With all the talk of travel restrictions in the news today one would think that travel would be on the decline. But we’re a bold people, obstinate, and searching for a little adventure. We will always find ways to explore and experience the world around us, despite obstacles and restrictions. We will simply find another way.
Bleisure
A new trend in traveling is on the rise. Business traveling can wear one out quickly so people are tacking on leisure vacations to their business trips and creating bleisure.
What does this look like? A business trip to New York will get you a stay in a nice hotel, like the Marriott, with conference rooms and networking after hour in the hotel bar. Your job is paying for your accommodations and travel. With a little extra planning and some of your own money you can add an extra day or even two to the stay giving you time to visit the Bronx Zoo, explore the NY Botanical Garden, or go sailing off City Island. If you’re creative you may even be able to talk the boss into footing the bill for a little team bonding time over at Yankee Stadium.
Why waste a perfectly good trip on nothing but work when instead you can enjoy a little sightseeing and soak in the local experience?
Social Media
Social media has become a big component for the encouragement of traveling. It is an easy way for friends and family to share where they’ve been, where they are, and where they are going. Seeing others post exciting new experiences online creates the desire in our culture to get out, do more, and see more. It’s one of the more positive rolls these platforms have provided in our culture. Traveling makes us better people. It opens our minds to more ideas, creates better understanding of other cultures, and cultivates empathy for those outside of our immediate circle.
Social media inspires us to explore more. It also provides a tool at our finger prints to crowd source potential places we would like to travel to next. It gives us the ability to ask family, friends, and those we’ve met from previous travels where they would recommend.
Family And Friends
Sometimes the places they recommend are their own couches. Today more and more families live far apart, many times even across an ocean. In fact, some married couples no longer share the same roof. To maintain these relationships people are traveling back and forth more often. Books like Finding Joy: The Year Apart That Made Me A Better Wife and Living Happily Ever After – Separately are becoming more and more popular.
There may be uncertainty about the travel ban and the everchanging laws but one thing is certain, the desire to travel will not decrease. We seek out opportunities for leisure, for adventure, and to stay connected with those we love the most.