crap at it, because, well, I'll always be crap at it if I don't keep trying. Cliches are cliches because they're true. Just like this one: Love many, trust few, but always paddle your own canoe...and Travel Happy! Thanks for stopping by! Skeeter |
Skeeter
Hi there! I'm Skeeter. I grew up moving a lot and that makes me a bit restless for travel and exploration. I started this blog with my husband Pat when we decided to backpack New Zealand for a year. We are always looking for the next adventure and are loving life. We're just your average couple with two sassy dogs and a love for travel. We're sharing our travels and the tips we pick up along the way. LIZHello! I'm Liz. Blogging is very new to me, but I'm so excited to finally write as much as I talk! Archives
December 2016
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