Many dream of living an active travel lifestyle. However, only a select few manage to do it and fewer still, able to sustain it for years. It is easy to understand why some doubt if they can take on such a lifestyle as it does pose a few logistical issues. Some may think that living a life on the road is expensive, impractical, difficult and even dangerous. While these are indeed legitimate concerns for any traveler, they are not at all without any workarounds and fixes. Here are three expert tips for those who are planning to make traveling a way of life.
1. Make Travel Your Life’s Main Purpose
If you intend to live a life on the road, you need to make traveling as your main priority. This alone may help put to rest some of your concerns about devoting your life to travel. For instance, buying a new sectional or constructing a new flat on your property shows that your head is still not in the traveling game. The money that you’ll spend on new seating furniture or a new living space can be rechanneled to fund your travels.
The less stuff you own will also allow you to travel more, and you’ll not be weighed down by it. You have to be focused and driven in your priorities. This means that your mindset, energy and finances should be about traveling before anything else.
2. Be Adaptable
Before you go living a life on the road, it's a good idea to let go of any preconceived ideas and expectations you may have with a particular place, people and culture. This will save you the trouble of being disappointed because your trip did not turn out the way you expected it to.
Another mistake that you can make is to be too hung up on comparing many things to how things are back home. Doing this defeats the purpose of traveling, which is to soak in and enjoy the people and places that you are lucky enough to visit. Be open-minded and adaptable in experiencing new things, including the traditions and the culinary fare. Don’t be a diva. Be like a sponge instead, absorbing and relishing what a different culture has to offer.
3. Spend More Time in the Places that You Visit
Once you have your mind set on living an active traveler’s lifestyle, it is tempting to want to go everywhere and do everything at the shortest time possible. Those who fall into this trap will be missing the important points of traveling, which are to experience and enjoy the places that you visit. Spending just a few days in one place simply isn’t going to cut it. Sure, you may be able to take a few Instagram-worthy selfies, but were you able to really experience and enjoy the places that you passed through?
There are tons of lessons for you to learn if you are planning to live a life on the road. Most of these lessons, however, you can glean bit by bit as you start living the life of an active traveler.
